11th_Amendment

On February 7, 1794, the original Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay, issued an opinion in a case called Georgia v. Brailsford.The opinion awarded a money judgment from the State of Georgia to Brailsford, a citizen of another state. This set the precedent that the federal government, created as an agent of the states, could order one of its master states to pay money to citizens of other states.The reaction was swift. The states, many of whom had been assured when they ratified the Constitution that this result would never happen, sounded the alarm.Within one year, the Congress by a 2/3 majority in both chambers passed and presented it to the states for ratification. Exactly one year later, on February 7, 1795, North Carolina became the state that put the amendment over the top, making it official.In addition to a rapid and intense response to what both the Congress and the states considered to be an act of federal judicial usurpation, the other interesting aspect of the 11th Amendment is the nature of the amendment, itself.Note that the amendment is an instruction to the judiciary on how to interpret (construe) the Constitution. It did not change it. Rather it said that a construction of the Supreme Court was wrong.I know of no other amendment to the Constitution that gives instruction to the judiciary on how to interpret the Constitution.