As a result of the backlash the federal Sedition Act and Alien Act created, two resolutions were created in 1798-1799 for the purpose of awareness and nullifying such above laws and future laws that were deemed unconstitutional, because they were created by the federal government without consent of the states; therefore these laws would be void and not in effect (p. 158). These two resolutions, The Virginia Resolution and the Kentucky Resolution, were created by two of the four Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. These two key documents helped reform the United States Government by enforcing states rights.
In the Virginia Resolution, Jefferson and Madison use the term “compact” to describe the relationship and agreement between the States and the Federal government as set forth in the Constitution. Furthermore, in this agreement between the two parties (states and the federal government) the states have the power and right to nullify laws like the Sedition Act and the Alien Act which are a clear example of the Federal government exercising excessive power that has not been authorized by the compact that the parties shared. Moreover, in this compact the states had power over laws that were not delegated to the federal government, this included laws that reflected individual rights.
Both resolutions share the same theme and concern in regards to preventing the Federal government from placing laws in which the states do not agree upon and therefore “nullify” such laws like the Alien Act and Sedition Act which are unconstitutional and are an infraction of the states rights. Both Jefferson and Madison use these two laws as a basis for their argument. Jefferson portrays in the Kentucky Resolutions, that said laws are unconstitutional for the reason that they impede the states’ rights pursuant to the constitution. Furthermore, he warns that if the federal government continues there is nothing to stop them from despotism. On the other hand, Madison’s argument states that the federal government, for their own benefit, misconstruing such powers delegated to them by the compact the states and the federal government share. Furthermore, he states in his resolutions that laws protected by the first amendment like the freedom of the press, cannot be restrained and it is the states duty to guard such attacks.
In the third paragraph of the Virginia Resolutions Madison states “that it views the powers of the federal government, as resulting from the compact; to which said states are parties; as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting the compact;…?”, he conveys that the powers the federal government is limited as a result of the power that the states have pursuant to the compact which the two parties share pursuant to the Constitution.
In the Kentucky Resolution Jefferson proposes the right of nullification, meaning that states are independent and have the authority to void such laws which are unauthorized, unconstitutional and are placed without consent of the states or the rightful authority of the federal government to pass such laws. Therefore, laws that portray the aforementioned, will be nullified and do not have to be enforced by states who refute such laws like the Alien Act and Sedition Act which as Jefferson states are not conducive to “liberty and happiness”.
The arguments Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions defended the constitution but challenged the power that the Federal government was exercising without authority. The constitution was put in place for the purpose of being the land of the law. Further, the constitution allocated powers to both Federal and State governments. Nine of the ten Bill of Rights place limitations on the Federal government (p. 150) and protect individual rights such as Amendment 1, freedom of the press, speech, religion, assemble, and petition(A-18). Knowingly, Jefferson and Madison integrated this in their resolutions as part of their arguments claiming that such unjust laws as the Alien Act and the Sedition act violated the first amendment. The purpose for these resolutions were to enforce the Constitution and the rights that are given to the states as set forth in the First and Tenth Amendment (A-19); moreover, void and deem with no effect such laws as the two stated above that violate and impede the power of the states. In addition to that, as stated above, prevent the Federal government from continuing to express unjust power over the states.