States' Rights

The doctrine of states' rights grew from the view that the Constitution was a compact among sovereign states. The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, written secretly by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, declared the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional and asserted a state role in judging federal overreach. New England Federalists invoked similar ideas at the Hartford Convention of 1814 and 1815 in opposing the War of 1812, and South Carolina's 1832 attempt to nullify federal tariffs, rejected by President Andrew Jackson, pushed the theory further.

Before the Civil War, Southern leaders used states' rights arguments to defend slavery, while also supporting a strong federal Fugitive Slave Act, and Southern states cited a right of secession in leaving the Union in 1860 and 1861. The Union's victory settled that states could not secede. In the twentieth century the term became closely linked to resistance to civil rights, from the States' Rights Democratic Party of 1948 to the Southern Manifesto of 1956 opposing school desegregation, which has made the phrase a loaded one for many Americans.

States' rights arguments have since been made by people across the political spectrum. Conservatives have invoked them against federal regulation and mandates, while liberal states have used similar principles to legalize marijuana, limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, set stricter environmental standards, and protect abortion access after 2022. Supporters say strong state authority protects liberty, diversity, and local self-government. Critics say the doctrine has historically shielded injustice and that national standards are needed to protect equal rights.