The state of Georgia needed supplies during the Revolutionary War, and as there were no stores established yet, the state turned to a South Carolina businessman. At the conclusion of the war, with Georgia yet to pay on its debt, the executor on the businessman’s estate, a man named Alexander Chisholm, filed a suit against the state in the Supreme Court. Georgia, for its part, claimed it had “sovereign immunity” as an entity and could not be sued. The Supreme Court found in favor of the Chisholm, with four of the judges arguing that the federal government did in fact have jurisdiction over disputes between states and citizens of other states. The ruling proved to be quite unpopular with many, and as a result, the 11th amendment to the United States Constitution was born.

On this day, February 7, in 1795, two years after the ruling and almost a year after first draft, the Amendment XI to the United States Constitution was finally ratified by a vote of Congress. The amendment changed the key clause cited by the Supreme Court in the Chisholm decision: no longer could states be bound to federal judicial power in suits brought by residents of other states.

While the decision might seem boring and unimportant, it was in fact a significant step in outlining the relationship of states to the federal government. Chisholm established the precedent of states as quasi-sovereign entities, independent of judicial power in many ways. The power that states have today to govern their own affairs stemmed largely from this court case.