States' Rights vs. Federal Power or The Way Our Founding Fathers Meant For It to Be

A Federal government out of control, usurping their delegated rights, a national debt running in the trillions of dollars, less than half of the registered voters going to the voting booths, liberal gun control, an immense ignorance of the United States Constitution by a vast majority of Americans. This is not the United States our Founding Fathers planned and envisioned for this constitutional republic. Power has been drastically taken from the States and abused by the Federal government at the great expense of the individual States and "We the People". It could be said that the letter and spirit of the Constitution is dead, especially in far off bureaucratic Washington D.C. The phrase and ideas of States' Rights are taboo to the liberal fat cat bureaucrats and all too many Americans in general. However, our colonial Forefathers did not plan for America to run down the road of centralized, tyrannical governments, after all that is what they broke away from in 1776. Now the question arises, "What abuses are the Federal government committing" and "What rights do the States have that the Federal government does not?

"First, we must examine what the States' rights are. States' rights are those rights that were not delegated to the Federal government by the Constitution, which was the majority. It should be noted that the Federal government's rights were not surrendered but merely delegated by the states with the understanding that they could be withdrawn at any time. Also, the states still maintained their sovereignty after ratifying the Constitution, which is shown by the restrictions placed on the Federal government, the limited amount of rights delegated to them, and the Bill of Rights, chiefly the 10th Amendment. "[An] act of the Congress of the United States...which assumes powers... not delegated by the Constitution, is not law, but is altogether void and of no force", Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, said concerning the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. Jefferson knew that the state governments were established as the immediate safeguards of the people's liberties and why most of the rights were reserved to the states, even that where a state can nullify a Federal law because of that law's unconstitutionality. The states were the main check against any encroachments performed by the Federal government on the people's liberties, however, now things have changed, not in the least for the better.

To be clearer, we shall also examine which rights were delegated to the Federal government by the Constitution. The Federal government was delegated only limited rights. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution specifically states what the Federal Congress is permitted to do, however, right thereafter, Section 9, it states what Congress is forbidden to perform. It should also be noted that throughout the Constitution it authorizes what the Federal government can and cannot do, although there is only one section, Article I, Section 10, that put restrictions on the States. Our Founding Fathers knew the general government should be limited and small with the majority of power staying with the States and the people. James Madison said it perfectly when he stated, "The essence of Government is power; and power lodged, as it must be inhuman hands, will ever be liable to abuse." Therefore our Forefathers meant for the bulk of power to be placed with the States and the people.

To clarify what Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution declares, the said section is stated below:

Section. 8.

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States; To establish Post Offices and post Roads; To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries; To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations; To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District(not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. Now that the restrictions placed on the Federal government has been discussed along with the few, limited powers it possesses, it should be examined how the Federal government abuses it's powers (delegated & undelegated) and the wrong doings committed on the States and the people. The Federal government did not just become corrupt in modern times, but in 1798, President John Adams and Congress passed the Alien &Sedition Acts which prohibited the speaking out against the Federal government, and the Supreme Court upheld these laws in court! Our Founding Fathers knew the Federal government would try to encroach on the States' and people's rights. In this case Kentucky and Virginia passed resolutions written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison respectively nullifying these laws because of their unconstitutionality. Nullification of an unconstitutional Federal law by the States was, and still is, considered a check against the Federal government, besides the states composing the United States are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to the general government, as clearly shown in the Constitution. However, since the end of the War for Southern Independence the Federal government has become the sole judge of its jurisdiction and powers. The Federal government has basically abolished the system of checks and balances and the separation of powers through the creation of an unaccountable national bureaucracy that looks at states as only geographical boundaries and the public as the people they have to deceive to get re-elected.

"Government is not a solution to our problem, government IS the problem." A marvelous quote by Ronald Reagan and ever so correct. Over the past 50 years the Federal government has absolutely disregarded the Constitution, passed and enforced unconstitutional laws hazardous to the states and people, and trampled the people's constitutional, inalienable, and natural rights. Basically, it has become "politically correct". For example, unfunded mandates have been placed on most states by the general government. The Federal Congress has enacted laws that command states to raise the appropriate funds to fulfill the demands of the laws Congress has passed. However, nowhere in the Constitution does it give the Federal government the authority to enact unfunded mandates.

Another prime example of the Federal government's abuse of the Constitution and states' sovereignty is the Federal judges ruling of state laws as unconstitutional. To get at the heart of why this is corrupt it should be examined how our Founding Fathers tackled this issue. In the Constitutional Convention of 1787 it was proposed that Federal judges could rule on whether a state law was constitutional or not. This proposal was soundly defeated because this would impose on the states' sovereignty. As can be seen in the Constitution it does not state that Federal judges have this right. However, currently Federal judges have given themselves this right. Federal judges, for example, ruled term limit bills, passed by state legislatures and voted on by millions of Americans, unconstitutional. Additionally, in Alabama one Federal judge terminated school prayer in the whole state. If a state law is unconstitutional it is the duty and rights of the state judges to act accordingly not a Federal judge. Federal judges have no such jurisdiction.

One last issue to be voiced shall be the coercing and bribing of states by the Federal government. The general government has forced states into compliance with unconstitutional and immoral laws by threatening to withhold tax monies that came from the states. The tax money is not the Federal government's, it is the people's and the people can spend their money more efficiently than far-off Washington D.C. In one case, the Federal government threatened to keep back highway transportation money from states if those states did not raise their minimum ages for legal consumption of alcoholic beverages. In the past the Federal government unconstitutionally imposed the minimum age (nowhere in the Constitution does it give the Federal government this right), however, now they resort to threats and coercion.

This essay in no way covers all the abuses, wrong doings, and unconstitutional acts committed by the Federal government of the past or of the present. However, this essay is to open the eyes of Americans concerned for the United States and their personal liberties. The US is going down the wrong road unfortunately, but it is not too late to get back on the right one. America will only wake up when the people see and face these facts that many liberals and bureaucrats do not want the public to know because of their self-righteousness, greed, and corruption. The age of big government with all its many faults will come tumbling to an end in America when Americans retake their freedom. As Ronald Reagan said admirably "God Bless You and God Bless America". And please, read the Constitution.

I close this essay with picked quotes for you to ponder over:

"[The United States] can't be so fixed on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans..."-- President William Clinton, March 1, 1993 during a press conference in Piscataway, NJ source: Boston Globe, 3/2/93, page 3

"When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans..."-- Pres. William "Bill" Clinton, 3-22-94, MTV's "Enough is Enough"

"And so a lot of people say there's too much personal freedom. When personal freedom's being abused, you have to move to limit it. That's what we did in the announcement I made last weekend on the public housing projects, about how we're going to have weapon sweeps and more things like that to try to make people safer in their communities." President William "Bill" Clinton, 3-22-94, MTV's "Enough is Enough"

"Whenever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force." --Thomas Jefferson

"It is not the function of the government to keep the citizens from falling into error, it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error." - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson.

"Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread." - Thomas Jefferson,

"I can scarcely contemplate a greater calamity that could befall this country, than be loaded with a debt exceeding their ability ever to discharge. If this bea just remark, it is unwise and improvident to vest in the general government a power to borrow at discretion, without any limitation or restriction." - Brutus, The Anti-Federalist, 1787-88. (Our current national debt totals over $5 trillion that's 5,000,000,000)

"The Constitution has admitted the jurisdiction of the United States within the limits of the several States only so far as the delegated powers authorize; beyond that they are intruders and may be rightfully expelled." - John C. Calhoun

"It is every Americans' right and obligation to read and interpret the Constitution for himself."-- Thomas Jefferson

"Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." --Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence, 1776.Papers, 1:429

"Government has within it a tendency to abuse its powers." John C. Calhoun

"Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is a force, like fire: a dangerous servant and a terrible master". --George Washington

Senator Gary Hart: "Let's do away with income taxes."

Senator Howard Metzenbaum: "I don't care about crime, I just want to get the guns."

Senator Hubert Humphrey: "The right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against tyranny which now appears remote to in America, that historically has proven to be always possible."

Senator Paul Laxault: "The high-handed bureaucratic excesses of the IRS are a national disgrace ... riding roughshod over the taxpayers and making a joke out of our rule of laws."

"All powers granted by the Constitution are derived from the people of the United States; and may be resumed by them when perverted to their injury or oppression; and that every power not granted, remains with them, and at their will; and that no right of any description can be canceled, abridged, restrained, or modified by Congress, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the President, or any department or office of the United States." --John C. Calhoun

"What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them." --Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787. Papers, 12:356.

"The ultimate authority ... resides in the people alone." --James Madison, author of the Bill of Rights, in Federalist Paper No. 46.

"To disarm a people is the best and most effective way to enslave them." George Mason

"Damn the Constitution!" -- California Assembly Member Mike Roos (sponsor of the California Gun Ban, AB 357), in an Assembly hearing in 1989.

"...and if you don't have a sword, better sell your clothes and buy one. -Jesus Christ, Luke 22:36.

Ben Butler