Those resolutions were transmitted to Congress by President Madison. They were never acted upon.
My next reference is to the Remonstrance of the State of Massachusetts against the War of 1812, adopted June 18th, 1813—from the American State Papers, vol. 21, page 210:
"The Legislature of Massachusetts, deeply impressed with the sufferings of their constituents, and excited by the apprehension of still greater evils in prospect, feel impelled by a solemn sense of duty to lay before the National Government their views of the public interests, and to express, with the plainness of freemen, the sentiments of the people of this ancient and extensive Commonwealth.
"Although the precise limits of the powers reserved to the several State sovereignties have not been defined by the Constitution, yet we fully concur in the correctness of the opinions advanced by our venerable Chief Magistrate, that our Constitution secures to us the freedom of speech, and that, at this momentous period, it is our right and duty to inquire into the grounds and origin of the present war, to reflect upon the state of public affairs, and to express our sentiments concerning them with decency and frankness, and to endeavor, so far as our limited influence extends, to promote, by temperate and constitutional means, an honorable reconciliation. * * * The States, as well as the individuals composing them, are parties to the National Compact; and it is their peculiar duty, especially in times of peril, to watch over the rights and guard the privileges solemnly guaranteed by that instrument."
There were also a set of resolutions, which I will not take time to read, passed by the Legislature of New Jersey, November 27th, 1827, which will be found in the American State Papers, vol. 21, page 797. They were based upon the then prevalent opinion that the Constitution had not conferred upon the Supreme Court of the United States the power to decide disputed questions of boundary, or similar questions, between States of the Union, and proposed an amendment to remedy that difficulty, expressly recognizing that the right to resort to force in such cases necessarily resulted from the omission. The decision of the Supreme Court, in the case of Rhode Island vs. Massachusetts, that it possessed that jurisdiction, conjured that danger. The greater one, however, of there being no tribunal to administer justice between the federal and State sovereignties, remains.
I will also refer to one other resolution, passed by the Legislature of the State of New York, on the 29th January, 1833, upon the Nullification Ordinances, as they were called:
"Resolved, That we regard the right of a single State to make void within its limits the laws of the United States, as set forth in the Ordinance of South Carolina, as wholly unauthorized by the Constitution of the United States, and, in its tendency, subversive to the Union and the Government thereof."
I do not know that any sane man will now dispute that truth; but this follows. The present Secretary of State of the United States, at that time a member of the Senate of this State, then moved:
"That this Legislature do adhere, in their construction of the Constitution, to the principle that the reserved rights of the States, not conceded to the General Government, ought to be maintained and defended."
This latter resolution was indefinitely postponed.