Quotes · Quote card
Quotation from The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson
“this government, created by this compact, was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself, since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.”
The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, Resolution 1 (Elliot's Debates, vol. 4 (1836), via Wikisource)
Jefferson's argument that the states, as parties to the compact, may judge whether the general government has exceeded its powers.
Citation: "this government, created by this compact, was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself, since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress." — James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, Resolution 1 (Elliot's Debates, vol. 4 (1836), via Wikisource). (id virginia-and-kentucky-resolutions-q4)
Portrait: Rembrandt Peale - Thomas Jefferson, Rembrandt Peale, Public domain.
