The federalist party had passed the alien and sedition acts to regulate the strong opinions of the republicans. These laws violated the freedoms of the first amendment granted to the people, and prosecuted them for speaking out. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison protested the laws by writing the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, which asked the states to declare the laws null. They thought that "nullification was the rightful remedy". Virginia and Kentucky were the only states that voted for this nullification, which is to make a law invalid.