The debate about the Bill of Rights went like this:
For: Let's enumerate some rights, just in case future generations are stupidly literal about things and get confused because it's not all written down for them.
Against: Bad idea! By writing some down, we might create the impression that those are the ONLY rights.
For: Well then we'll make the 10th Amendment a catch-all, so it's crystal clear that rights exist beyond those we've enumerated so far.
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So did the 10th Amendment work? It seems like probably not, since people so frequently refer to the Bill of Rights as proof that the Constitution "grants" rights--rather than the intended effect, which is that the Bill of Rights limits government power over rights that already (and always) exist.
For: Let's enumerate some rights, just in case future generations are stupidly literal about things and get confused because it's not all written down for them.
Against: Bad idea! By writing some down, we might create the impression that those are the ONLY rights.
For: Well then we'll make the 10th Amendment a catch-all, so it's crystal clear that rights exist beyond those we've enumerated so far.
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So did the 10th Amendment work? It seems like probably not, since people so frequently refer to the Bill of Rights as proof that the Constitution "grants" rights--rather than the intended effect, which is that the Bill of Rights limits government power over rights that already (and always) exist.