Fugitive Slave Case: Ableman V. Booth, 62 US

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According to the Tenth Amendment of the constitution, “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”. There have been moments in history where Congress has implemented laws that states felt were unconstitutional. The Constitution gave states the ability to counter the federal government’s power through the Judiciary branch of government, when they feel a law is unconstitutional. The Founders of our nation gave Congress enumerated powers to pass legislation that needs to be abided by all states and citizens. At times Congress will overstep its powers by enacting laws that are unconstitutional and the states have the right to challenge those powers. The states can contest the federal government rules and regulations in the federal judiciary branch. The states have contested federal laws, incidence of them blocking federal authorities from enforcing federal laws and cases involving individuals who break federal laws, but not state law (Levy, 2013). The ability of states to challenge federal laws that they feel are unconstitutional is part of our system of democracy. These challenges have led to parts of a law or the full law to be unconstitutional and overturned by the …show more content…

This case known as Ableman v. Booth, 62 U.S. 514 (1859). This case had to deal with Wisconsin blocking federal authority to uphold federal law. It dealt with the ability of federal authorities to arrest and detain a gentleman by the name of Booth for helping a federal prisoner escape. The battle was between the Wisconsin Supreme court, which found the law to be unconstitutional and the United States Supreme Court ruling that it was constitutional. This was clearly a test of state will against federal authority and judicial