What resolution claimed that the Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional?

The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions were pivotal documents that asserted the rights of states to challenge federal authority. Drafted in 1798 in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, these resolutions posited that states had the right to declare federal laws unconstitutional and thus not enforce them. The Alien and Sedition Acts, which restricted speech against the government and allowed for the deportation of non-citizens, were seen by the authors of these resolutions—Thomas Jefferson (Kentucky) and James Madison (Virginia)—as a violation of the First Amendment and an overreach of federal power.

By claiming the Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional, the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions laid the groundwork for later states' rights arguments and the theory of nullification, influencing the debate around the limits of federal government power versus states' rights throughout American history.