the theory that the U.S. Constitution was an agreement between the sovereign states creating a federal government of limited powers with the states retaining all other powers. The states could decide if and when the compact was broken. The theory was first expressed in the
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions and is a key component of the
states' rights doctrine and the doctrine of
nullification; it also asserts a state's right to secede from the Union.
John C. Calhoun was a leading exponent of the compact theory.
