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rights the source of

extended the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

debate in

20. States' rights under the Federal Constitution Some of the bitterest and most protracted debates in the Con- States' stitutional Convention of 1787 hinged upon the status of the states in the proposed union. Realizing that a chief weakness of the old Confederation government had been the inadequacy of the powers granted to the Congress, many delegates insisted that the powers of the national government be markedly increased. Fearing that a marked increase in the powers of the national government would endanger the position of the individual states, other delegates insisted that the constitution under debate allow the states to retain most essential powers. The result was a compromise: a strong national government was created, but states' rights were safeguarded. The following are the chief constitutional provisions which safeguard states' rights, either by imposing limitations upon the Federal government, or by the Federal guarantee of certain rights to the states, or by the Federal regulation of interstate relations: Art. I. Sect. IX. . . . No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken.2

No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.

No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one state be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another.

No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time. .

Powers

denied to the Federal government.

relations.

Art. IV. Sect. I. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state Interstate to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.

1 From the Constitution of the United States.

2 The Sixteenth Amendment exempts the Federal income tax from the operation of this provision.

Federal guarantees to the states.

Residual

powers of the states.

The Constitution likewise in

sures a

strong Federal

Art. IV. Sect. I. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states.

A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.

No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.

Art. IV. Sect. IV. The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion, and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence.

Amendment X. 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.

1

21. The powers of the Federal government 1

But though the Federal Constitution contains numerous provisions designed to safeguard the rights of the states, that document also provides for a strong national government. Two types of constitutional provisions operate to give the Federal government adequate government. powers: first, those provisions which limit the action of the states in behalf of the national government; and second, those provisions which grant express powers to the Federal authorities. The following are the constitutional clauses which constitute these bases of Federal authority:

Powers denied to the states.

Art. I. Sect. X. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law,

1 From the Constitution of the United States.

or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.

No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws: and the net produce of all duties and imposts laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress.

No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

Congress.

Art. I. Sect. VIII. The Congress shall have power to lay and col- Powers lect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide granted to 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 offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

Powers
of the
President.

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 prescr bed 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, dockyards, 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.

Art. II. Sect. II. The President shall be commander in chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein

otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.

The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.

new states

Art. IV. Sect. III. New states may be admitted by the Congress Power over into this Union; but no new state shall be formed or erected within and territhe jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the tories. junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.

The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state.

reference to an

Amendment XVI. The Congress shall have power to lay and Power with collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to income tax. any census or enumeration.

22. The extent of Federal powers

versus

liberal con

Students of American government have generally divided into Strict two groups over the question of Federal powers. One group has contended that since the Federal government is one of enumerated struction of the Constipowers, the Federal government may exercise no power not expressly tution. granted by the Constitution. This view has been called the "strict construction" of the Constitution. The second group has contended that the Federal government possesses not only the powers expressly granted in the Constitution, but also those which are included within, or necessarily implied from, powers expressly granted. The Supreme Court has inclined toward this liberal interpretation of the Constitu

1 From the United States Supreme Court decision in the case of M'Culloch vs. the State of Maryland, 1819.

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