What is "states' rights"

State \State\ (st[=a]t), n. [OE. stat, OF. estat, F. ['e]tat, fr. L. status a standing, position, fr. stare, statum, to stand. See Stand, and cf. Estate, Status.]

1. The circumstances or condition of a being or thing at any given time.

   State is a term nearly synonymous with ``mode,'' but of a meaning more extensive, and is not exclusively limited to the mutable and contingent.
   --Sir W. Hamilton.

   Declare the past and present state of things.
   --Dryden.

   Keep the state of the question in your eye.
   --Boyle.

2. Rank; condition; quality; as, the state of honor.

   Thy honor, state, and seat is due to me.
   --Shak.

3. Condition of prosperity or grandeur; wealthy or prosperous circumstances; social importance.

   She instructed him how he should keep state, and yet with a modest sense of his misfortunes.
   --Bacon.

   Can this imperious lord forget to reign, Quit all his state, descend, and serve again?
   --Pope.

4. Appearance of grandeur or dignity; pomp.

   Where least of state there most of love is shown.
   --Dryden.

5. A chair with a canopy above it, often standing on a dais; a seat of dignity; also, the canopy itself. [Obs.]

   His high throne, . . . under state Of richest texture spread.
   --Milton.

   When he went to court, he used to kick away the state, and sit down by his prince cheek by jowl.
   --Swift.

6. Estate; possession. [Obs.]
   --Daniel.

   Your state, my lord, again is yours.
   --Massinger.

7. A person of high rank. [Obs.]
   --Latimer.

8. Any body of men united by profession, or constituting a community of a particular character; as, the civil and ecclesiastical states, or the lords spiritual and temporal and the commons, in Great Britain. Cf. Estate, n., 6.

9. The principal persons in a government.

   The bold design Pleased highly those infernal states.
   --Milton.

10. The bodies that constitute the legislature of a country; as, the States-general of Holland.

11. A form of government which is not monarchial, as a republic. [Obs.]

    Well monarchies may own religion's name, But states are atheists in their very fame.
    --Dryden.

12. A political body, or body politic; the whole body of people who are united under one government, whatever may be the form of the government; a nation.

    Municipal law is a rule of conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state.
    --Blackstone.

    The Puritans in the reign of Mary, driven from their homes, sought an asylum in Geneva, where they found a state without a king, and a church without a bishop.
    --R. Choate.

13. In the United States, one of the commonwealths, or bodies politic, the people of which make up the body of the nation, and which, under the national constitution, stand in certain specified relations with the national government, and are invested, as commonwealths, with full power in their several spheres over all matters not expressly inhibited.

    Note: The term State, in its technical sense, is used in distinction from the federal system, i. e., the government of the United States.

14. Highest and stationary condition, as that of maturity between growth and decline, or as that of crisis between the increase and the abating of a disease; height; acme.

    Note: When state is joined with another word, or used adjectively, it denotes public, or what belongs to the community or body politic, or to the government; also, what belongs to the States severally in the American Union; as, state affairs; state policy; State laws of Iowa.

    Nascent state. (Chem.) See under Nascent.

    Secretary of state. See Secretary, n., 3.

    State bargea royal barge, or a barge belonging to a government.

    State bed, an elaborately carved or decorated bed.

    State carriage, a highly decorated carriage for officials going in state, or taking part in public processions.

    State paper, an official paper relating to the interests or government of a state.
    --Jay.

    State prison, a public prison or penitentiary; -- called also State's prison.

    State prisoner, one in confinement, or under arrest, for a political offense.

    State rights, or States' rights, the rights of the several independent States, as distinguished from the rights of the Federal government. It has been a question as to what rights have been vested in the general government. [U.S.]

    State's evidence. See Probator, 2, and under Evidence.

    State sword, a sword used on state occasions, being borne before a sovereign by an attendant of high rank.

    State trial, a trial of a person for a political offense.

    States of the Church. See under Ecclesiastical.

    Syn: State, Situation, Condition.

    Usage: State is the generic term, and denotes in general the mode in which a thing stands or exists. The situation of a thing is its state in reference to external objects and influences; its condition is its internal state, or what it is in itself considered. Our situation is good or bad as outward things bear favorably or unfavorably upon us; our condition is good or bad according to the state we are actually in as respects our persons, families, property, and other things which comprise our sources of enjoyment.

    I do not, brother, Infer as if I thought my sister's state Secure without all doubt or controversy.
    --Milton.

    We hoped to enjoy with ease what, in our situation, might be called the luxuries of life.
    --Cook.

    And, O, what man's condition can be worse Than his whom plenty starves and blessings curse?
    --Cowley.

n. (context US politics English) Rights reserved to the 50 United States which supposedly allow each one to set policy on some issues, rather than being subject to federal policy.

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

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

In American political discourse, states' rights refers to political powers reserved for the U.S. state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the Tenth Amendment. The enumerated powers that are listed in the Constitution include exclusive federal powers, as well as concurrent powers that are shared with the states, and all of those powers are contrasted with the reserved powers—also called states' rights—that only the states possess.

States' rights in the United States of America are political powers reserved for the U.S. state governments rather than the federal government.

States' Rights, States Rights, or state rights may also refer to:

• balance of power (federalism), the same idea for other federal countries
• States' Rights Party (disambiguation), various U.S. political parties, typically opposed to federal civil rights programs
• Reagan's Neshoba County Fair "states' rights" speech, given by Ronald Reagan during his 1980 election campaign
• States Rights Records, Oregon independent record label
• States Rights Gist (1831–64) South Carolina Confederate Army officer