Write an argumentative paper on States’ Rights vs. Federal Supremacy.

States’ Rights vs. Federal Supremacy

Although the thirteen original states all eventually ratified the US Constitution, the struggle for its ratification demonstrates that it was not supported by all of the states. At issue was the power that the newly created Federal government acquired at the cost of power held by the States.

Jefferson and Madison raised that issue in 1798 when they wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, as does Calhoun in 1832. This conflict brought the country into a Civil War, and the emergence of the “Tea Party” in recent years indicates that it continues to be unresolved. An increasing sectionalism was developing between the North and the South, and the nullification crisis was a manifestation of this conflict.