In 1865, the American Civil War had come to an end and with it the end of the Confederate States of America. After the war concluded, the rebellious state would dissolve back into the Union, but this process became problematic immediately. The tensions between state governments and the federal government still festered and would bring disorder to reconstruction. The Republican dominated Congress after the Civil War had a fine line to walk regarding the reconstruction of the ex-Confederate states. The Republicans wanted to enact a constitutional amendment that would grant civil rights and privileges to all citizens regardless of race, color of one’s skin, or family descent. They feared, however, that this type of federal action would be overstepping their authority; this struggle between federal authority and state sovereignty would be the key political dilemma of the postbellum era.…show more content… To some extent the states enjoys their own freedoms, but to declare the states sovereign is a long shot. A sovereign state is a state whose authority answers to no higher entity, and although the fifty united states practice partial sovereignty, as in they are granted authority specific to the state governments, they must adhere to federal legislation on a variety of issues listed in Article I § VIII of the Constitution.
The Bill of Rights does as it is labelled, it dictates a list of rights that prevent governmental encroachment on the state governments. It is this document that gets falsely labelled as the doctrine of state sovereignty. This document does not grant sovereignty to the states, it protects their rights as a citizen of the United States, and grants them authorities strictly reserved for state