State Documents on Federal Relations/13

by Herman V. Ames

13. Connecticut to Virginia,^[1] May, 1799.

At a General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, holden at Hartford, in the said State, on the second Thursday of May, Anno Domini 1799, his excellency, the Governor, having communicated to this Assembly sundry resolutions of the Legislature of Virginia, adopted in December, 1798, which relate to the measures of the general government, and the said resolutions having been considered, it is

Resolved, That this Assembly views with deep regret, and explicitly disavows, the principles contained in the aforesaid resolutions, and particularly the opposition to the "Alien and Sedition Acts"—acts which the Constitution authorized, which the exigency of the country rendered necessary, which the constituted authorities have enacted, and which merit the entire approbation of this Assembly. They, therefore, decidedly refuse to concur with the legislature of Virginia in promoting any of the objects attempted in the aforesaid resolutions.

And it is further resolved, That his excellency, the Governor, be requested to transmit a copy of the foregoing resolutions to the Governor of Virginia, that it may be communicated to the Legislature of that State.

[Passed both branches unanimously; Elliot's Va. and Ky. Res., 14.]

1. For reply to Kentucky, cf. Amer. Hist. Review, v, 247, 248.