“That the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that, by a 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...”

That, in a proverbial nutshell, explains the intended relationship between the States and the Federal government. The Federal government exists because the States agreed to join together for their common benefit, yet still retain their identities within the whole. To this end, the framers of the Constitution intentionally limited the scope and power of the Federal government.

To insure continued personal freedom for the citizenry, and viability of separate State identities under this compact, they initiated a series of Constitutional amendments further defining the boundaries to power allocated this combined government. The first nine amendments addressed preserving and protecting individual liberties. The Tenth Amendment specifically limited intrusion by an overreaching government in those matters deemed under purview of the separate States: “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.”

The meaning and protections embodied therein have fallen by the wayside over the last several decades as Congress passed legislation after legislation designed to usurp State and individual rights. This consolidation of centralized power proceeded almost unnoticed, buried in bits and pieces amid thousands of pages generated daily on Capitol Hill under the guise of being for the common good. The New Hampshire resolution is a warning to the other States and Commonwealths:

“[T]hat to take from the States all the powers of self-government and transfer them to a general and consolidated government, without regard to the special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happiness or prosperity of these States ... they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for them.”

Congress has forgotten, or ignored, its place in the structure of this nation – nothing more than a creation of the agreement between and among the States, now run amok, as outlined in the New Hampshire resolution.

“Congress being not a party, but merely the creature of the compact, and subject as to its assumptions of power to the final judgment of those by whom, and for whose use itself and its powers were all created and modified: that if the acts before specified should stand, these conclusions would flow from them.”

The New Hampshire resolution cautions against blind trust in the Federal government and issues a call for the other States to join in the fight to preserve their rights under the Constitution:

“[T]hat it would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights: that confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism -- free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power: that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no further, our confidence may go. In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”

The New Hampshire resolution gives a final warning about the consequences of allowing Federal government to remain unchecked and in violation of the Constitution that created it:

“That any Act by the Congress of the United States, Executive Order of the President of the United States of America or Judicial Order by the Judicatories of the United States of America which assumes a power not delegated to the government of United States of America by the Constitution for the United States of America and which serves to diminish the liberty of the any of the several States or their citizens shall constitute a nullification of the Constitution for the United States of America by the government of the United States of America.”

Has it come to this?

Some other States reclaiming sovereignty and demanding their Tenth Amendment protections:

State of Washington House Joint Memorial 4009 serves: “Notice and Demand to the federal government to maintain the balance of powers where the Constitution of the United States established it and to cease and desist, effective immediately, any and all mandates that are beyond the scope of its constitutionally delegated powers.”

State of Michigan House Concurrent Resolution No. 4 affirms: “Michigan's sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment”

State of Arizona House Concurrent Resolution 2024 demands: “That all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed.”

State of Montana House Bill No. 246 AKA the “Montana Firearms Freedom Act” challenge to imposition of Federal gun control laws