IN SENATE, January 31, 1833, STATE OF NEW-YORK, Resolved, That there be printed four times the usual number of copies of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, Mr. Madison's report on the Virginia Resolutions in 1799, and also Mr. Madison's Letter to the editor of the North American Review, in August, 1830. By order. JOHN F. BACON, Clerk. MESSAGE From Governor Jay, of the 12th January, 1799, accompanying Resolutions from Virginia and Kentucky. GENTLEMEN, Certain Resolutions of the Legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky having been officially transmitted to me for the purpose of being laid before you, they accompany this message. JOHN JAY. Resolutions of the Legislature of Virginia relative to the Alien and Sedition Laws. VIRGINIA TO WIT. IN THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES, Resolved, That the General Assembly of Virginia doth unequivocally express a firm resolution to maintain and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of this State, against every aggression, either foreign or domestic, and that they will support the government of the United States in all measures, warranted by the former. That this Assembly most solemnly declares a warm attachment to the union of the States, to maintain which it pledges its powers; and that for this end it is their duty to watch over and oppose every infraction of those principles which constitute the only basis of that union, because a faithful observance of them can alone secure its existence, and the public happiness. That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the powers of the Federal Government as resulting from the compact, to which the states are parties; as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting that compact; as no farther valid than they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact, and that in case of a deliberate, palpable and dangerous exercise of other powers not granted by the said compact, the States who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits the authorities, rights and liberties appertaining to them. That the General Assembly doth also express its deep regret that a spirit has, in sundry instances, been manifested by the Federal Government, to enlarge its powers by forced constructions of the constitutional charter which defines them; and that indications have appeared of a design to expound certain general phrases, (which having been copied from the very limited grant of powers in the former articles of confederation, were the less liable to be misconstrued,) so as to destroy the meaning and effect of the particular enumeration, which necessarily explains and limits the |