225 Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions ,1798-99

225. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions ,1798-99

In the exciting years before the Revolutionary War the colonial legislatures had passed many resolutions condemning the acts of the British government ( see pp .77,84). Fol - lowing this example Jefferson and Madison now brought it about that the Virginia and Kentucky legislatures passedresolutions against the Alien and Sedition Acts . They declared that the Constitution was a compact between the states . It followed from this that any state could determine for itself whether any act of Congress were constitutional or not . It followed from , this , again , that any state could refuse to per - mit an Act of Congress to be enforced within its limits . In other words , any state could make nul or nullify any Act of Congress that it saw fit to oppose . This last conclusion was found only in the Kentucky Resolutions of 1799. But Jeffer - son wrote to this effect in the original draft of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions called the voter’s at - tention to the Federalist abuse of power and did much to form public opinion .