Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were two influential American statements that state governments could stop certain actions of the federal government. It was overwhelmingly rejected at the time and since. They were resolutions passed by the state legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia, respectively, in 1798. The secret author of Virginia Resolutions was James Madison, while the Kentucky Resolutions were secretly written by Thomas Jefferson. The two documents were written in opposition of the Alien and Sedition Acts and established the theory of nullification and interposition.

Background

The Alien and Sedition Acts was passed by Congress in 1798 during the undeclared war with France (called the "Quasi War"). The acts made a federal crime to attack the government, and restricted aliens. Enemy aliens (that is foreigners owing loyalty to a country at war with the U.S.) could be rounded up by the president; this latter authority is still in effect in 2007. The Federalist party passed the act, warning of the dangers of French subversion. Jeffersonian Republicans complained the laws were not needed and that their friends and allies were the target.

The Resolutions

Thomas Jefferson and James Madision secretly collaborated in writing different resolutions of protest. These were given to allies and passed by the state legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky, but other states refused to pass similar resolutions. Indeed several states denounced the resolutions as unconstitutional. Both resolutions not only condemned the Alien and Sedition Acts as unconstitutional They went to claim 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.

The Alien and Sedition Acts either expired or were repealed from 1800 to 1802, after Jefferson was elected to the presidency.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. The underlying ideas were decisively rejected during the war and did not resurface afterwards.

Sources

• Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, 1798
• History Channel
• Columbia Encyclopedia: Alien and Sedition Acts
• Columbia Encyclopedia: Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
• American Law Encyclopedia Vol 10

Further reading

• Watkins, William, Reclaiming the American Revolution: The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions and Their Legacy ISBN 1403963037