In the late 1700's, the newborn country of America was struggling to survive among the vast realm of tribulation around them. Under President John Adams, rumor of war with France emerged as a previous treaty made between the United States and Britain "Jay's treaty-- outraged France. Aside from the conflict with France, discord was found among the two major political parties of the time, Federalists and Anti-Federalists, or Jeffersonians. Because there was an upcoming election in 1800, these two parties were fiercely competing for public popularity. In response to the Jeffersonians efforts to gain this support and inform people of the Federalist's faults, John Adams, a federalist president, created a controversial act known as the Sedition Act of 1798. Outraged by the terms of this act, Kentucky and Virginia each passed their own Resolutions that would later be viewed as unpromising signals towards the future of nullification. .
The Sedition Act of 1798 was, according to Jeffersonians, a direct violation of Amendment I of the Bill of Rights which states that congress does not have the right to interfere with the people's freedom of speech or press. It was primarily created to silence the republican or Jeffersonian criticism of the Federalists that had been taking place and also to destroy Thomas Jefferson's Republican Party, who was running for office against John Adams. Under this act, anyone who deliberately posed a threat to the government and its leaders were prosecuted and liable to a large monetary fine or imprisonment. Because the government was federalist-controlled, many Jeffersonian newspaper editors were locked up for printing demeaning stories about Adams. Although this act was clearly a violation of the first Amendment, the Supreme Court, which had a federalist majority, claimed that it was by no means unconstitutional. However, they designed these acts to terminate in 1801 in case they lost the upcoming election.