Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Compact theory
In United States constitutional theory, compact theory is an interpretation of the Constitution which asserts the United States was formed through a compact agreed upon by all the states, and that the federal government is thus a creation of the states. Consequently, under the theory, states are the final arbiters over whether the federal government has overstepped the limits of its authority as set forth in the compact. Compact theory contrasts with contract theory, which holds that the United States was formed with the consent of the people—rather than the consent of the states—and thus the federal government has supreme jurisdiction over the states. Compact theory has never been upheld by the courts.
Compact theory featured heavily in arguments by southern political leaders in the run up to the American Civil War that states had a right to nullify federal law and to secede from the union. It also featured in southern arguments opposing desegregation after the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The theory also entered into the Mexico–United States border crisis of the early 2020s.
The US Supreme Court has rejected the idea that the Constitution is a compact among the states. Rather, the Court has stated that the Constitution was established directly by the people of the United States, not by the states. In one of the Supreme Court's first significant decisions, Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), Chief Justice John Jay stated that the Constitution was established directly by the people. Jay noted the language of the Preamble of the Constitution, which states that the Constitution was ordained and established by "We the people," and he stated: "Here we see the people acting as sovereigns of the whole country, and, in the language of sovereignty, establishing a Constitution by which it was their will that the State governments should be bound."
This view has been repeatedly affirmed by the Court. In Martin v. Hunter's Lessee (1816), the Supreme Court explicitly rejected the idea that the Constitution is a compact among the states: "The Constitution of the United States was ordained and established not by the States in their sovereign capacities, but emphatically, as the preamble of the Constitution declares, by 'the people of the United States.'" The Court contrasted the earlier Articles of Confederation with the Constitution, characterized the Articles of Confederation as a compact among states, and stated that the Constitution was established by not the states but the people. Likewise, in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), the Supreme Court stated that the federal Constitution proceeded directly from the people and was not created by the states. It stated that the Constitution was binding on and could not be negated by the states. It again contrasted the Articles of Confederation, which was established by the states, to the Constitution, which was established by the people. After the Civil War, in Texas v. White (1869), a case discussing the legal status of the southern states that had attempted to secede, the Supreme Court stated that the union was not merely a compact among states but was "something more than a compact."
Leading proponents of this view of the U.S. Constitution primarily originated from Virginia and other southern states. Notable proponents of the theory include Thomas Jefferson. Under this theory and in reaction to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, Jefferson claimed the federal government overstepped its authority, and advocated nullification of the laws by the states. The first resolution of the Kentucky Resolutions began by stating:
Resolved, that the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principles of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that by compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, delegated to that Government certain definite powers, reserving each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self Government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this compact each state acceded as a state, and is an integral party; that the Government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.
Meanwhile, James Madison had asserted in Federalist No. 39 that "the people" were not as individuals composing one entire nation, but as composing the distinct and independent States to which they respectively belong;" the Constitution was "to be the assent and ratification of the several States, derived from the supreme authority in each State, the authority of the people themselves;" and "the act of the people, as forming so many independent States, not as forming one aggregate nation, is obvious from this single consideration."[citation needed] Likewise, as noted in Article VII of the Constitution, ratification took place not by a single popular convention but conventions of only the ratifying states and would carry the Constitution into effect only between those ratifying states.[citation needed]
Others have taken the position that the federal government is not a compact among the states but was instead formed directly by the people in their exercise of their sovereign power. The people determined that the federal government should be superior to the states. Under this view, the states are not parties to the Constitution and do not have the right to determine for themselves the proper scope of federal authority but instead are bound by the determinations of the federal government. The state of Vermont took that position in response to the Kentucky Resolutions. Daniel Webster advocated that view in his debate with Robert Hayne in the Senate in 1830:
Hub AI
Compact theory AI simulator
(@Compact theory_simulator)
Compact theory
In United States constitutional theory, compact theory is an interpretation of the Constitution which asserts the United States was formed through a compact agreed upon by all the states, and that the federal government is thus a creation of the states. Consequently, under the theory, states are the final arbiters over whether the federal government has overstepped the limits of its authority as set forth in the compact. Compact theory contrasts with contract theory, which holds that the United States was formed with the consent of the people—rather than the consent of the states—and thus the federal government has supreme jurisdiction over the states. Compact theory has never been upheld by the courts.
Compact theory featured heavily in arguments by southern political leaders in the run up to the American Civil War that states had a right to nullify federal law and to secede from the union. It also featured in southern arguments opposing desegregation after the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The theory also entered into the Mexico–United States border crisis of the early 2020s.
The US Supreme Court has rejected the idea that the Constitution is a compact among the states. Rather, the Court has stated that the Constitution was established directly by the people of the United States, not by the states. In one of the Supreme Court's first significant decisions, Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), Chief Justice John Jay stated that the Constitution was established directly by the people. Jay noted the language of the Preamble of the Constitution, which states that the Constitution was ordained and established by "We the people," and he stated: "Here we see the people acting as sovereigns of the whole country, and, in the language of sovereignty, establishing a Constitution by which it was their will that the State governments should be bound."
This view has been repeatedly affirmed by the Court. In Martin v. Hunter's Lessee (1816), the Supreme Court explicitly rejected the idea that the Constitution is a compact among the states: "The Constitution of the United States was ordained and established not by the States in their sovereign capacities, but emphatically, as the preamble of the Constitution declares, by 'the people of the United States.'" The Court contrasted the earlier Articles of Confederation with the Constitution, characterized the Articles of Confederation as a compact among states, and stated that the Constitution was established by not the states but the people. Likewise, in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), the Supreme Court stated that the federal Constitution proceeded directly from the people and was not created by the states. It stated that the Constitution was binding on and could not be negated by the states. It again contrasted the Articles of Confederation, which was established by the states, to the Constitution, which was established by the people. After the Civil War, in Texas v. White (1869), a case discussing the legal status of the southern states that had attempted to secede, the Supreme Court stated that the union was not merely a compact among states but was "something more than a compact."
Leading proponents of this view of the U.S. Constitution primarily originated from Virginia and other southern states. Notable proponents of the theory include Thomas Jefferson. Under this theory and in reaction to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, Jefferson claimed the federal government overstepped its authority, and advocated nullification of the laws by the states. The first resolution of the Kentucky Resolutions began by stating:
Resolved, that the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principles of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that by compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, delegated to that Government certain definite powers, reserving each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self Government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this compact each state acceded as a state, and is an integral party; that the Government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.
Meanwhile, James Madison had asserted in Federalist No. 39 that "the people" were not as individuals composing one entire nation, but as composing the distinct and independent States to which they respectively belong;" the Constitution was "to be the assent and ratification of the several States, derived from the supreme authority in each State, the authority of the people themselves;" and "the act of the people, as forming so many independent States, not as forming one aggregate nation, is obvious from this single consideration."[citation needed] Likewise, as noted in Article VII of the Constitution, ratification took place not by a single popular convention but conventions of only the ratifying states and would carry the Constitution into effect only between those ratifying states.[citation needed]
Others have taken the position that the federal government is not a compact among the states but was instead formed directly by the people in their exercise of their sovereign power. The people determined that the federal government should be superior to the states. Under this view, the states are not parties to the Constitution and do not have the right to determine for themselves the proper scope of federal authority but instead are bound by the determinations of the federal government. The state of Vermont took that position in response to the Kentucky Resolutions. Daniel Webster advocated that view in his debate with Robert Hayne in the Senate in 1830: