Early Challenges in the Constitutional Republic
Guiding Questions
- Did the Virginia and Kentucky legislatures, in their Resolutions of 1798, have a constitutional basis for nullification of the Alien and Sedition Acts?
Objectives
- The student will describe the Alien and Sedition Acts.
- The student will make a reasonable argument about the constitutionality of the acts.
Educator Resources
- Alien and Sedition Acts – Constitutional? Handouts B – C Answer Keys
- Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions Handouts D – E Answer Keys
Student Handouts
- Virtue
- Bill of Rights
- John Adams
- Thomas Jefferson
- Constitution
- James Madison
- Republic
- First Amendment
- Founders
- Liberty
- abridge
Watch “War: Presidents and the Constitution” by BRI (first couple of minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdLSZ-3AR6k&ab_channel=BillofRightsInstitute
Have students read the Early Challenges in the Constitutional Republic Essay.
Make 6 enlarged copies of Handout B and post them on the wall for the gallery walk activity.
Have a student read the First Amendment to the Constitution from Handout A and ask students what it means to “abridge” freedom of speech or press and what that might look like.
Distribute Handout A: The First Amendment and Handout B: The Alien and Sedition Acts. Read and discuss the documents as a class, paraphrasing it section by section in the course of the reading and discussion. Assign one section to each pair or trio of students, instructing them to talk through the questions in the right hand column on Handout B, and to underline the phrases to which the First Amendment is relevant.
Optional: watch the close reading webinar by BRI about the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts
After students have completed their work, distribute Handout C: The Acts and the First Amendment and send them on a “gallery walk” around the room. Each small group should start at the section to which they were assigned and transfer their margin notes and their notes from Handout C to the corresponding part of the enlarged copy of the text. Small groups should rotate in unison, clockwise. Beginning with the second stop, students will begin to take notes based on those left by the students who were assigned that section of the Acts. Once all groups have completed the “gallery walk,” conduct a large-group discussion based on their Handout C notes and culminating in an evaluation of the Alien and Sedition Acts in light of the First Amendment.
Distribute Handout D: The Virginia Resolution (1798) and Handout E: The Kentucky Resolutions (1798). Students should do a close reading of the Resolutions in order to answer the Critical Thinking Questions that follow. Alternatively, use the questions as a guide for classroom discussion of the Resolutions.
Conclude the class with an Exit Slip on which students answer the question: To what extent did the Virginia and Kentucky legislatures, in their Resolutions of 1798, have a constitutional basis for nullification of the Alien and Sedition Acts? Explain.
Assign students to watch and take notes on the 1918 Sedition Act Close Read and be prepared to discuss in class.
Use this extension activity from the related resource below, which goes into a little more depth about the responses to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions highlighted in the activity: “While the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions condemned the Alien and Sedition Acts, ten of the fourteen states responded to those resolutions by issuing proclamations that condemned state interference with federal law, and, in some cases asserting, the constitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Have students read the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions as well as the responses of Rhode Island and New Hampshire in response to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. Compare and contrast the arguments.
The documents can be found at: https://bit.ly/vakyresolutions and responses can be found at: oll.libertyfund.org/pages/1798-counter-resolutions-of-other-states
Student Handouts
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