NEWT GINGRICH's cherished notion of giving power back to the states is based on the idea that state and local governments know their particular needs better than the federal government does. This idea strikes many Americans as a fresh and democratic sentiment, but it is neither. Throughout our history, states' rights have been invoked to roll back democracy.
The first great evocation of states' rights in this tradition occurred in 1832. The so-called Nullification Controversy pitted John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, champion of states' rights, against President Andrew Jackson. The ostensible issue was protective tariffs, but Calhoun's fundamental concern was protecting the institution of slavery.
In the 20th century, "states' rights" has been a powerful rallying force whenever the issue is race.
After Harry Truman created the Civil Rights Committee, which called for the elimination of racial segregation from American life, the cry went out. In 1948, southern conservative delegates to the Democratic Convention balked at civil-rights planks that Hubert Humphrey had included in the platform. They formed the nucleus of the States' Rights Democratic Party, which we remember as the Dixiecrats. Their 1948 presidential candidate was then-South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond.
Since the New Deal, "states' rights" has been the phrase used to defend Jim Crow and massively resist desegregation, rising after the Supreme Court ordered the racial desegregation of public schools. In 1968, George Wallace of Alabama ran for president, promising to "get the federal government out of the local schools."
Today, the Republican assault on welfare is the latest incarnation of states' rights. Welfare was originally federalized because state programs were inadequate to the point of cruelty. Now, the federal government is giving away many decisions about welfare to the states and abandoning the sense of national obligation to the poor. The states, meanwhile, are competing with one another to force the poor into the work force, their children be damned.
Sometimes states are more progressive than the federal government. New Jersey now has a higher state-mandated minimum wage than the federal standard. Many states have more stringent environmental protection laws than Washington's.
But since the New Deal, the federal government -- not the states -- has been the most obvious advocate for the poor and for people of color. Mr. Gingrich's push for states' rights revives a tradition that threatens progressive federal policies and harkens back to an ugly era for black people and the poor.
Nell Irvin Painter teaches the history of the South at Princeton University.