But in general the Federalist leaders were so carried away by the excitement of the times that they could not practice moderation.  Their zealotry was sustained by political theories which made no distinction between partisanship and sedition.  The constitutional function of partisanship was discerned and stated by Burke in 1770, but his definition of it, as a joint endeavor to promote the national interest upon some particular principle, was scouted at the time and was not allowed until long after.  The prevailing idea in Washington’s time, both in England and America, was that partisanship was inherently pernicious and ought to be suppressed.  Washington’s Farewell Address warned the people “in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party.”  The idea then was that government was wholly the affair of constituted authority, and that it was improper for political activity to surpass the appointed bounds.  Newspaper criticism and partisan oratory were among the things in Washington’s mind when he censured all attempts “to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities.”  Hence judges thought it within their province to denounce political agitators when charging a grand jury.  Chief Justice Ellsworth, in a charge delivered in Massachusetts, denounced “the French system-mongers, from the quintumvirate at Paris to the Vice-President and minority in Congress, as apostles of atheism and anarchy, bloodshed, and plunder.”  In charges delivered in western Pennsylvania, Judge Addison dealt with such subjects as Jealousy of Administration and Government, and the Horrors of Revolution.  Washington, then in private life, was so pleased with the series that he sent a copy to friends for circulation.

Convictions under the sedition law were few, but there were enough of them to cause great alarm.  A Jerseyman, who had expressed a wish that the wad of a cannon, fired as a salute to the President, had hit him on the rear bulge of his breeches, was fined $100.  Matthew Lyon of Vermont, while canvassing for reelection to Congress, charged the President with “unbounded thirst for ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation, and a selfish avarice.”  This language cost him four months in jail and a fine of $1000.  But in general the law did not repress the tendencies at which it was aimed but merely increased them.

The Republicans, too weak to make an effective stand in Congress, tried to interpose state authority.  Jefferson drafted the Kentucky Resolutions, adopted by the state legislature in November, 1798.  They hold that the Constitution is a compact to which the States are parties, and that “each party has an equal right to judge for itself as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.”  The alien and sedition laws were denounced, and steps were proposed by which protesting States “will concur in declaring these Acts void and of no force,