The Tenth Amendment Prohibited the “Living Constitution”

Steve Palmer, Pennsylvania Tenth Amendment Center

10/9/2011

On December 14, 1791, the Constitution existed without the Bill of Rights.  Then, on December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified, including the Tenth Amendment.  With that ratification, the People and the States established a set of powers, consisting of nearly all powers, and in effect, said, “As-of today, we claim authority for any power which we have not delegated to you”.  Symbolically, this was the equivalent of planting a flag on a newly discovered piece of land.   The states said, “We know about these powers, and they are ours; not yours.”

And now… the rest of the story. …..