y Jefferson, the latter by Madison; and the
doctrines in each are essentially the same. It would have been a
perfectly natural thing for the two friends to consult together upon a
measure of so much importance; there is no reason why they should not
have done so; and these coincidences suggest that they probably did.
Jefferson clearly shirked the responsibility of an act which he knew
would endanger the Union; but Madison made no secret, so far as can be
seen now, of his going to Richmond, though not a member of the Assembly,
apparently for the express purpose of writing these resolutions and
urging their adoption. But Jefferson was not a man of courage even in
doing that which he believed to be wise. In Madison it was only the
conscience that was timid; and having once convinced himself that the
thing he proposed to do was right, he was always ready to face the
consequences. It may be that neither of them foresaw that the real
importance of this particular act was rather prospective than immediate;
and if so, their conduct is to be measured by its instant purpose. If
Jefferson meant then and there to dissolve the Union, or even to
weaken the constitutional bond that held it together, he was not
overcautious in keeping out of sight. But if Madison's intention was to
strengthen the Union by withstanding what he believed to be a perilous
violation of the Constitution, then his courage, though it is to be
commended, is not to be wondered at. That, he said, was his motive, and
to defend the resolutions and his own part in regard to them was the
chief interest and serious labor of the latter years of his life. He was
elected a member of the Assembly for the session of 1799-1800, probably
because he and his friends thought his official presence desirable when
the subject should again come up for consideration at the reading of the
replies from other States, to all which the resolutions had been sent.
The report on those replies was also written by him, and the position
taken the year before was therein reaffirmed, explained, and elaborated
at length.

In 1827-28 the doctrines of nullification and of secession were assumed
to be the legitimate corollary of the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions
of 1798 and 1799. Jefferson was dead; but Madison felt called upon to
deny, in his own defense and the defense of the memory of his friend,
that there was any similarity between them. From 1830 to 1836 his mind
seems to have been chiefly