The Eleventh Amendment

“Elastic Clause”. This clause is also often referred to as the “necessary and proper” or the “sweeping” clause. It can be found in article 1, section 8 of the constitution, clause 18. The “elastic clause” puts forward that Congress has the power to pass any law that they have deemed to be both necessary and proper to implement the powers that have already been delegated to the Congress. (U.S Const., art. I, §8). In essence, this clause offers a way for the US Congress to “achieve its’ constitutional mandated ends”(The Heritage Foundation, 2011). The purpose of this clause to allow the organisation of the government, while also helping to effectuate the power of Congress, and in doing so it introduces a great deal of flexibility to the constitution.

The case, Dred Scott vs Sandford, (1857) better known as the Dred Scott case was a crucial decision that affected America and it’s black population. Free blacks in America weren’t able to sue the court. The concept of popular sovereignty was also questioned, and blacks with ancestors were imported to America was slave could no longer become citizens. The Case ruled that slaves in free countries are still slaves.

The United States Constitution was created in September 17, 1787 to replace the Articles of Confederation. Due to arguments between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists, the two groups decided to add amendments to the Constitution to appease the Anti-Federalists. The condition was that two-thirds of the states had to approve the amendment before it’s added to the constitution. These conditions are still held today and there are now 27 amendments. Amendments in the constitution are important because they give natural rights to people.

One element I find very interesting of the United States Constitution is the Tenth Amendment. The Tenth Amendment says, “The power 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 is basically alluding to the idea that if a power is not directly given to the federal government is given to the states.

The constitution was signed and sent out to the states in 1787, but was not ratified until 1788. During this time in the states the constitution caused a great deal of controversy. While some, the Federalists, believed that a constitution is exactly what was needed, others, the Anti-Federalists, felt that a constitution severely needed a bill of rights. There are many reasons a bill of rights was included in the constitution. Although it was not in the first copy, it was promised to be in the next one if nine states would ratify it. The Anti-Federalists also believed that a constitution without a bill of rights would give excessive power to the federal government over individual states and the people. Also there was fear that a constitution

The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787, but there was a grapple for its ratification that went on until about two decades after the ratification. Members of Congress believed that the first government of the United States or the Articles of Confederation, needed to be adjusted while others did not want anything to change. After the Revolutionary War, the people did not want a strong central government, because it reminded them too much of what they were trying to escape from. Under the Articles, each state had their own laws, and the need for a new Constitution was desired by many. The Constitution of 1787 created huge debates, arguments and splits in the nation that lasted for several year after its ratification between people who

Even with the ideas of a split nation from Britain and becoming their own nation, these goals were still hard to achieve. Battles were fought, lives were lost, Treaties were signed, and Acts were put into place. With all of these ideas of America becoming a free country wasn’t easy to accomplish. The country you and I live in today is due to these delegates and members of the Continental Army for fighting for our freedom.

The state of Maryland attempted to tax all notes not chartered in the state, this was a clear target put on the Bank of the United States. This case helped prove that the bank was indeed constitutional and that the states did not have the power to claim something unconstitutional, further instituting the federal and state power boundaries. As the series continued a common theme started to show itself, it's that federal power massively outweighs state power, which the United States founding fathers wanted to

The fear of a Central Government like Great Britain led The United States away from having such a strong Central Government. So the States were given autonomy to make most decisions & have many powers under early American Government. The States could never be enforced to do anything, except for war and closing borders, the States could

When the colonists were still with Great Britain, King George III misused his power. As a result, colonists wrote the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, to the king, to state their separation from Great Britain, to form a new country, the United States of America. After creating a new country, Americans wrote the Articles of Confederation in the year 1777, which they purposely weakened central government, so the abuse of power, wouldn’t exist. This meant the states had all the power. Although this structure of government seemed great, the creators of the Articles quickly realized that with no central government, states weren’t united because they were busy on increasing the growth of only their state. To fix the Articles of Confederation,

The tenth amendment is an amendment that most people don’t even know because it’s not like the first or second amendment which are hot topics in politics and presidential debates to this day. I believe that the tenth amendment is crucial to our country because if the government had all the power and the states and people didn't have any every state would be the exact same because the same people would make all the laws/rules for the country. The only reason that all of our states aren’t the same is because the states have power so they get to make there own laws on many problems. For example in the middle east three groups of people have taken over the whole thing so some countries have no powers, and 95% of the people have no

Dred Scott v. Sandford was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on US labor law and constitutional law. The case was decided in 1857 with a 7–2 decision. Scholars today believe it is one of the worst Supreme Court decisions of all time. Dred Scott was born a slave in Virginia in the 1790’s. In 1830, he was bought by Dr. John Emerson. As an army officer, Dr. Emerson moved frequently. After purchasing him they moved to Illinois, where slavery had been prohibited by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and by state law. After a few years, Emerson moved to a fort in the Wisconsin Territory, where it was barred by the Missouri Compromise. While there, Scott met and married Harriet Robinson, a slave owned by Lawrence Taliaferro. They had two daughters together. Ownership of Harriet was transferred to Emerson. They returned back to Missouri in 1840. Three years later, Dr. John Emerson died and his widow Irene inherited his

In this paper, I will be talking about the equal protection of laws clause in 14th amendment interpreted in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. This paper will focus on the concern over racial injustice in the judgment of Plessy v. Ferguson. Racial injustice is being looked in several aspects i.e. the argument of absolute equality, the objection to inferiority argument, the personal liberty argument and the good faith argument. In the end, I will conclude that the decision of Plessy v. Ferguson is a pernicious decision.

The American government that we know today, had many troubles when it first came together when the Constitution was first ratified in 1788. There had been many failed attempts at creating a new and successful government, such as the Articles of Confederation the first plan for the new American government. This proved to be very unsuccessful because the states held all federal power, while the national government had very little. In order to please both the Federalists and the Anti-Federalist, each party agreed to the Constitution with the addition of the Bill of Rights. Documents like the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the above documents are heavily influenced by the writings of John Locke, Baron de Montesquieu,

stayed in effect for over sixty years until it was overturned in 1954 by the Supreme