Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were two important resolutions passed by the state legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia, respectively, in 1798. The author of Virginia Resolutions was James Madison, while the Kentucky Resolutions were written by Thomas Jefferson.
Background
These two documents were written in response of the Alien and Sedition Acts, which was passed by Congress during the administration of John Adams. The Acts limited freedom of speech and placed stringent restrictions on immigrants. Supporters of the Acts were primarily Federalists, who allege that the Acts were enacted to defend America against French hostility during the French Revolution, while Jeffersonian Republicans were the Acts' major opponents.
The Resolutions
The Jeffersonians protested against the Acts by passing the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in the legislature of the two states. Both resolutions not only condemned and voided the Acts as unconstitutional, but also asserted that individual states could nullify federal laws deemed to be unconstitutional. Madison's Virginia Resolutions, which pronounced the compact theory, were relatively milder in terms than Jefferson's Kentucky Resolutions, which explicitly stated states' rights to nullification.
Similar resolutions were proposed in other states, but they were not adopted. The Alien and Sedition Acts either expired or were repealed from 1800 to 1802, after Jefferson was elected to the presidency.
Historical significance
The Resolutions later became landmark documents supporting the concept of states' rights. They were invoked during the Nullification Crisis by John C. Calhoun to justify South Carolina's nullification of the federal tariff. The ideas underlying the Resolutions also influenced the Southern secession in the 1860s, which resulted in the American Civil War.