“Gentlemen may cry, ‘peace, peace,’ but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms. Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, and peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” – Patrick Henry, 1775

With these stirring words, the great Patrick Henry tried to move the 13 American colonies to action against England. Henry didn’t do it by himself, of course, but his words live on in American history as one of the battle cries that led America to independence. America was born. What did our Founders create? Let’s look further at this issue of states’ rights versus national government power.

After the Independence War, the 13 states wrote a Constitution, surrendering some of their powers to a national government, powers they thought could be handled better collectively than individually. For example, they didn’t want a single state starting a war with some country and perhaps dragging the rest of the states in with it. But the states, in that Constitution of 1789, jealously guarded their powers — they delegated very few powers to that united government, and then, just to be sure, wrote a Bill of Rights telling that national government what it could not do. Even then, Patrick Henry didn’t like this Constitution. He thought it gave the national government too much power. He did not trust government, any government, but especially a national one. That was the........

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