The Forgotten Amendment....

As we work to stem the continuing erosion of the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights/Constitution, we hear all manner of reference to the First and Second Amendments, predominately.  The ground covered in those amendments to the Constitution seems to be where most of the war is taking place these days.


But as important as those amendments are, along with the other six amendments that initially comprised the Bill of Rights, the Ninth Amendment is the article that explicitly protects our rights from infringement by the federal government.


The Ninth Amendment reads as follows: 

"The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

The rights granted to the general (federal) government comprised a very limited, discrete package of powers.  James Madison put it this way:

"It has been objected also against a Bill of Rights, that, by enumerating particular exceptions to the grant of power, it would disparage those rights which were not placed in that enumeration; and it might follow by implication, that those rights which were not singled out, were intended to be assigned into the hands of the General Government, and were consequently insecure. This is one of the most plausible arguments I have ever heard against the admission of a bill of rights into this system; but, I conceive, that it may be guarded against. I have attempted it, as gentlemen may see by turning to the last clause of the fourth resolution."

Simply stated, Madison argued that, contrary to the political doctrine we see exercised by the federal government today, the only powers granted to the general government were those that were explicitly granted.  The assumption underlying the Ninth Amendment, therefore, is that all other powers, even those not explicitly stated, were reserved to THE PEOPLE.  In his speech introducing the Bill of Rights, during which he also addressed objections to the creation of such a document, Madison emphasized the idea of "the great residuum" of powers that were reserved to the People:

"It has been said, by way of objection to a bill of rights....that in the Federal Government they are unnecessary, because the powers are enumerated, and it follows, that all that are not granted by the constitution are retained; that the constitution is a bill of powers, the great residuum being the rights of the people;"

As we continue the fight to bring the federal government back into line with the principles stated in the Constitution, one thought stands out from the rest: if at any time the powers of the federal government come into conflict with the rights of the people, the Ninth Amendment declares which set of powers is to take preeminence - and those powers don't belong to the federal government.