tional by some, and the question has not even yet been definitely settled.

Resolutions drawn up by Jefferson, but modified by the mover, George Nicholas, were passed by the Legislature of Kentucky, November 10, 1798, asserting that the Alien and Sedition Laws were "altogether void and of no force;" and the Legislature of Virginia voted, December 21, in words dictated by Madison, that they were "palpable and alarming infractions of the Constitution." Jefferson would

have made these utterances stronger, and said that the laws were an experiment to ascertain whether the people would submit to measures positively contrary to the Constitution, and, if successful, would lead directly to a life Presidency, a hereditary Presidency, and a Senate chosen for life.

The Legislatures of Delaware, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont, promptly expressed their disapproval of the doctrine that a State retained the power to nullify an act of Congress. The action of Vermont was taken on the thirtieth of October, 1799, and on the fourteenth of the following month, the Legislature of Virginia passed another resolution on the subject, still further expressing its views, in reply to these States.

Madison said that while he considered that a State might judge of the constitutionality of an act of Congress, it could not nullify one, nor, in any event, was it by the Legislature, but by a convention that it should take action. The Legislature of Virginia declared, years afterwards, that South Carolina was not supported by the resolutions of '1798 in her doctrine of nullification, and as early as 1830, when the

THE KENTUCKY AND VIRGINIA RESOLUTIONS. 375

nullification doctrines first assumed a name and an importance, Madison declared that the resolutions were declaratory only; simply expressions of sentiment; did not support nullification, and did not look to means of maintaining the rights of the State beyond the regular ones within the forms of the Constitution. He said that Jefferson would not have sustained South Carolina, and drew graphic pictures of the disorders that would have followed successful nullification.* The avowedly temporary nature of the acts complained of by Kentucky and Virginia, strongly suggests that they had none of the sinister intents mentioned. by Jefferson, and certainly there was no effort made of the character that his vivid imagination represented as possible, if not probable.

When Talleyrand learned the feeling that had been roused by his acts, he hastened to counteract the result of his rashness. He sent assurances through the American minister at the Hague, that a new mission would be received, and one was sent with more decided instructions. The new ambassadors found Bonaparte at the head of French affairs as first consul. He was acute enough to wish to have America an ally, rather than to see her ranged against him on the side of England; and in October, 1800, a treaty of peace

* In August, 1830, Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, asked Mr. Madison to express his opinions on these subjects, and the result was an elaborate letter from the aged Virginian, which Mr. Everett published in the North American Review. It is found also in "Madison's Writings," iv, 95. These statements were consistent with the expressions of Mr. Madison made in the convention of 1787, when he supported the "National" plan and said that "guards were more necessary against encroachments of the State governments on the general government than of the latter on the former.

was concluded which, however, did not decide all questions in dispute. It left open the settlement of claims for French spoliation.

Before this treaty had been effected, the country lost the guiding hand that had led it through the Revolution, and the mind that had given it counsels from time to time since. Washington died at Mount Vernon, December 14, 1799, and the whole land united in heartfelt mourning. Richard Henry Lee, in his address before Congress, delivered in his honor, declared Washington "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen,"* distinctly setting him upon the high pinnacle from which no one of his countrymen has since tried or wished to move him. Washington's sympathies with the Federalists had made him during his later years the object of most vituperative abuse from the opposite party, but since the temporary clamor of the time has passed away, the hero's character has shone only more bright, and the affections of his countrymen have grown warmer and deeper.

The feeling of opposition to the Alien and Sedition acts, especially in the interior, was powerful in leading to the election of an anti-Federalist or Democrat instead of Adams, and the power of the Federal party passed away when Thomas Jefferson was chosen President, at the fourth election. Jefferson entered upon his career as President March 4, 1801, the seat of government having been transferred to Washington

* These oft-quoted words were first used in connection with the name of Washington, by Colonel Lee, in resolutions introduced in the House of Representatives the day after the great chief's death, and prefaced with appropriate remarks by John Marshall, afterwards Chief Tustice.