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Resolutions passed by the Virginia Legislature in 1798, in antagonism to the loose construction view of the Federalists. The passage of the Alien and Sedition laws was the direct cause of their adoption. They were framed by James Madison and sent to the legislatures of the other States, by which they were not approved. They declared the Union to be a compact, each party to which had a right to "interpose" in order to protect and defend itself against infringements of the compact. They regretted the introduction of a broad construction of the constitution, as tending toward a monarchy. They protested against the Alien and Sedition laws as unconstitutional. With the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 and 1799, these were the foundations of the later doctrines of nullification and secession.