american history

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29 July 2009

A Delicate Balance : States and National Rights

According to dictionary .com , power is political ascendancy or control in the government of a country , state , etc (ask .com ' Power has been a controversial subject from the beginning . Undeniably , everyone wishes to have power just so , the states ' wish to gain power from the federal government , so that what happens in the United States will happen for their benefit

The biggest arguments for power in states versus power in the country took place before

and during the American Civil War . Federalists argued too many states ' rights caused government deficit . Those for states rights argued that checks and balances were needed for a good government . Even after the Civil War , this argument continued on , partly because Abraham Lincoln , who resolved to compromise on this issue , was assassinated

In 1876 , a case called United States vs . Cruikshank came up in national court . An armed white force had killed over 100 African-Americans to ensure an election was not dominated by Democrats . The Fourteenth Amendment only limited the states ' actions , and the interference with voting was not punishable because it was not proven caused by the race of African Americans . Thus , court decided the state (Louisiana ) would determine punishment , and Louisiana was unlikely to do so because it encouraged the segregation of whites and blacks

Again in 1913 , there was a tug of war for power between the states and the country . The Seventeenth Amendment deprived state governments of control...