Tenth Amendment Essay

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The Tenth Amendment of the United States of America gives power to the states, without specifically listing them. This amendment delegates powers into three groups. The first group, is the power of the national government which is given to the national government by the Constitution. These powers are not held by the states, and are strictly reserved for the national government. The Constitution also prohibits certain powers from the states, and these prohibited powers are listed throughout the document as well. The final powers are the reserved powers, which are all of the powers not listed in the Constitution that the state has the jurisdiction over. The Tenth Amendment helps to define and create the system of federalism that was created …show more content…

This clause states that the federal government’s laws are the supreme laws, but only if that legislation was performed constitutionally. The Supremacy Clause would also include treaties, so the national government’s treaty with another body would hold strong if they too were done following the rules listed in the Constitution. The Supremacy Clause establishes the system of federalism by setting up the order in which power would flow. The Constitution is the highest level of this power, and the rest of the powers are delegated from it. The federal government is on the level beneath the Constitution, showing that all of their power is delegated to them by the Constitution, therefore they must follow it. Under the federal government lies the state governments, who also have powers, but their powers are lesser than the federal government 's. However the Constitution does have reserved powers for the state. This sets up a system of federalism because it establishes the two areas of government, and it decides which body would be supreme. The limitation of that supremacy is the Constitution, and the federal government holds the

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