Page:Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction.djvu/340

326 such clearly defined rights, Congress may determine as it pleases the degree of restriction which it deems best for any particular community.

In opposition to this view, the older theory maintains that the equality of rights in the states is distinctly embodied in the constitution. Even if the above stated construction of the clause about the admission of states were good, it must be modified by the amendments which have been added to the original instrument. Article ten of these amendments declares that "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." This does not say "to the old states," or "to some of the states," but "to the states"; and it would be palpably erroneous to construe this expression to refer to less than every state in the Union. But if this is the case, any state can claim every right that is not delegated to the United States or prohibited to the states. In short, the instant a community becomes entitled to the name of state, it has every power that is exercised by any other community bearing that name. A court, in deciding upon a state's right to exercise a given power, must look not to the act of admission, but to the