nov 16, 1798 - Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

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The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, drafted by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson respectively, were political statements in which the legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky argued that the Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional. These resolutions posited that states had the right to judge the constitutionality of federal laws and to nullify them within their borders, introducing the controversial idea of nullification that would later influence states' rights debates leading up to the Civil War.

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