Deconstructing the 10th Amendment of the Bill of Rights

The word "Sovereignty" shows up in the Illinois seal, and in many other state governments.   While I see how important Sovereignty is for some states that like to protect their people from the onslaught of government restrictions, and regulations.  Most people in those states have never considered what it's like from the other side.   What happens when your state is out to get you, and the federal rules actually seem quite nice?  Efficient language confuses people.   All that work finding subjects and predicates, makes people bored, and open to interpreting things in a manner that is inappropriate.  That's where we can dissect the 10th amendment's precise meaning, and understand exactly what that means.   Here is the 10th amendment:

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.

This terminology was so confusing to many future representatives, that they authored the 14th amendment that stated almost the same thing, but wordier and full of post civil war angst against rebellion.   So let's take some words and identify subjects:

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.

I have highlighted the subjects in Yellow to make things easier, there is a compound predicate, which make the sentence a little more difficult to understand because of the use of negating words like "not", and "nor".  But it is clear the subject would be the states.


Now let's rearrange the sentence in several ways so it still has the same meanings, but may be clearer.

The powers the Constitution did not delegate or prohibit to the States, are reserved for the States, or the people.

Do you see now how the incorporation clause of the 14th amendment was unneeded, as the 10th amendment already stated the bill of rights applies to the States.   It also stated anything the Constitution did not cover, was up to the States to decide.   Sovereignty was not the power designated to the States, but the ability to make rules about anything that wasn't in the Bill of Rights.   This is why gun control is so puzzling to me.   The right to "Keep" meaning to own in your home, and "Bear" meaning to have on you wherever you are...  Shall not be infringed...  which means exactly what it means... don't mess with it.   I also don't understand how law enforcement can continually violate the 4th amendment without any type of repercussions.

Just remember, when you're supporting the 10th amendment, you are NOT supporting state Sovereignty, but you ARE supporting the ability for the state to make decisions that do not affect your basic rights as outlined in the federal constitution.