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External WebsitesProfessor of History, Illinois State University, Normal. Coeditor of States' Rights and American Federalism: A Documentary History.
Frederick Dean Drake Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
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states’ rights, the rights or powers retained by the regional governments of a federal union under the provisions of a federal constitution. In the United States, Switzerland, and Australia, the powers of the regional governments are those that remain after the powers of the central government have been enumerated in the constitution. In contrast, the powers at both the state or regional level and the national level of government are defined clearly by specific provisions of the constitutions of Canada and Germany.
The concept of states’ rights is closely related to that of state rights, which was invoked from the 18th century in Europe to legitimate the powers vested in sovereign national governments. Doctrines asserting states’ rights were developed in contexts in which states functioned as distinct units in a federal system of government. In the United States, for example, Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries often referred to the rights of states, implying that each state had inherent rights and sovereignty. Before and following the American Civil War (1861–65), the U.S. states—particularly the Southern states—shared the belief that each of them was sovereign and should have jurisdiction over its most important affairs. By the end of the 20th century, the term was applied more broadly to a variety of efforts aimed at reducing the powers of national governments, which had grown considerably in both size and scope.
Advocates of states’ rights put greater trust and confidence in regional or state governments than in national ones. State governments, according to them, are more responsive to popular control, more sensitive to state issues and problems, and more understanding of the culture and values of the state’s population than are national governments. For these reasons, they argue, state governments are better able to address important problems and protect individual rights. In the United States, states’ rights proponents also have maintained that strong state governments are more consistent with the vision of republican government put forward by the Founding Fathers. They cite in support of their view the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which reserves for the states the residue of powers “not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States.”
In the United States, the term states’ rights has been applied to a variety of political programs. Before the American Civil War, it was the rallying cry of Southern opponents of Northern-inspired tariffs and Northern proposals to abolish or restrict slavery. The doctrine also was used as an argument for the theory known as nullification, which claimed that states had the right to annul an act of the federal government within their boundaries, and for the claim that the states, by virtue of their sovereignty, had the right to secede from the Union. This constitutional question was resolved only by the victory of the North (federal government) in the Civil War. A century later the doctrine was used to justify opposition to the federal government’s efforts to enforce racial desegregation.
Such uses of the doctrine of states’ rights in the United States and elsewhere prompted some critics to claim that it serves parochial interests. According to them, states’ rights are invoked by majorities in the states to justify laws and practices that discriminate against various ethnic, religious, or other minority groups. They contend that a strong national government is necessary to ensure that states respect the rights guaranteed to all citizens in the national constitution.
States’ rights advocates also addressed issues related to environmental protection and education. In the western United States, for example, some citizen groups questioned the power of the federal government to issue pollution standards and regulations on water and land use, arguing that they amounted to an unconstitutional infringement on the right of states to manage their own natural resources. Many states also resisted the imposition of national educational testing standards out of concern that they would undermine the states’ historical control over education.