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The following resolutions were proposed to the Kentucky Legislature, andthis version was adopted onNovember 10, 1798, as a protest against the Alien and Sedition Acts passedby Congress. They were authored by Thomas Jefferson, but he did not makepublic the fact until years later. This represents one of the clearest expressions of his views on how the Constitution was supposed to be interpreted.

1.Resolved, That the several States composing, the UnitedStates of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submissionto their general government; but that, by a compact under the style andtitle of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto,they constituted a general government for special purposes —delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, eachState to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government;and that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, itsacts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force: that to this compact eachState acceded as a State, and is an integral part, its co-States forming,as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compactwas not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powersdelegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and notthe Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all othercases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has anequal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode andmeasure of redress.

2.Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States, havingdelegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting thesecurities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and feloniescommitted on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations, andno other crimes, whatsoever; and it being true as a general principle, andone of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that “thepowers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, notprohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively,or to the people,” therefore the act of Congress, passed on the 14thday of July, 1798, and intituled “An Act in addition to the actintituled An Act for the punishment of certain crimes against the UnitedStates,” as also the act passed by them on the — day of June,1798, intituled “An Act to punish frauds committed on the bank of theUnited States,” (and all their other acts which assume to create,define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in theConstitution,) are altogether void, and of no force; and that the power tocreate, define, and punish such other crimes is reserved, and, of right,appertains solely and exclusively to the respective States, each withinits own territory.

3.Resolved, That it is true as a general principle, and is alsoexpressly declared by one of the amendments to the Constitutions, that “thepowers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, ourprohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively,or to the people”; and that no power over the freedom of religion,freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being delegated to the UnitedStates by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, all lawfulpowers respecting the same did of right remain, and were reserved to theStates or the people: that thus was manifested their determination toretain to themselves the right of judging how far the licentiousness ofspeech and of the press may be abridged without lessening their usefulfreedom, and how far those abuses which cannot be separated from their useshould be tolerated, rather than the use be destroyed. And thus also theyguarded against all abridgment by the United States of the freedom ofreligious opinions and exercises, and retained to themselves the right ofprotecting the same, as this State, by a law passed on the general demandof its citizens, had already protected them from all human restraint orinterference. And that in addition to this general principle and expressdeclaration, another and more special provision has been made by one ofthe amendments to the Constitution, which expressly declares, that “Congressshall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibitingthe free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of thepress”: thereby guarding in the same sentence, and under the samewords, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press: insomuch,that whatever violated either, throws down the sanctuary which covers theothers, arid that libels, falsehood, and defamation, equally with heresyand false religion, are withheld from the cognizance of federal tribunals.That, therefore, the act of Congress of the United States, passed on the14th day of July, 1798, intituled “An Act in addition to the actintituled An Act for the punishment of certain crimes against the UnitedStates,” which does abridge the freedom of the press, is not law, butis altogether void, and of no force.

4.Resolved, That alien friends are under the jurisdiction andprotection of the laws of the State wherein they are: that no power overthem has been delegated to the United States, nor prohibited to theindividual States, distinct from their power over citizens. And it beingtrue as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Constitutionhaving also declared, that “the powers not delegated to the UnitedStates by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, arereserved to the States respectively, or to the people," the act ofthe Congress of the United States, passed on the — day of July, 1798,intituled “An Act concerning aliens,” which assumes powers overalien friends, not delegated by the Constitution, is not law, but isaltogether void, and of no force.

5.Resolved. That in addition to the general principle, as wellas the express declaration, that powers not delegated are reserved,another and more special provision, inserted in the Constitution fromabundant caution, has declared that “the migration or importation ofsuch persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper toadmit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808”that this commonwealth does admit the migration of alien friends,described as the subject of the said act concerning aliens: that aprovision against prohibiting their migration, is a provision against allacts equivalent thereto, or it would be nugatory: that to remove them whenmigrated, is equivalent to a prohibition of their migration, and is,therefore, contrary to the said provision of the Constitution, and void.

6.Resolved, That the imprisonment of a person under theprotection of the laws of this commonwealth, on his failure to obey thesimple order of the President to depart out of the United States, as isundertaken by said act intituled “An Act concerning aliens” iscontrary to the Constitution, one amendment to which has provided that “noperson shalt be deprived of liberty without due progress of law”; andthat another having provided that “in all criminal prosecutions theaccused shall enjoy the right to public trial by an impartial jury, to beinformed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted withthe witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtainingwitnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for hisdefense;” the same act, undertaking to authorize the President toremove a person out of the United States, who is under the protection ofthe law, on his own suspicion, without accusation, without jury, withoutpublic trial, without confrontation of the witnesses against him, withoutheating witnesses in his favor, without defense, without counsel, iscontrary to the provision also of the Constitution, is therefore not law,but utterly void, and of no force: that transferring the power of judgingany person, who is under the protection of the laws from the courts, tothe President of the United States, as is undertaken by the same actconcerning aliens, is against the article of the Constitution whichprovides that “the judicial power of the United States shall bevested in courts, the judges of which shall hold their offices during goodbehavior”; and that the said act is void for that reason also. And itis further to be noted, that this transfer of judiciary power is to thatmagistrate of the general government who already possesses all theExecutive, and a negative on all Legislative powers.

7.Resolved, That the construction applied by the GeneralGovernment (as is evidenced by sundry of their proceedings) to those partsof the Constitution of the United States which delegate to Congress apower “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to paythe debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of theUnited States,” and “to make all laws which shall be necessaryand proper for carrying into execution, the powers vested by theConstitution in the government of the United States, or in any departmentor officer thereof,” goes to the destruction of all limits prescribedto their powers by the Constitution: that words meant by the instrument tobe subsidiary only to the execution of limited powers, ought not to be soconstrued as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part to be sotaken as to destroy the whole residue of that instrument: that theproceedings of the General Government under color of these articles, willbe a fit and necessary subject of revisal and correction, at a time ofgreater tranquillity, while those specified in the preceding resolutionscall for immediate redress.

8th.Resolved, That a committee of conference and correspondencebe appointed, who shall have in charge to communicate the precedingresolutions to the Legislatures of the several States: to assure them thatthis commonwealth continues in the same esteem of their friendship andunion which it has manifested from that moment at which a common dangerfirst suggested a common union: that it considers union, for specifiednational purposes, and particularly to those specified in their latefederal compact, to be friendly, to the peace, happiness and prosperity ofall the States: that faithful to that compact, according to the plainintent and meaning in which it was understood and acceded to by theseveral parties, it is sincerely anxious for its preservation: that itdoes also believe, that to take from the States all the powers ofself-government and transfer them to a general and consolidatedgovernment, without regard to the special delegations and reservationssolemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happiness orprosperity of these States; and that therefore this commonwealth isdetermined, as it doubts not its co-States are, to submit to undelegated,and consequently unlimited powers in no man, or body of men on earth: thatin cases of an abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the generalgovernment, being chosen by the people, a change by the people would bethe constitutional remedy; but, where powers are assumed which have notbeen delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: thatevery State has a natural right in cases not within the compact, (casusnon fœderis) to nullify of their own authority all assumptions ofpower by others within their limits: that without this right, they wouldbe under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercisethis right of judgment for them: that nevertheless, this commonwealth,from motives of regard and respect for its co States, has wished tocommunicate with them on the subject: that with them alone it is proper tocommunicate, they alone being parties to the compact, and solelyauthorized to judge in the last resort of the powers exercised under it,Congress being not a party, but merely the creature of the compact, andsubject as to its assumptions of power to the final judgment of those bywhom, and for whose use itself and its powers were all created andmodified: that if the acts before specified should stand, theseconclusions would flow from them; that the general government may placeany act they think proper on the list of crimes and punish it themselveswhether enumerated or not enumerated by the constitution as cognizable bythem: that they may transfer its cognizance to the President, or any otherperson, who may himself be the accuser, counsel, judge and jury, whosesuspicions may be the evidence, his order the sentence, his officer theexecutioner, and his breast the sole record of the transaction: that avery numerous and valuable description of the inhabitants of these Statesbeing, by this precedent, reduced, as outlaws, to the absolute dominion ofone man, and the barrier of the Constitution thus swept away from us all,no ramparts now remains against the passions and the powers of a majorityin Congress to protect from a like exportation, or other more grievouspunishment, the minority of the same body, the legislatures, judges,governors and counsellors of the States, nor their other peaceableinhabitants, who may venture to reclaim the constitutional rights andliberties of the States and people, or who for other causes, good or bad,may be obnoxious to the views, or marked by the suspicions of thePresident, or be thought dangerous to his or their election, or otherinterests, public or personal; that the friendless alien has indeed beenselected as the safest subject of a first experiment; but the citizen willsoon follow, or rather, has already followed, for already has a seditionact marked him as its prey: that these and successive acts of the samecharacter, unless arrested at the threshold, necessarily drive theseStates into revolution and blood and will furnish new calumnies againstrepublican government, and new pretexts for those who wish it to bebelieved that man cannot be governed but by a rod of iron: that it wouldbe a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice tosilence our fears for the safety of our rights: that confidence iseverywhere the parent of despotism — free government is founded injealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not confidence whichprescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obligedto trust with power: that our Constitution has accordingly fixed thelimits to which, and no further, our confidence may go; and let the honestadvocate of confidence read the Alien and Sedition acts, and say if theConstitution has not been wise in fixing limits to the government itcreated, and whether we should be wise in destroying those limits, Let himsay what the government is, if it be not a tyranny, which the men of ourchoice have con erred on our President, and the President of our choicehas assented to, and accepted over the friendly stranger to whom the mildspirit of our country and its law have pledged hospitality and protection:that the men of our choice have more respected the bare suspicion of thePresident, than the solid right of innocence, the claims of justification,the sacred force of truth, and the forms and substance of law and justice.In questions of powers, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man,but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. Thatthis commonwealth does therefore call on its co-States for an expressionof their sentiments on the acts concerning aliens and for the punishmentof certain crimes herein before specified, plainly declaring whether theseacts are or are not authorized by the federal compact. And it doubts notthat their sense will be so announced as to prove their attachmentunaltered to limited government, weather general or particular. And thatthe rights and liberties of their co-States will be exposed to no dangersby remaining embarked in a common bottom with their own. That they willconcur with this commonwealth in considering the said acts as so palpablyagainst the Constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration thatthat compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the GeneralGovernment, but that it will proceed in the exercise over these States, ofall powers whatsoever: that they will view this as seizing the rights ofthe States, and consolidating them in the hands of the General Government,with a power assumed to bind the States (not merely as the cases madefederal, casus fœderis but), in all cases whatsoever, by laws made,not with their consent, but by others against their consent: that thiswould be to surrender the form of government we have chosen, and liveunder one deriving its powers from its own will, and not from ourauthority; and that the co-States, recurring to their natural right incases not made federal, will concur in declaring these acts void, and ofno force, and will each take measures of its own for providing thatneither these acts, nor any others of the General Government not plainlyand intentionally authorized by the Constitution, shalt be exercisedwithin their respective territories.

9th.Resolved, That the said committee be authorized tocommunicate by writing or personal conference, at any times or placeswhatever, with any person or persons who may be appointed by any one ormore co-States to correspond or confer with them; and that they lay theirproceedings before the next session of Assembly.

Also see theVirginia Resolution of 1798,authored by James Madison, for the same purpose, and a followupKentucky Resolution of 1799 adopted by theKentucky Legislature a year later.

Text Version |Constitution Society