Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, resolutions adopted in 1798 by the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia to protest the enactment by the federal government of the Alien and Sedition Acts.

The Kentucky Resolutions, drafted by then Vice President Thomas Jefferson, argued that the government was formed by a compact among the states and that the federal powers were limited to those delegated to it in the Constitution. In addition, the validity of laws passed by the government under supposedly unauthorized powers should be determined by the members of the compact, the states. Another resolution, passed by the Kentucky legislature in 1799, called for a formal nullification by the states of any law deemed objectionable.

The Virginia Resolutions were drawn up by James Madison, later the fourth U.S. president. They also said that states had the right to interfere with any alleged unconstitutional exercise of power by the federal government. Madison wrote, “that, in a case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers not granted by the said compact, the states, who are parties thereto, have the right and are in duty bound to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil.”

The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, when presented for approval to the legislatures of the other states, were largely ignored or rejected. The principles stated in the resolutions later were used—out of context, according to Madison—on behalf of nullification and secession.