The rights States had at the time
The states had the rights to a Federal Constitution. The word Federal means national. The Constitution provides things like national roads and the protection of the states citizens (which is a fancy way of saying it provides an army). It also provides a national leader for the states benefit.
The states also had the Bill of Rights. The 10th amendment in the Bill of Rights states that all powers not given to the national government belong to the state governments. Some of these powers include -Marriage laws -Schools/Police/Firemen -State Taxes The states also have their own constitution. (however, don't get them confused with the national Constitution. There are 50 state constitutions but only one national Constitution. this is also why the national Constitution is capitalized.) The state constitutions cannot override the national Constitution though. |
The rights Southern States want
The Southern States want more than just that though. The states want these rights too
-The right to own slaves (their economy depended on it) -True Federalism (True Federalism is shared power between the states and the nation) -The right to Nullification (nullify means to get rid of) If they got the right to nullification, they would be able to keep a law that they didn't like from becoming part of the laws they had to follow. Even simpler, if the didn't like a law then they could cancel it. -Popular Sovereignty (power to population) They wanted their citizens to be able to vote on major issues like slavery. -Secession Rights (The right to leave the United States if they felt they were treated unfairly) |