The 1798 naturalization delay was Federalist entrenchment against Jeffersonians.

Evidence

Immigration policy is another obvious lever for expanding or restricting the scope of the political community. Unsurprisingly, it too has been used throughout American history as a mechanism of entrenchment. In 1798, for example, Congress increased the number of years an immigrant had to be present in the United States before naturalization from five to fourteen and thus significantly delayed the enfranchisement of newly arrived American residents. Although there were likely a range of motivations for these policies, Adam Cox and Eric Posner argue that this delay was orchestrated by the Federalist Party in part as a means of preventing immigrants from installing Jeffersonians in power. Daniel Tichenor similarly describes it as “an effort by the Federalist party to forestall its imminent loss of political power.” — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 309

Categorization

• XREF: Shows entrenchment purely as timing manipulation of the electorate — but note the reversal when the Federalists lost, suggesting this lever is less durable than law-embedded ideology. — connects to: Disenfranchisement entrenched white Democratic supremacy in the South for nearly a century — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 83; Balanced state admissions locked in the antebellum slavery status quo. — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 295; The 1798 constitutional debate hinged on the source of federal sovereignty. — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 192 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The 1798 constitutional debate hinged on the source of federal sovereignty. #expands (0.72) — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 192
• The debate arose over the fundamental question of the source of federal sovereignty. Did the Union derive its authority from the states, or the people acting through the states, or the people… #responds-to (0.72)