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225. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, 1798~99.
225．弗吉尼亞州和肯塔基州的決議（1798~1799年）
In the exciting years before the Revolutionary War the colonial legislatures had passed many resolutions condemning the acts of the British government. Following this example Jefferson and Madison now brought it about that the Virginia and Kentucky legislatures passed resolutions against the Alien and Sedition Acts. They declared that the Constitution was a compact between the states. It followed from this that any state could determine for itself whether any act of Congress were constitutional or not. It followed from, this, again, that any state could refuse to permit an Act of Congress to be enforced within its limits. In other words, any state could make null or nullify any Act of Congress that it saw fit to oppose. This last conclusion was found only in the Kentucky Resolutions of 1799. But Jefferson wrote to this effect in the original draft of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions called the voter's attention to the Federalist abuse of power and did much to form public opinion.
在革命戰爭之前的令人激動的幾年間，殖民地立法機關通過了許多譴責英國政府的議案。以此為榜樣，杰佛遜和麥迪遜如法炮制，鼓動弗吉尼亞州和肯塔基州的立法機關通過法律反對《客籍法案》和《懲治煽動叛亂法案》，他們宣稱憲法是各個州都要遵守的合約，由此可以知道任何一個州自身都可以決定國會的舉措是否符合憲法，而且，由此可以知道任何一個州都可以拒絕接受國會在其職能范圍內給以強化的任何法案，換言之，只要認為有反對的必要，任何一個州都可以使得國會做出的某個議案無效或作廢。最后一個結論只在《1799年肯塔基州決議》中兌現，但杰斐遜在1798年肯塔基州決議的原稿中寫出了這個大意，弗吉尼亞州和肯塔基州的決議提醒了投票者注意聯邦黨人對職權的濫用，并為形成公共輿論做出了貢獻。
