states' rights

noun

1. a doctrine that federal powers should be curtailed and returned to the individual states

• Hypernyms: ↑doctrine, ↑philosophy, ↑philosophical system, ↑school of thought, ↑ism

• Hyponyms: ↑nullification

2. the rights conceded to the states by the United States constitution

• Usage Domain: ↑plural, ↑plural form

• Hypernyms: ↑right

* * *

noun plural

Usage: often capitalized S&R

: all rights not vested by the Constitution of the United States in the Federal government nor forbidden by it to the separate states

* * *

the rights belonging to the various states, esp. with reference to the strict interpretation of the Constitution, by which all rights not delegated by the Constitution to the federal government belong to the states.

[1790-1800, Amer.]

* * *

states' rights or States' rights,

the rights and powers considered as belonging to the individual states of the United States under the Constitution. The doctrine of states' rights holds that all powers which the Constitution does not specifically delegate to the Federal government, and does not specifically deny to the individual states, belong to the states. Some states have interpreted this doctrine further so as to exclude activity on the part of the Federal government of the United States in any area, such as education or voting laws, that is normally under the control of the individual states.

* * *

plural n. the rights and powers held by individual U.S. states rather than by the federal government

* * *

ˌstates' ˈrights 7 [states' rights] noun plural

(in the US) the rights of each state in relation to the national government, such as the right to make some laws and to have its own police force

 

Culture:

States’ rights are held under the 10th Amendment to the American Constitution. The rights include the right to have their own criminal laws, laws regarding commerce and taxes, and laws on education, health and social welfare, and also the right to have their own police force. The principle of states’ rights is supported by those who think that the central government should not interfere too much in state affairs. It has been supported especially by the states in the ↑South, five of which voted for the States’ Rights Party in the 1948 election for President. There has been much argument in US history over the division of responsibility between state and national governments. In recent years the national government has given more rights to the states.