29. The Virgina and Kentucky resolutions were politicle statements drafted in 1798 and 1799, in which the Kentucky and Virgina legislatures toldthe government that they would not abide by the Alien and Sedition Acts, the acts against "aliens" (non-citizens) that went against the constitution. They stated that the acts were unconstitutional and therefore void and in doing so they argued for state's rights and strict constructionism of the constitution.(written secretly by vice presedent Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, respectfuly). The resolutions held principles known as the "principles of '98". These principles urged that individual states can judge the contitutionality of central government laws and decrees, and can refuse to enforce laws deemed unconstitutional. The refusals were called nulification in the Kentucky resolutions and in the Virginia resolutions they were called "interposition" to express the idea of the states' right to "interpose betweenthe federal government and the people of the state.
Sorces:http://www.constitutioncenter.org/timeline/flash/assets/asset_upload_file212_11961.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_and_Virginia_Resolutions
Picture:
Comments (1)
Camilo Ruiz said
at 5:44 pm on Sep 27, 2010
In addition, the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions were later used to justify the Nullification Crisis of 1832 and the secession of many Southern States, although neither resolution was embraced by other state legislatures in the 1790s. Opposition to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, mainly Federalist, declared that it was not the states, but the people, whom had created the government, thus the power to declare a law unconstitutional rested in the Supreme Court, not in the states. Ironically enough, Jefferson and Madison's attempts to preserve the Union nearly led to its downfall. Camilo Ruiz -- Period 2
You don't have permission to comment on this page.