William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

The politics of compromise at the Constitutional Convention 45

was added as part of the Bill of Rights shortly after ratification, was a concession

to the Antifederalists, who were concerned that the national government would

gain too much power in the new political system. The Tenth Amendment says:

“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

definition of reserved powers was viewed as setting outer limits on the reach of

national power.

Between 1918 and 1937 and then again starting in the 1990s, the Supreme Court has

frequently invoked the Tenth Amendment to nullify various laws passed by Congress

as unconstitutional intrusions on the reserved powers of the states (see the discussion

in Chapter 3 of the Supreme Court’s recent preference for state-centered federalism).

The Tenth Amendment continues to play an important role in current debates about

the proper level of national power. For example, conservative Republicans argue that

the states and the private sector, not the national government, should have the primary

responsibility for health care policy, while Democrats in state and local government

have served as a check on President Trump’s policy agenda concerning immigration

and climate change (among other issues).

Second, the national supremacy clause of the Constitution (Article VI) says that

any national law is the supreme law of the land and takes precedence over any state law

that conflicts with it. This is especially important in areas where the national and state

governments have overlapping responsibilities for policy.

Slave States versus Nonslave States

Slavery was another nearly insurmountable issue for the delegates. Southern states

would not agree to any provisions limiting slavery. Although the nonslave states

opposed the practice, they were not willing to scuttle the entire Constitution by

reserved powers

As defined in the Tenth Amendment,

powers that are not given to the

national government by the

Constitution, or not prohibited to the

states, are reserved by the states or

the people.

national supremacy clause

Part of Article VI, Section 2, of

the Constitution stating that the

Constitution and the laws and treaties

of the United States are the “supreme

Law of the Land,” meaning national

laws take precedence over state laws if

the two conflict.

This advertisement from a slave-

trading company appeared in a

Richmond, Virginia, newspaper

shortly after the Constitution was

signed. Slavery is often referred to

as the “original sin” of our nation and

proved to be very problematic at the

Constitutional Convention: Would

there be limits on the importation of

slaves? How would runaway slaves

be dealt with by nonslave states?

And how would slaves be counted

for the purposes of congressional

representation?

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