Compact theory

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The compact theory is a theory relating to the development of the Constitution of the United States of America, claiming that the formation of the nation was through a compact by all of the states individually and that the national government is consequently a creation of the states. Concordantly, states should be the final judges of whether the national government had overstepped the boundaries of the "compact". A leading exponent of this theory was John C. Calhoun.

Using this theory, Thomas Jefferson claimed that the Alien and Sedition Acts were examples of the government overstepping its authority, and advocated nullification of the laws by the states. The first resolution of the Kentucky Resolutions begins by stating "that the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government; but that by compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States and of amendments thereto…"

In the Canadian context, compact theory posits that the creation of the Canadian federation was one that consisted of the union of provinces. This theory is in direct opposition to the view that Canada was the creation of the union of "two peoples," a theory often advanced by Quebec nationalists.