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Tenth Amendment

The Constitution sets forth the boundaries of federalism with the enumeration of Congress' powers in Article I, Section 8; the undefined powers implied by the Necessary and Proper Clause; the General Welfare Clause; the Supremacy Clause; and the Tenth Amendment's reservation of powers to the states "or to the people." .
             In December of 1791, Virginia became the ninth state to ratify the Bill of Rights, thus assuring its inclusion in the newly created Constitution. The reserved powers proposal (originally the Twelfth Amendment) became the Tenth Amendment when the first two proposed amendments failed to garner enough votes in the state ratification process. The Anti-Federalists coalesced around a common view that the unamended Constitution was inadequate because it lacked a Bill of Rights. Several states, including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, South Carolina, and Virginia, adopted recommendatory amendments for the new government to consider at their ratification conventions. The Philadelphia Convention, however, made it explicit to the states that acceptance of the new Constitution must be in toto and without conditions. In an extraordinary political maneuver, the Federalists decided to accept recommendatory amendments in order to blunt their detractors' criticism that the Constitution infringed upon civil liberties. They convinced the Anti- Federalists in the state conventions to pass the new constitution with the implicit agreement that the first Congress would propose that a Bill of Rights be added to the document -- an agreement President Washington reminded the new Congress to honor in his inaugural address of 1789 (Schwartz. 1118).
             Several states proposed amendments that would have reserved all powers to themselves not "expressly" or "clearly" delegated to the new national government in the Constitution. This language was a significant issue in the congressional debates over the Bill of Rights.


Essays Related to Tenth Amendment

1. The Right to Bear Arms

The meaning then of the Second Amendment is made quite clear. ... Along with this argument, the NRA and other groups in opposition of gun control argue that the first, fourth, ninth, and tenth amendments are all constructed to refer to the citizens as individuals and not as a collective state. If one is to give a rational interpretation of the collective view to the constitution, then one would have to assume that the Framers referred to the individuals in the first, fourth, and ninth amendments; to the states in the second amendment, and then separated the states and the people in the te...

  • Word Count: 1672
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

2. The second Amendment

And in the Bill of Rights holds the Second Amendment. ... The Second Amendment, along with the other Amendments and Constitution is for the people, by the people. ... They aren't being consistent, they can't say that the right of the people is in the First, Third, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments, but not in the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth. ... In the Second Amendment it consists of the word "militia". ... In the first 10 Amendments, they specified rights. ...

  • Word Count: 1807
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

3. jeffersonian hypocrisy

In accordance with the tenth amendment of the constitution, Jefferson was correct in saying the National bank was unconstitutional; however, his involvement in the Louisiana purchase and Fletcher vs Peck trial prove his inconsistency with his strict constructionist viewpoints. According to the tenth amendment of the constitution, Jefferson was correct in his decree that the national bank was unconstitutional. The tenth amendment reserves all powers not delegated to the national government reserved to the states respectively. ... The National Bank violated the tenth amendment of the cons...

  • Word Count: 977
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. The Bill of Rights

The fourth amendment through the eighth amendment protect against arbitrary police and court action. ... The fifth amendment provides four rights. ... The seventh amendment only pertains to civil court cases. ... The ninth and the tenth amendments protect states" rights and unnamed rights of people. ... The tenth amendment states that "Powers not delegated to the United States or denied to states are reserved to the states." ...

  • Word Count: 999
  • Approx Pages: 4

5. Gambling

The Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution in the Bill of Rights respectfully states "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people". ... This Amendment states the individual's choice about how to spend ones money. ... The government's inability to respect the individual citizens choice to waste their money any way the desire violets the Constitution and the Tenth Amendment of the Bill of Rights. ...

  • Word Count: 747
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Political Philosophies of the Republican Party

On February 15, 1791, Thomas Jefferson gave his opinion on the constitutionality of a National Bank by quoting the Tenth Amendment stating that "all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.... Many Republicans found the Sedition Act offensive, saying it limited the First Amendment by limiting free speech. ... " The Tenth Amendment of the Constitution grants the States many powers and the Republicans feel that the Federal government didn't have the right to add more power to th...

  • Word Count: 902
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Federal

The Tenth Amendment lays down all other powers that are reserved for the states. ... In addition, cooperative federalism does not see the Tenth Amendment as providing additional powers to the states. ... Furthermore, the Court found that the regulation of production was reserved by the Tenth Amendment to the states. ... Garcia has had two significant impacts on federalism: firstly, under Garcia the Supreme Court held that the Tenth Amendment does not protect state and local governments from compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, which is a clear example of opposition to the concept o...

  • Word Count: 1635
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Bill of Rights

In all 124 amendments were made by these States. ... The second amendment reserves the right to bear arms. ... The tenth amendment said that all laws not in the Constitution would be decided upon the states and the people. ... The Amendments to the Constitution : A Commentary. ... Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments and Amending Issues 1789-1995. ...

  • Word Count: 1410
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

9. bill of rights

Does the Bill of Rights of the United States really guarantee our liberties? The Bill of Rights was created to limit the FEDERAL government's powers. As such, it it does not apply to the states, per se, except as a good example of what a state constitution should include. The purpose of the feder...

  • Word Count: 381
  • Approx Pages: 2

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