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Difficulty: HardPolitics, Hamilton's Plan, and Foreign Policy in the New Republic

"Resolved, That the several States composing, the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a general government for special purposes — delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force."
— Kentucky Resolutions, 1798

Which of the following historical developments during the 1790s best explains the political position expressed in the excerpt?

  1. A
    The demand by Federalists to align United States foreign policy with the revolutionary government of France.
  2. B
    The broad bipartisan support for federal assumption of state debts to stabilize the national economy.
  3. The passage of federal laws designed to suppress domestic political opposition and restrict civil liberties.Answer
  4. D
    The growing consensus that the decentralized structure of the Articles of Confederation should be restored.

Answer

The passage of federal laws designed to suppress domestic political opposition and restrict civil liberties.
The correct answer is correct because the Kentucky Resolutions were written in direct response to the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 by the Federalist majority in Congress. These laws criminalized critical speech against the federal government, which Democratic-Republicans saw as a direct violation of the First Amendment and an overreach of constitutional authority.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus text to identify its origin and political argument.
The excerpt is from the Kentucky Resolutions (1798), which argues that states entered a compact (the Constitution) and have the right to declare federal acts void if the federal government exceeds its delegated powers.
Understanding the source material is necessary to contextualize the political debate.
2
Identify the historical context prompting the author to write this resolution.
The Federalist-led Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798 to suppress political opposition from Democratic-Republicans during the Quasi-War.
Connecting the source to its immediate cause helps identify the correct explanation.
3
Evaluate the answer choices to find the historical development that matches this context.
The choice referencing federal laws targeting domestic opposition and restricting civil liberties corresponds directly to the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Matching the contextual cause to the correct description yields the correct answer.

Key Concept

The debate over federal power, the emergence of the first party system, and reactions to the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Estimated Time:2m 0s
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Topics

Politics, Hamilton's Plan, and Foreign Policy in the New Republic

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