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“The Sedition Act's violations of the First Amendment were obvious. But the enactment of this law led to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (authored by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison), parts of which I now highlight (with emphasis). It is important to note how the States fought the federal government's new quest for power over the States:”

Jefferson had no problem restricting the freedom of the press as long as it was done at the state level rather than at the Federal level. He was a political civil rights advocate when it suited him....e.g., attempting to railroad Burr for treason. Watch what he did rather than what he said.
Also Jefferson, Madison and Monroe were States Right advocates; whose beliefs ultimately resulted in Lincoln's war on the southern states.

“...That if any person shall write, print, utter or publish, or shall cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered or published, or shall knowingly and willingly assist or aid in writing, printing, uttering or publishing any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either house of the Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States, with intent to defame the said government, or either house of the said Congress, or the said President, or to bring them, or either of them, into contempt or disrepute; or to excite against them, or either or any of them, the hatred of the good people of the United States, or to stir up sedition within the United States, or to excite any unlawful combinations therein, for opposing or resisting any law of the United States, or any act of the President of the United States, done in pursuance of any such law, or of the powers in him vested by the constitution of the United States, or to resist, oppose, or defeat any such law or act, or to aid, encourage or abet any hostile designs of any foreign nation against United States, their people or government, then such person, being thereof convicted before any court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment not exceeding two years.”

Sounds like a plank of the dumbles platform for the “fairness doctrine”

Madison was on both sides of this issue over the years. He started out with Hamilton favoring a greater national sovereignty. He switched to Jefferson's position in favor of states' rights in the controversy over the Alien and Sedition Acts. Then he went right back to his old position during the South Carolina Nullification Crisis. In the last years of his life, Madison burned papers left and right to try and obscure the paper trail and create the impression that he had been consistent over the years.

Once the nullification crisis had passed and tempers had cooled, Madison wrote a pamphlet, also published in many newspapers, refuting John Calhoun's doctrines of interposition and nulliication. He offered Calhoun the opportunity to respond and debate the issue together in the press. Calhoun dismissed Madison as senile and said he would not engage in a battle of wits with a half-armed man. This was unfortunate. The post-crisis debate between Calhoun and Webster had aleady taken place. A debate in the press between Calhoun and Madison would have had a salutary effect on defining the states' rights issue.

I still strongly recommend that FReepers read Forrest McDonald's classis States' Rights and the Union, which is his masterpiece.