--- title: The Tenth Amendment and States' Rights | TIME description: The final amendment in the Bill of Rights was drafted because the states were concerned about the power of a Federal government. What does it mean now? canonical: https://time.com/video/5N4osmQj/ og:title: The Tenth Amendment and States' Rights og:description: The final amendment in the Bill of Rights was drafted because the states were concerned about the power of a Federal government. What does it mean now? og:url: https://time.com/video/5N4osmQj/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5N4osmQj/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Tenth Amendment and States' Rights twitter:description: The final amendment in the Bill of Rights was drafted because the states were concerned about the power of a Federal government. What does it mean now? twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5N4osmQj/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # The Tenth Amendment and States' Rights > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=e98a7e71-0571-4122-bde1-c9d2b81508c0&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=e98a7e71-0571-4122-bde1-c9d2b81508c0&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Tenth Amendment and States' Rights [Watch (HLS stream): The Tenth Amendment and States' Rights](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5N4osmQj.m3u8) (4:34)  _Published 2011-06-28. The final amendment in the Bill of Rights was drafted because the states were concerned about the power of a Federal government. What does it mean now?_ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:14 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Your Fourth Amendment Right to Privacy](/video/5RNWfl7X/) ### Your Fourth Amendment Right to Privacy [The Sixth Amendment and Your Right to a Speedy, Public Trial](/video/031K5HLB/) ### The Sixth Amendment and Your Right to a Speedy, Public Trial [The Ninth Amendment and Your Unwritten Rights](/video/M2sW3isF/) ### The Ninth Amendment and Your Unwritten Rights --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] The power is 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. [ MUSIC ] When the constitution was presented to the state for ratification it was in for some very, very rough weather. It was criticized up and down in every state for the use for usurpation of the powers of the individual states. The tenth amendment was the result of, if you will, a great compromise in the first Federal Congress. That was the way of placating those opponents of the Constitution who thought that the Federal Constitution had gone way too far in you surfing the power of the states. [ MUSIC ] The tenth amendment is popular today for example, with the Tea Party because it's the amendment that seems to protect the states, and give them authority rather than the Federal government. It comes up in the context of the healthcare debate, but one of the arguments is that the Federal government, doesn't have the right to mandate that people by health insurance. Whenever the left or the right doesn't like what the Federal government is doing, they complain about it and say that's something reserved to the states. Not so long ago, the Federal government decided that it was going to clamp down on medical marijuana. The left said that the tenth amendment protected the rights of states to say that people could use marijuana for medicinal purposes. [ MUSIC ] The tenth amendment is a really interesting book end to the bill of rights. The preamble begins, we the people and the phrase the people appears five times in the bill of rights. And the very idea of a Bill of Rights bubbles up from the people, and those are the words that end the tenth amendment. The right of the people. The right of the people. Peaceably to assemble. The right of the people. The right of the people. To keep and bear arms. To be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects. To petition the government for a redress of grievances. Americans were and are the most rights conscience people in the world. It goes back, of course, to the preamble of the declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self- evident. That all men are created equal. That they are endowed with certain unalienable rights. Americans took those rights very, very seriously. And in their conflict with England, they realized that they weren't just abstractions. That those were real rights. That they were life and death rights. And they fought a war of independence for them. The right of trial by jury. The right to a speedy and public trial. Shall be preserved. Excessive bail shall not be required. Nor shall private property be taken. Nor be deprived of life, liberty or property. No cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Here we govern ourselves. It's not just the judges, it's not just the politicians and the government, it's, it's self- government, it's local juries, it's local militias it's neighbourhood watches. It's everyone with a cell phone taking pictures of what's happening and posting them on YouTube and Facebook, and Twitter. You can not come into my home and just search, and seize things in my home. That there are restrictions, that you cannot keep me and hold me for any amount of time without trial. I have rights. I have rights. The Bill of Rights, is our reminder that the government is always restrained. That it's the people's government and that the people have rights and that the government can't cross that line, that protects people's autonomy in their individual right. And that's the power of those first ten amendments. [ MUSIC ] ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Tenth Amendment and States' Rights","description":"The final amendment in the Bill of Rights was drafted because the states were concerned about the power of a Federal government. 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