States,' have violated that clause in the Constitution of the United States which declares that 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.'
"And I do further solemnly declare that I do verily believe, if the President of the United States hath approved the said act, and if any of the judges have by any official transaction endeavored to enforce it, that they have also violated that part of the Constitution."
This was followed up by "a letter to a friend in Virginia," which he caused to be printed and very widely circulated, giving a clear expression to his views. Here the active part taken by Nicholas ceased. An error has crept into many of the ablest histories of the United States, to the effect that he introduced the Resolutions into the Kentucky House of Representatives in November, 1798, but he was not a member of that body, and the error is one of comparatively recent origin.
On the 22d of August, a writer who signed himself Philo-Agis, and who voted against the otherwise unanimous resolutions of Clark County, discussed the situation in a letter to the Kentucky Gazette. He explains that his opposition to the action taken in Clark did not arise out of any friendship for the principles enunciated in the Alien and Sedition laws, but out of a hesitancy to adopt the measures proposed by the Resolutions. He then proceeded to express his opinion of the proper course to be
