Some detail for this week in 2306. This is a companion piece to the post below about the text of Article Four of the U.S. Constitution. Here are highlights of the parts of the U.S. Constitution that have the largest impact on the states, or allow the states to have the largest impact on it.
It related to the subject matter of the set of slides labelled Federalism in the United States Constitution.
The Preamble: "We the People" Established that the nation has an equal sovereign footing as the states.
Article 1, Section 2: "the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature." States had full power to determine who was able to vote in elections for national office. This power becomes modified in a series of amendment beginning with the 15th, and proceeding through the 19th, 24th and 26th.
Article 1, Section 3: "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote." The Senate was composed of individuals who represented the interests of the states, not the people of the states/ This would change with the ratification of the 17th Amendment.
Article 1, Section 4: :The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof." Electoral laws are the responsibility of the states. This includes registration requirements, rules concerning political parties, primary elections, voter ID requirements, and the drawing of house districts and a variety of other matters. All these can be impacted by the Voting Rights Act, which rests on the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
Article 1, Section 8: This section contains the delegated powers, some of which - though not all - are shared with the states.
Article 1, Section 10: This section lists the powers denied to the states. Its meant to ensure that the states do not have national powers.
Article 2, Section 1: "Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress." As with congressional elections, the presidential election is based on rules established within each state determining how electoral college votes are allocated.
Article 4: All of it, click here.
Article 5: 3/4ths of the states have to ratify a constitutional amendment in order for it to be added to the constitution, which is a very high bar to clear.
Article 6: All of it, click here.
Article 7: "The ratification of the conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the states so ratifying the same." The document was not sent to the state legislatures fro ratification - as originally promised, but instead went to conventions in each state. The Federalists thought they;d have a better chance of stacking the deck in their favor in conventions.
The 1st Amendment: "Congress shall make no law . . ." This did not limit state governments until the 14th Amendment. This applied to the rest of the Bill of Rights as well - it did not limit state power as originally written.
The 10th Amendment: "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." State powers have no limits - appart from those established in section 10 of article 1.
The 13th Amendment: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." This placed a limit on what had been previously considered a state prerogative.
The 14th Amendment: Limits state power in a number of ways:
1 - "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." For the first time the national government establishes what it means to become a citizens of the nation. Citizenship has a dual nature.
2 - "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States" All the protections citizens had from the national government also apply to the state governments.
3 - "nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The national government can oversee the laws implemented by the states in order to ensure that they apply equally, but nothing is said about the scope of this power or what it means to equally protected.
