[Virginia]:

$3,750 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

THE RESOLUTIONS OF VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY; PENNED BY MADISON AND JEFFERSON, IN RELATION TO THE ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS. An important printing of the momentous Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, penned by Jefferson and Madison, respectively, which came in notable response to the Federalist-created Alien and Sedition Acts. The Resolutions opposed passage of the acts, and focused the debate on the respective powers of the federal government and the states. They were also an important argument for personal liberty - for example, the third Kentucky Resolution contains a strong defense by Jefferson of freedom of speech and of the press. "The resolutions laid the foundation for later controversies over such issues as state sovereignty and nullification, slavery and secession, etc." - Cohen. Though this Richmond printing came at a time when the debate over states' rights and nullification was just beginning to approach, the preface very much emphasizes the conflict between "those rights which had been respectively reserved to the States and to the People...[and] the usurpations of the Federal Government. The preface goes on to warn of the current threat to liberties: "The rights of the States and of the People, are again assailed in an alarming manner. Doctrines are preached in high places which are directly at war with the principles of our Government. The Centripetal power is assuming a new and fearful energy." Notably, this is also the edition which Madison sent to Lafayett

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