Mr. Laubach - APUSH - Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (in reaction to the Alien and Sedition Acts)

Guiding Questions:
1. What political conflict led to the creation of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions?
2. What were the Alien and Sedition Acts, and why were they controversial?
3. How did the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans differ in their views on these laws?
4. Who wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, and why did they remain anonymous at the time?
5. How did Thomas Jefferson and James Madison’s perspectives differ when drafting the resolutions?
6. What is the doctrine of nullification, as outlined in the Kentucky Resolutions?
7. How did Madison’s concept of interposition in the Virginia Resolutions differ from Jefferson’s idea of nullification?
8. What is the compact theory, and how did it relate to the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions?
9. Why are the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions considered important in American constitutional history?
10. How did the ideas introduced by these resolutions influence later political events, such as the Nullification Crisis and the Civil War?
11. In what ways do these resolutions connect to modern debates about states’ rights and federal power?