States Rights

A doctrine based upon the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, which 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." States rights advocates believe in a narrow interpretation of the Constitution, which grants the Federal government very limited powers, with all other powers belonging to state governments.

Return to Terms for the Letter S »


Ohio Civil War Central: An Encyclopedia of the American Civil War