1.) What is the idea of a “living Constitution”? In what way could it be argued that the American Revolution was a war against a “living Constitution”?
Living Constitution is something used to describe the Constitution’s ability to change to meet the needs of each generation without major changes. This is a concept used in interpreting the Constitution of U.S.
The problem here is that the American colony wanted the constitution to not change overtime due to changes within every generation. So, in that sense it is argued that for this reason the American revolution fought against the “living constitution”.
2.) What is nullification? Discuss one example from U.S. history in which the a state or group of states acted in the spirit of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798.
Nullification is basically cancelling the effects of the first thing. For example, using an antidote for the effects of a snakebite is a good example of nullification, because the antidote is something used to cancel the first thing (which was the snakebite).
The Kentucky Resolutions were introduced in the Kentucky House of Representatives by John Breckinridge and adopted in November of 1798. The Virginia Resolutions were sponsored in the Virginia House of Delegates by John Taylor and adopted in December 1798. The Resolutions declared that the several states are united by compact under the Constitution.
The chosen response, the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, was especially controversial because of Jefferson’s claim that states could “nullify” federal action which they believed to be unconstitutional and Madison’s claim that states could “interpose” to block such federal action.
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