The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, initially drafted by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, respectively, were issued by the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures in response to the federal Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. The Resolutions declared that the several states are united by compact under the Constitution, that the Constitution limits federal authority to certain enumerated powers, that congressional acts exceeding those powers are infractions of the Constitution, and that each state has the right and duty to determine the constitutionality of federal laws and prevent application of unconstitutional federal laws in its own territory.
The Kentucky Resolutions were introduced in the Kentucky House of Representatives by John Breckinridge and adopted in November of 1798
