Neutrality Act of 1794

One reason for the act was to create a liability for violation of Section 8 of Article One of the United States Constitution, which reserves to the United States Congress the power to decide to go to war.[5]

The Continental Congress previously had an alliance with France in 1778[6] that France accused the United States of violating with the 1794 American Jay Treaty with Great Britain. The French Ambassador to the United States, Edmond-Charles Genêt, had been actively recruiting American privateers for attacks on Spain and Great Britain, with whom the French Republican Government was at war.

Some individuals in America were supporting the French Republican Government by engaging in privateering[7] and other Americans were engaging in filibuster military operations against British Canada and Spanish possessions in Florida and South America.

This led to George Washington's Proclamation of Neutrality in 1793 and the act of 1794.

The Neutrality Act of 1794 was used in the trials of Aaron Burr, William S. Smith and Etienne Guinet, who, with Frenchman Jean Baptist LeMaitre, were convicted of outfitting an armed ship to take part in France's war against Great Britain.[8]

The Neutrality Act of 1794 was joined by the Neutrality Act of 1817[9] that included States that had recently become independent from Spain that were not mentioned in the original act.[10] Unrecognised governments such as "colonies, districts, or people" are given the same recognition as "states and princes" in the last clause of section 5.[11] Henry Clay called it "an Act for the benefit of Spain against the republics of America."[11]

The Neutrality Act of 1817 also prescribed maximum penalties of three years imprisonment and up to a three thousand dollar fine.[12]

The Neutrality Act of 1794 and the Neutrality Act of 1817 were repealed and replaced by the Neutrality Act of 1818.[13]

The Neutrality Act of 1818 was updated in 1838 during the 1837 Rebellions in Canada.

The Neutrality Act of 1794 was repealed, reenacted, and amended several times since and its successor remains in force as 18 U.S.C. § 960.[4]

In 1981, nine men involved in Operation Red Dog were sentenced to three years in prison pursuant to the successor statute of the Neutrality Act of 1794; they had planned to overthrow the government of Dominica.[14][15]

In the 2007 Laotian coup d'état conspiracy allegation, the United States government alleged after a sting operation that a group of conspirators planned to violate the successor statute of the Neutrality Act of 1794 by overthrowing the government of Communist Laos.[16] The United States Government has since dropped all charges against these defendants.

In May 2016 four United States residents were convicted of violating the successor statute of the Neutrality Act of 1794 for their role in the 2014 Gambian coup d'état attempt.[17]

• Burr conspiracy