States' rights facts for kids
States' rights is an idea in the U.S. Constitution. It says that some powers belong only to the state governments. The federal government (the national government) cannot interfere with these powers. These rights are also protected by the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This is part of the Bill of Rights.
The debate about states' rights is the oldest argument about the Constitution in the United States. It has been going on since the country started and continues even today.
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History of States' Rights
The idea of states' rights means that each U.S. state is independent and has its own power. This was first promised in the Articles of Confederation. These Articles were the first set of rules for the United States before the Constitution.
The Articles said that states would form "a firm league of friendship." This was for their defense, freedom, and general well-being. The Articles created a weak central government. Most of the power stayed with the individual states. But soon, people realized a stronger central government and a new Constitution were needed.
The question of states' rights was a big topic at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. It was also debated by the Federalists and Anti-Federalists when the Constitution was being approved.
States' Rights and Slavery
The issue of slavery greatly fueled the debate over states' rights. This happened during the 1820s and 1830s as the United States expanded westward. Southern states wanted new territories to allow slavery. Northern states wanted these territories to be free of slavery.
As the North's economy grew and the South's economy slowed, their views on slavery became very different. By the 1840s and 1850s, both sides had strong opinions. These were based on what they thought was right about slavery and their own economic needs.
As long as the North and South had equal numbers of representatives in the United States Senate, neither side could force its will on the other. But each time a new state wanted to join the Union, this balance of power was at risk. In the 1850s, the idea of secession (states leaving the Union) came up again.
The South argued that when they joined the United States, they kept the power to leave if they wanted. South Carolina even threatened to secede. They wanted a constitutional amendment to protect their power.
Several peaceful attempts were made to find a solution. The Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and the 1854 Kansas–Nebraska Act all tried to reach a middle ground. However, only the Fugitive Slave Act clearly helped the South. This law made all citizens responsible for catching runaway slaves and returning them. Many Northerners strongly disliked this law.
Southern States' Rights Views
Many people think the Civil War was only about states' rights, not slavery. But Southern states wanted states' rights for themselves, not for all states. They did not want new states joining the Union to decide on slavery for themselves. Instead, they wanted the federal government to make sure these new states accepted slavery.
This can be seen in laws like the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and the 1850 Compromise. All these laws were designed to make Northern states accept slavery.
In December 1835, Representative James Hammond from South Carolina suggested a "gag rule" in the House of Representatives. This rule would stop any member from bringing up anti-slavery petitions. The rule was put in place for anything about slavery. John Quincy Adams from Massachusetts fought against this rule for years until it was finally removed in 1844.
Bleeding Kansas is another example of Southerners fighting against states' rights. Most settlers came to Kansas from Northern States. They just wanted to farm and live peacefully. Kansas was next to Missouri, a slave state. Many Missourians believed Kansas settlers were "negro thieves" and abolitionists. They attacked Kansas communities to stop people from voting against slavery. Abolitionists also came to Kansas to make sure it would become a free state. This turned Kansas into a battleground.
Northern States' Rights Views
Many people in the North believed states should decide their own path. However, when it came to slavery, there was a strong anti-slavery group in the North. Even though some in New England had become rich from the slave trade before it was banned, this area became a center for movements to end slavery.
Starting in the 1830s, Northern churches and politicians became important in this movement. This made Southerners feel angry. Abolitionists wanted all slaves freed right away and an end to racial segregation everywhere.
Other groups in the North, like the free-soilers, wanted to stop slavery in the new western territories. But they had different reasons. While they didn't own slaves, many were prejudiced against black people. They believed the new lands should be for white people only. Southern slaveholders saw little difference between these groups. They only saw that both were against slavery.
The American Civil War and States' Rights
During the Civil War, the fight over states' rights was about who had the most power: the individual Southern states or the federal government. Some historians say slavery caused the war, while others say states' rights did. But these two ideas were very closely linked. The main question was whether the federal government could control or even end slavery within a state.
There were other things that divided the country. The South was mostly farming states with slavery. The North was mostly industrial states. The South saw slavery as vital to their economy and way of life. Even Southern churches supported slavery. But Northern churches saw owning another person as a terrible wrong.
Those who supported Southern states' rights pointed to the Tenth Amendment. It says:
"The powers not given to the United States by the Constitution, nor forbidden by it to the states, are kept by the states, or by the people."
The Constitution does not even use the word "slave." The people who wrote the Constitution (many of whom owned slaves) wanted to avoid the problem at the national level. The only mention was the "three-fifths rule." This rule counted three-fifths of a state's slave population. This gave states with slaves extra representation and more votes in the Electoral College. The writers used the phrase "all other persons" instead of "slaves."
On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln gave his first speech as the 16th President. He spoke mainly to the people of the South. Seven Southern states had already formed the Confederate States of America. Lincoln's speech was friendly. He promised not to interfere with slavery where it already existed. He said the federal government would not be hostile to the states that had left. He also said the government would keep its property and collect taxes.
He ended his speech with a warning:
The big decision of civil war is in your hands, my fellow countrymen, not mine. The government will not attack you. You can only have conflict if you start it. You have no promise in Heaven to destroy the government, while I have a very serious one to protect and defend it… We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Even though strong feelings may have caused tension, they must not break our bonds of friendship. The special feelings of memory, reaching from every battlefield and hero's grave to every living heart and home, all over this wide land, will make the Union strong again, when they are touched, as they surely will be, by the better parts of our nature.
By 1863, two years into the war, Lincoln changed the war's focus to slavery. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This made freeing slaves a goal of the Civil War. It also made it harder for England and France to officially support the Confederacy. As Union troops moved into Confederate areas, they freed thousands of slaves every day. Many slaves did not wait; they ran away to claim their freedom.
Five slave states (the Border States) stayed loyal to the Union. They were not at war with the federal government. So, Lincoln did not have the power to free slaves in those states. The Proclamation also did not apply to Tennessee or parts of Virginia and Louisiana that Union forces already controlled.
On December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed. This amendment ended slavery in the United States. It also gave Congress the power to make sure its rules were followed.
Important Supreme Court Cases on States' Rights
The Supreme Court has made decisions about states' rights. Some of these decisions were later changed.
- McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): The Court decided the federal government could set up a national bank. It also ruled that a state could not tax the federal government.
- Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): The Court said that New York's rule for boat operators from other states went against a federal law about trade along the coast.
- Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): The Court ruled that African Americans, whether free or slaves, were not citizens of the United States. Because they were not citizens, they could not sue in a Federal court. Also, to be a citizen of any state, a person first had to be a U.S. citizen. The decision also said the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.
- Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918): This case was about a federal law that stopped goods made by underage children from being shipped across state lines. The Court ruled that Congress could not control how goods were made.
- Wickard v. Filburn (1942): An Ohio farmer was growing wheat for animal feed on his own farm. The U.S. government had set limits on wheat production to keep prices and supplies stable. The Court ruled in favor of the federal government. This ruling greatly increased the federal government's power to regulate things.
- Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954): The Court said that state laws creating separate public schools for black and white students were unconstitutional. They violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
See also
In Spanish: Derechos de los estados para niños
