Each of the four laws in the Alien and Sedition Acts is named after what it's intended to do. It's all pretty straightforward. The Naturalization Act modified existing naturalization laws, the Alien Friends Act changed how the president could treat immigrants from friendly countries, and the Alien Enemies Act did the same for immigrants from enemy countries.

The Sedition Act is more far-reaching. It made sedition illegal, and defined it, basically, as using the First Amendment in a way the government didn't like. This ignores that such use is the entire point of the First Amendment.

Naturally, they aren't officially called by these shorthand names. Adams and his Federalist pals were 18th-century lawyers and they weren't going to use two words when four would do. The Naturalization Act is properly named, "An Act to Establish an Uniform Rule of Naturalization." The Alien Friends Act is the genteelly named, "An Act Concerning Aliens." The Alien Enemies Act is, "An Act Respecting Alien Enemies." Lastly, the Sedition Act is, "An Act for the Punishment of Certain Crimes against the United States."

There's some political calculation in these names. The Naturalization Act isn't hurting anyone by putting an unreasonable timeline on naturalization. Oh no, it's only making a uniform rule for it. The Alien Friends Act is just concerning aliens, which remember, was a much less alarming word back then.

The king of the innocuous phrasing is the Sedition Act. It's not about punishing sedition. These are "certain crimes against the United States." The phrase "certain crimes" could mean literally anything, and people, unless they're from Gotham City, are usually against crime. The victim, though, is named as the United States. This is about patriotism.

Adams and the Federalists knew they were overstepping constitutional bounds. They were curtailing the freedoms they literally just fought a war to protect. They had to couch these laws in nicer terminology. That we now use the nicknames for them shows how history has judged the Alien and Sedition Acts.