- Published: December 11, 2021
- Updated: December 11, 2021
- University / College: University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
- Level: Doctor of Philosophy
- Language: English
- Downloads: 14
US Constitution s right in American political system refers to the political rights reserved for the governments. Even though America asa whole has a federal government, each state in America has separate state governments. US constitution provides some specific rights to the state governments in law making even though all the state governments are operating under the federal government. The rights of the state government are protected by the tenth amendments (Part of bill of rights) in US constitution.
According to The Tenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution; “ 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” (Tenth Amendment, 2012). In other words, state governments can make laws related to any issues which is not delegated to the federal government and prohibited to the state government. For example issues such as drink age, same sex marriages etc are issues which come under state’s jurisdiction. State governments have the authority to fix the drink age or legalize same sex marriage. On the other hand voting age is a federal matter and only the federal government will be able to raise or lower the voting age in America.
Dual system in America has lot of merits as well as demerits. It is not necessary that the people in all the states may have same opinion on certain issue. The authority to make laws state-wise may help the states to formulate laws and policies based on the interests of the people. At the same time, state laws may create problems also. For example, underage drinking is prohibited in some American states whereas it is allowed in other states. In Alaska, minimum licensing age for driving is 14 whereas in Kentucky, it is 16. In other words, a teenager who is able to drive in Alaska cannot drive his car in Kentucky. In short, dual systems have its merits and demerits.
References
Tenth Amendment. (2012). The Free Dictionary. Retrieved from
http://legal-dictionary. thefreedictionary. com/Tenth+Amendment+to+the+United+States+Constitution
