The Case Of The Virginia And Kentucky Resolutions

The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions were written by Jefferson and Madison in order to nullify the Sedition Acts and declare states power to judge legitimacy of federal law. Jefferson and Madison argued that since the states were around before the Constitution, and created the document which made the federal government, they had the right to interpret the Constitution and choose whether they wanted to obey laws passed by the federal government. Furthermore, this gave tremendous power to the states and went against federalism which the nation had just gotten over with the ratification of the Constitution and now Anti-Federalist ideas are back in play. Additionally, the influence of the Father of the Declaration and the Father of the Constitution …show more content…
The case established the the Supreme Court had the right to repeal laws that it dubbed unconstitutional, known as judicial review, and that went directly against the Republican ideas of state review, originally introduced in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions that Jefferson took part in. Furthermore, the Supreme Court was undeniably the supreme law of the land, with rulings that could over turn any legislation from congress, this set the Judicial Branch on an even playing field with the Legislative and Executive Branches in the game of checks and balances. This still impacts the government system to this day, when a case is brought the Supreme Court they are given the opportunity to overturn any laws they find unconstitutional and their rulings become precedent in all similar situations, almost like a law passed by the legislature that can’t be …show more content…
trade caused him to overestimate the demands he could make for that trade. Believing trade with the U.S. was of major importance in Europe, Jefferson thought he could get the French and or the British to agree to peaceful maritime relations in exchange for trade with the America’s, although his demands were to great and neither party agreed. Jefferson failed to realize that Britain and France have many other countries they trade with and don 't rely on America for goods. However, after the issues with the British and French capturing America’s merchant ships then Jefferson decided he’d cut off trade all together with the clashing world powers. Consequently, this resulted in drastic economic suffering for everyone, farmers and merchants, despite this, the law was not repealed until after Jefferson left