When Americans have gone to war, measures to protect national security have often conflicted with civil liberties guaranteed in the Constitution. This conflict, inherent in American political culture, first appeared in 1798 during America's quasi-war with France. The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were part of the Democratic Republican response to the Adams administration's attempts to curb civil liberties during that war. Drafted secretly by Thomas Jefferson (the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 and 1799) and James Madison (the Virginia Resolutions of 1798), the Resolutions were a formal protest by the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia against the Alien and Sedition Acts that the Federalist-dominated Congress had passed in 1798 in the name of protecting national security.

Among other things, the Alien and Sedition Acts created a registration and surveillance system for aliens residing in the United States, provided the executive branch with the authority...