States Against Union:an Inquiry Of Nullification In The Early History Of U. S. Constitutional Government

In the early history of American constitutional government, there was a great struggle in the distribution of power between states and union. The constitution of 1787 created the federal government whose power was rigorously limited, and the Tenth Amendment explicitly declared:"The powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respec-tively, or to the people." In the conflict of states against union, the states were deter-mined to defend their reserved powers so as to resist the illegal usurpation of federal government.Nullification is an extreme form of confrontation between states and union. The states participating in nullification proclaimed that the constitution was a compact created by the sovereign states. As a party of the compact, the state had the right to judge whether the compact was violated, as well of measure of redress, which was in defense of constitutional government. The union was the creature of the compact, and could not be the final judge of the constitutionality of its power. Otherwise, that would have made its discretion prevail the constitution. A free republic would degenerate into a tyranny. In American history, nullification is also called The Principle of’98.In the year of 1798, Virginia and Kentucky were in the great stage of struggle against federal government. The legislatures of two states passed The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, which declared that the alien and sedition acts enacted by Adams Administration were unconstitutional, void, and of no force within the territo-ry of the two states. Before the Civil War, when their reserved powers were en-croached by federal government, northern and southern states invoked The Principle of’98 without hesitation and resisted the enforcement of federal acts which they thought were unconstitutional within their own territories. We cannot simply treat the resistance of states as obstacles in the right side of history. Conflicts and struggles were not just negatives which would lead to the disintegration of the union. In the pe- culiar American constitutional structure, nullification and other defiance kept the fed-eral government at bay and insured all its power was all properly exercised.The states nullified the federal acts with great passion, speaking with fiery words. They truly believed freedom would perish step by step if the expansion of federal power was not rejected. New Englanders. South Carolinians, and Wisconsinites didn’t consider the federal government as an impartial judge in the case of power struggle between states and federal government. Supreme Court was certain to have a predi-lection for federal government, of which it was one branch. States had to rise to their feet, and protect the freedom with great vigor, which the founders won in the revolu-tionary war.