States Challenge the Federal Government Vice President Jefferson bitterly opposed the Alien and Sedition Acts. He could not ask the courts for help because the Federalists controlled them. So, he urged the states to take strong action against the acts. He argued that the states had the right to nullify, or cancel, a law passed by the federal government. In this way, states could resist the power of the federal government.
With help from Jefferson and Madison, Kentucky and Virginia passed resolutions in 1798 and 1799. The Kentucky and Virginia resolutions claimed that each state “has an equal right to judge for itself” whether a law is constitutional. If a state decides a law is unconstitutional, said the resolutions, it has the power to nullify that law within its borders.
The Kentucky and Virginia resolutions raised the issue of states’ rights. Did the federal government have only those powers that were listed in the Constitution? If so, did the states possess all other powers—for example, the power to declare a federal law unconstitutional? Within a few years, the Alien and Sedition Acts were changed or dropped. Still, the issue of a state’s right to nullify federal laws would come up again.
If laws were found to be unconstitutional, the _______ could be ________ those laws