Alien

Don't get excited. We don't need President Bill Pullman to save us. This is just a fancy word meaning someone from another country.

Democratic-Republican

This probably sounds confusing to people used to the Democrats and Republicans being separate parties who…don't normally make flower crowns and sing kumbaya together.

While this party would eventually turn into the Democrats (the modern Republican party has its roots just before the Civil War), their platform would be closer to that of Republicans today. They believed in the supremacy of the states over the Federal Government, and were headed up by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Enemies

If we're at war with a nation, they're an enemy. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy.

The concept of war gets a little more complicated than the Founding Fathers intended what with things like police actions and interventions and so on. Chances are, those nations would be counted as enemies under the act, which could then be challenged in court. This is complicated.

Federalist

Arguably the first political party of the United States, the Federalists were the party of the sitting president, John Adams, and the predominant party of Congress when the Alien and Sedition Acts were enacted.

George Washington is kind of a Federalist by default since Adams and the others more or less embraced his viewpoints, but Washington wasn't a fan of political parties. (He was a fan of chopping down poor, defenseless apple trees.) The Federalists believed primarily in the Federal government's supremacy over the states.

Friends

In the context of the Alien and Sedition Acts, this has nothing to do with Monica and Chandler. It means any nation the United States is not presently at war with. (So hopefully that's most of them.)

Naturalization

Naturalization is the process of an immigrant becoming a citizen. Not everyone who visits or even moves to a country wants to become a citizen. Sometimes they just want a change of scenery…or an excuse to eat croissants at every meal and say, "It's the French way!"

Naturalization is a procedure that involves declaring an intent to be a citizen (with a letter or something; just yelling it in the supermarket isn't enough), then waiting, then a test.

Sedition

A fancy word meaning to get people to rebel against the state, or possibly the king or queen. This can be achieved through protests, something in print, or nearly anything else you can imagine.

Much like treason or beauty, sedition is very much in the eye of beholder…because if your side wins, it's no longer sedition. It's patriotism.