Essay On The Tenth Amendment

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According to the Tenth Amendment in the Bill of Rights: “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.” Though last in the Bill of Rights, it is one of the most powerful and ever changing in interpretation over the course of America’s history. Some historical events that altered its meaning include the Civil War, The Civil Right’s Movement, and even modern event’s like the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage. In this paper I will discuss how the Tenth amendment has a large effect in both America’s history, but also how it is now portrayed America’s present.
The tenth amendment has altered and changed in history as a result …show more content…

The Founding Fathers had multiple reasons on why they created a federalist government, the main reasons were avoiding a tyranny, more people participating in politics, and “experimenting” the states in order to find new government ideas and programs James Madison stated the Federalist Papers, The Federalist, No. 10, If "factious leaders kindle a flame within their particular states," the national, or federal government, can "conflagration through the other states." Federalism and the 10th amendment prevents one to take control of a state or the federal government, avoiding tyranny. The idea of having more people evolved in government came from the ideals of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson believed having both local (state) and national (federal) officials would increase participation in government.The last concept with using states as “experiments” comes from this concept: let us say that a state disastrous new policy, it would not be a disaster for everyone. In contrast, if one state 's new programs or policies work well, other states can adopt them to their own …show more content…

According to a piece of literature “Constitutional Myth #7: The 10th Amendment Protects States ' Rights” by Epps, he states that the concept of states ' rights outdated by 1860. He explains that the original thirteen colonies in the 1700s, separated from England, were making own decisions and ignoring the rules imposed on them from abroad. During the American Revolution, the founding fathers compromised with states in order to ensure the Constitution was ratified and the create the establishment of the United States. For further points, the original Constitution actually would ban slavery, but Virginia would not allow it as well would Massachusetts would not ratify the document without a Bill of Rights, showing 10th amendment in play before it was even

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