That was true prior to the 14th amendment. Reconstruction. The question is, What was constructed?
I've been saying for a while now I don't see how there can't be a Civil War part 2. Slavery may have been fixed by the first one but nothing else was. In fact, it was all made worse. That's when the Fed govt began it's march towards the hydra we have today. The "passage" of the 14th is the first clue to how much power the Feds took.