The Power of the Feds

A basic right of every American is the freedom to criticize government,
yet some forget that 200 years ago, the Federalist-dominated governmen
passed the Alien and Sedition Acts. In his Freedom Daily review
of a new book about the battle over the Acts, George Leef described “an
enlightening work on an important aspect of American history and
government that has been almost forgotten.” Reclaiming the American Revolution,
by Williams J. Watkins Jr. details the contributions of Thomas
Jefferson and James Madison to the debate, which grew from thoughts
they espoused on state nullification of federal laws in the Kentucky
and Virginia Resolutions. “The crucial point,” Leef wrote, “is that
they both regarded the states, not the courts, as the bulwark of the
people’s liberties.”