"The Ninth and Tenth Amendments, often disregarded, have unexpected relevance today. The Ninth Amendment, based on the idea of "pre-existing rights of nature", addressed the fears of some framers that a national government would threaten states' aspirations to become independent sovereign nations. At the least it was drafted to protect "the people" from national government overreach. While the Ninth amendment is concerned with the people's rights, the Tenth Amendment reserves the people's power over government. And while we may question whether the distinction matters today, history does provide a distinction between expanding rights as opposed to limiting government power."--Page [4] of cover.