Tuesday, August 30, 2011

What About States' Rights?

The Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 both dealt with states' rights. The South especially disagreed with the Federal government's right to decide important matters within a state.

The Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution states that "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."

According to the Southern people this amendment should prevent the federal government from interfering in the individual affairs of a state - such as the slavery issue. It seems the South just wanted to be left alone to make their own decisions and laws. Lincoln and the Central government proponents of the North saw it differently.

It was Lincoln's election in 1860 that caused 11 Southern states to eventually secede. And we know the "rest of tbe story". It is "histoire" as they say.


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