PREPARATION FOR WAR WITH FRANCE (1798).--The reading of the dispatches in Congress caused a great change in feeling. The country had been insulted, and Congress, forgetting politics, made preparations for war. An army was raised and Washington made lieutenant general. The Navy Department was created and the first Secretary of the Navy appointed. Ships were built, purchased, and given to the government; and with the cry, "Millions for defense, not a cent for tribute," the people offered their services to the President, and labored without pay in the erection of forts along the seaboard. Then was written by Joseph Hopkinson, of Philadelphia, and sung for the first time, our national song _Hail, Columbia_! [18] THE ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS.--In preparing for war, Congress had acted wisely. But the Federalists, whom the trouble with France had placed in control of Congress, also passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which aroused bitter opposition. The Alien Acts were (1) a law requiring aliens, or foreigners, to live in our country fourteen years before they could be naturalized and become citizens; (2) a law giving the President power, for the next two years, to send out of the country any alien he thought to be dangerous to the peace of the United States; and (3) the Alien Enemies Act for the expulsion, in time of war, of the subjects of the hostile government. The Sedition Act provided for the punishment of persons who acted, spoke, or wrote in a seditious manner, that is, opposed the execution of any law of the United States, or wrote, printed, or uttered anything with intent to defame the government of the United States or any of its officials. Adams did not use the power given him by the second Alien Act; but the Sedition Act was rigorously enforced with fines and imprisonment. Such interference with the liberty of the press cost Adams much of his popularity. THE VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS.--The Republicans were greatly excited by the Alien and Sedition Acts, and at the suggestion of Jefferson resolutions condemning them as unconstitutional [19] and hence "utterly void and of no force" were passed by the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia. [Illustration: THE ENTERPRISE.] Seven states answered with resolutions declaring the acts constitutional. Whereupon, in the following year (1799), Kentucky declared that when a state thought a law of Congress unconstitutional, that state might veto or nullify it, that is, forbid its citizens to obey it. This doctrine of nullification, as we shall see, was later of serious importance.