Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (1798) These resolutions
argued that the federal government had no authority to exercise
power not specifically delegated to it in the Constitution. They
were passed by the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia in
response to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 and were
authored by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, respectively. In
an analysis of the principle of federalism, the resolutions made
the case that the states had the power to nullify
unconstitutional federal laws. The Kentucky Resolution declared
in part, “[T]he several states who formed that instrument [the
Constitution], being sovereign and independent, have the
unquestionable right to judge of its infraction; and that a
nullification, by those [states], of all unauthorized acts….is
the rightful remedy.” The Virginia Resolution said that by
enacting the Alien and Sedition Acts, Congress was exercising “a
power not delegated by the constitution, but on the contrary,
expressly and positively forbidden by one of t