“The State of Georgia was a sovereign State. She had the right to secede from the Union.”— Joseph E. Brown
“I believe that the federal government is trying to usurp the rights of the states.”— Dave Reichert
“First of all, I don't think we should be dictating to states what their gun laws should be. I think that's for the states to decide.”— Ron Johnson
“It is a cornerstone of our constitutional jurisprudence that the states are sovereign entities, not mere appendages of the federal government.”— Edwin Meese
“It is one of the unhappy incidents of the federal system that a self-righteous Supreme Court, in performing its duties, has overturned the decisions of states' lawmakers.”— William Rehnquist
“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.”— Joseph Story
“I believe the states can best serve their citizens by planning and implementing their own health care reforms.”— John Cornyn
“The practice of summoning citizens of one State to another to answer complaints against them is a direct assault upon their privileges and immunities.”— Stephen Johnson Field
“I am a Georgian and a Southerner; if I had to choose between my State and the Union, I should choose my State.”— Robert Toombs
“The tendency of the Federal Government is to centralize and assume functions that are not delegated to it by the Constitution.”— Harry F. Byrd
“The sovereign people of a state, have a right to do any act, not prohibited by the constitution of the state, or of the United States.”— Joseph E. Brown
“The great principle is the right of every community to judge and decide for itself, whether a thing is right or wrong.”— Stephen A. Douglas
“Let each State mind its own business and let its neighbors alone, and there will be peace in the country.”— Stephen A. Douglas
“Asking one of the states to surrender part of her sovereignty is like asking a lady to surrender part of her chastity.”— John Randolph of Roanoke