Amendment X · Bill of Rights
Tenth Amendment: Powers reserved to the states and the people
About 15 min total: 5 min reading + 10 min for its 9 practice questions
Powers not delegated to the federal government nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or the people.
- Proposed by Congress
- September 25, 1789
- Ratified
- December 15, 1791
- Group
- Bill of Rights
The text
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.
Text: National Archives transcription of the amendments in their original form (spelling and punctuation as in the original).
What it means
- The federal government has only the powers the Constitution gives it. Other powers belong to the states or to the people (reserved powers), such as running schools, setting up local governments, and most criminal law.
- It is the cornerstone of federalism.
Who proposed it
James Madison of Virginia introduced the proposals in the House of Representatives on June 8, 1789. He drew on state declarations of rights, especially George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776), and on the amendments the state ratifying conventions had recommended. The House approved 17 amendments; the Senate cut and combined them to 12, and Congress sent those 12 to the states on September 25, 1789.
When it was proposed and ratified
- Proposed by Congress: September 25, 1789. Congress approved the 12-article joint resolution (House September 24, Senate September 25, 1789).
- Ratified: December 15, 1791. Virginia became the 11th of the 14 states to ratify, completing ratification of Articles 3–12 of the 1789 resolution (Amendments 1–10).
Amendments are not signed into law. Congress proposes them by a two-thirds vote of both houses, and they become part of the Constitution when three-fourths of the states ratify. The President has no formal role (Article V).
Why it was made
The Constitution of 1787 had no bill of rights. Anti-Federalists such as George Mason, who refused to sign it partly for this reason, warned that a strong national government could trample individual liberties. Several states ratified only after recommending amendments, and Federalists promised to add them. Madison kept that promise in the First Congress. The amendments limited only the federal government until the Supreme Court began applying most of them to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment (selective incorporation).
Anti-Federalists feared the new national government would swallow the states. Article II of the Articles of Confederation had reserved to the states every power not "expressly delegated." The Tenth Amendment left out the word "expressly," a difference Chief Justice John Marshall pointed to in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) to support implied powers.
Key Supreme Court cases
- United States v. Lopez (1995): Limited the Commerce Clause; guns near schools were a state matter
- McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): Implied powers; the 10th Amendment does not say "expressly"
FCLE tips
- Reserved powers (states), delegated/enumerated powers (federal), concurrent powers (both, like taxing).
| This | With this |
|---|---|
| 10th: reserved powers | Supremacy Clause (Article VI): federal law wins in a conflict |
Sources: National Archives (text and dates); Constitution Annotated (Congress.gov) (proposal and ratification history); U.S. Senate Historical Office and Library of Congress (sponsors).