States' rights

States' rights is the doctrine that U.S. states retain powers not delegated to the federal government. It is invoked in disputes over the scope of federal authority.

United States Constitution: The supreme law of the United States, establishing the federal government and allocating powers among its branches and the states. Its division of authority supplies the constitutional basis for states' rights claims.
Federalism: A system of government in which authority is divided between a central government and constituent political units. States' rights arguments arise within this division of governing power.
Dred Scott v. Sandford: The 1857 Supreme Court decision denying national citizenship to Black people and limiting Congress's power to prohibit slavery in territories. Its ruling intensified disputes over slavery, federal power, and the status of territories.
National Supremacy: The principle that valid federal law takes precedence over conflicting state law under the Constitution. It directly limits states' rights claims when Congress acts within its constitutional powers.
Tenth Amendment: The amendment reserving powers not delegated to the United States, nor prohibited to the states, to the states or the people. Its reservation of undelegated powers is the doctrine's central textual anchor.
Enumerated powers: Powers expressly granted to the federal government by the Constitution. The doctrine often treats powers outside this list as reserved to states or the people.
American Civil War: The 1861–1865 war between the United States and the Confederacy, which seceded over slavery and related political conflicts. Secessionists invoked state sovereignty, while the Union rejected a state's right to leave.
Nullification: The claimed power of a state to declare a federal law invalid and prevent its enforcement within that state. It is a stronger and more confrontational claim than ordinary state authority.
Federalist No. 39: James Madison's essay explaining the proposed Constitution as partly national and partly federal in its structure. Madison's account frames the constitutional balance that states' rights arguments contest.
Supremacy Clause: The constitutional provision making the Constitution, valid federal laws, and treaties the supreme law of the land. It limits state resistance when federal law is constitutionally valid.

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