The real check on Federal power by the states was the right to simply pick up and leave the union. Once Lincoln established that the federal government could wage war on a state and its people to force them into the union against the will of their elected representatives and their collective public will, the states became mere provinces of the federal government with no sovereignty of their own. A person or state has no rights whatsoever if he/it can be forced to participate and support with taxes a government he does not support. At least an individual an pick up and move to another country, the states are now the captives of the beast they created.
Also true.
