This provision wasn't seen as a measure of the powers granted to the Federal
Government - settled by the mere fact that both houses refused to insert "expressly"
before the word "delegated" and confirmed by Madison's remarks - ''Interference
with the power of the States was no constitutional criterion of the power of
Congress. If the power was not given, Congress could not exercise it; if given,
they might exercise it, although it should interfere with the laws, or even
the Constitutions of the States.''
Nevertheless, for approximately a century, from the death of Marshall until
1937, the Tenth Amendment was frequently invoked to curtail powers expressly
granted to Congress, notably the powers to regulate commerce, to enforce the
14th Amendment, and to lay and collect taxes.
There was also a court case that is important to relate with the 10th amendment
- Collector v. Day - which said that national income tax couldn't be levied
on the salaries of state officers. Justice Nelson made the sweeping statement
that ''the States within the limits of their powers not granted, or, in the
language of the Tenth Amendment, 'reserved,' are as independent of the general
government as that government within its sphere is independent of the States.''
Thus, it was overruled.