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States Rights Chronology US History
1765	Stamp Act Congress The Stamp Act Congress passed a “Declaration of Rights” asserting that only colonial legislatures had the power to enact taxes. The Congress was also used to help the colonies cooperate in their resistance to British taxation. This resistance eventually developed into the American Revolution
1776	Declaration of Independence Written by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Ben Franklin and passed by the Continental Congress, the colonies declared that they would now be self governing (sovereign) states.
1777	Articles of Confederation The first “constitution” of the United States – this was a system for the states to work together to defend themselves against Great Britain and win their independence by force and diplomacy.
1789	US Constitution The “Supremacy Clause” makes Federal law supercede state laws The Necessary & Proper Clause is also known as the “elastic” clause which allows the Federal Government to “stretch” its powers.
1791	The10th Amendment The last amendment in the Bill of Rights reserves non enumerated powers to the States 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.
1798	Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions These documents declared that states had a right to nullify unconstitutional federal laws. Written by Jefferson and Madison, these are the founding documents of a states rights movement that eventually lead to Civil War and several additional crises in Federalism.
1814-1815	Hartford Convention During the War of 1812 representatives of New England states met to discuss the possibility of seceding from the Union. Much of the nation saw this as treasonous and it lead to the complete collapse of the Federalist Party.
1819	McCulloch v. Maryland Chief Justice John Marshall’s Supreme Court declared a Maryland law unconstitutional. Maryland was attempting to tax the Second Bank of the US – a federal institution.
1832	Nullification Crisis South Carolina declared a Federal tariff law “Null and Void”. It also voted to forbid the unloading of any of the taxed goods in its ports. President Andrew Jackson persuaded the Federal Congress to pass a “Force Bill” allowing him to send troops. South Carolina repealed its original “nullification” of the tariff, but then “nullified” the “Force Bill” and declared “victory”
1861	Civil War Secessions
1868	The 14th Amendment This was a “Reconstruction Amendment” that specifically forbade states from passing any laws that might tend to reinstate slavery. Its general language did not have far reaching effects until the twentieth century. The “due process” clause actually requires states to respect the Bill of Rights when dealing with any US citizen. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; 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.
1896	Plessy v. Ferguson In this case, the Supreme Court refused to use the 14th amendment to outlaw segregation. It allowed states to require separate facilities for the races as long as they were “equal”.
1948	States Rights Democratic Party (Dixiecrats) founded by Strom Thurmond
1954	Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka The Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren reversed the Plessy v. Ferguson decision to declare that states must desegregate their public schools because “separate” was NOT “equal” and therefore a violation of the 14th Amendment.