The Tenth Amendment
Text Explained
The federal government only has those powers delegated to it in the Constitution. Any powers that the Constitution doesn’t give to the federal government belong to the states or the people.
Historical Context
The Framers were concerned about balancing order with liberty. One way that they hoped to do this was by distributing powers among the three branches of the federal government and also between the federal government and the states. This is known as federalism. The Framers sought to maintain a balance of power between the federal government and the states and thus prevent one from becoming too dominant at the expense of the other. The Tenth Amendment was added to clarify that the federal government's authority is restricted to the powers specifically listed in the Constitution.
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NARRATOR: The framers of the U.S. Constitution sought to create a system that divided power between the government of the U.S. and the governments of individual states. The national government has certain powers defined by the U.S. Constitution that states do not have, such as the powers to declare war, coin money, and regulate international trade. Other powers belong exclusively to the states. These reserve powers include conducting elections, issuing marriage and drivers licenses, ratifying amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and establishing local governments for cities and counties. There are also shared powers between state and federal governments, including the power to collect taxes, maintain law and order, and build highways.
And the layers don't stop there. Government powers extend to cities and counties within a state. In Georgia, there are 159 counties and over 530 cities, also known as municipalities, within these counties. Counties serve several purposes, such as providing courts of law, holding elections, building and repairing county roads, and providing services like police and fire protection, libraries, schools, and public transportation.
Within those counties are cities which vary in power. Generally, a city holds the power to maintain law enforcement, collect taxes, and provide water and trash services. These local forms of government are important because they have a more direct interest in what's going on in their immediate community. If you've been counting, that's a total of four territorial divisions of government. So how do they apply to the citizens of the United States?
Imagine the tiered levels of government as a Russian nesting doll with you in the center as the smallest doll. The second smallest doll is city government, and all the laws in that city apply to you. The county level government falls over the city government and you. All the laws and regulations set forth by the county apply to the city and to you. But the city laws don't necessarily apply to the entire county because there can be multiple cities within a county. The state government doll covers all of the counties, cities, and people in the state. A law passed at a state level cannot be overridden by a local government. Finally, you have the largest doll, the federal government. The federal government reigns supreme, literally.
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