This page was exported from - ModState
Export date: Fri Jun 16 7:58:23 2017 / +0000 GMT
The Rights of These United States: the Ninth Amendment
As this is the tenth article in this series we will discuss the ninth amendment. It reads as follows: ?The enumeration in the
Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.? Relatively speaking, that is
rather straight forward. All this really means is that the Founding Fathers and framers of The Constitution knew that they had left
some things out, which is why we now have twenty-seven Constitutional amendments (including rights and entitlements in the
Federal Code).
The real question likely being asked here is, ?does this still apply today?? Simply put? Yes.
There has been some controversy regarding the application of this amendment in today's society, particularly in how this effects the
government. There is a (largely anti-Federalist) belief that the State governments are founded through the Constitution in such a way
that if the Constitution does not specifically designate the authority to the Federal government then it resides solely with the state
government. Obviously there has been a lot of debate over this concept.
So let us look at this another way: America's Constitution and her amendments specify that the federal government has certain
powers but it does not say what powers ?the several states? retain. Keeping that in mind let us say that the federal government is a
government derived from specified powers while the state government is derived by implied powers. This simply means that the
central (Federal) government is prohibited from intervening in state affairs unless the Constitution specifically states that the Feds
have the authority to do so. Fortunately, (or not depending upon your point of view), there is a line in the Constitution that says the
states retain all powers that are not specifically granted to the Federal Government in all cases where the individual states are found
competent. However, the purpose of this amendment is to guarantee that the individual person retains all rights not specifically
granted to either the state or Federal Government.
Output as PDF file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.ProfProjects.com
| Page 1/2 |
This page was exported from - ModState
Export date: Fri Jun 16 7:58:23 2017 / +0000 GMT
I feel that I must clarify this somewhat. Let us use our home as an example. It is your right to decide if you are going to cook dinner
tonight or order take-out? Why is this your right? Simply because of the ninth Constitutional amendment. ?How so?? one might ask.
Because this right has not been specifically granted by the Constitution to the Feds or the states. Thus, when applied to the ninth
amendment you the individual retain this right. I know that this seems as though I've used a rather extreme example here but this can
be applied to many other facets of our lives. Any time that you make a choice that is yours to make you get to make it because of
this, the ninth amendment.
How awesome is that? You the individual citizen are guaranteed to be able to make choices that have significant impacts on your life
all due to this amendment. Further, that it is a Constitutionally-protected right for you to have free agency in your life.
Output as PDF file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.ProfProjects.com
| Page 2/2 |