What is the Authority of the States?

What is the authority of the state in the United States of America? The Declaration of Independence has much to say in this regard. Toward the end of the Declaration, the Continental Congress declared,

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do.

Notice the use of the word “state.” The Declaration affirms that the colonies ought to be free and independent states. It uses the same word to describe the nation of Great Britain. Therefore, in the Declaration, the Continental Congress declared each colony to be a free nation, with the same standing among the community of nations as the nation of Great Britain.

It is only with the adoption of the U.S. Constitution that these free and independent states covenanted and agreed to bind themselves into a covenantal relationship. Covenants are agreements; some may claim they are sacred agreements before God on which the right to govern is expressed and regulated. The U.S. Constitution is one such covenant. In the U.S. Constitution, the states bound themselves together for their mutual benefit, delegating limited power to a federal or covenantal authority. As the founding entities, it is the states that are the ultimate arbiter of the meaning of the U.S. Constitution.

The states, being the free and independent entities on which the authority of the U.S. Constitution was founded have the primary right and power to act as they see fit as long as such action does not contradict the sacred commitment. The tenth Amendment recognizes this truth and does not grant this truth in these words: “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.” Once again the authority is clear. The tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution declares that the states “delegate” certain powers to the United States and all other powers are “reserved” to the states or the people.

As we move into an era of increasing tyranny from the United States located in Washington, D.C., let us remember that it is the states which must act unless such action is specifically limited by the U.S. Constitution. The burden of proof is on the federal tyrant to show that its will is consistent with the limited authority granted by the states.