the police powers of the states were far from diminutive in the lives of everyday people. The theory of police power was grounded not in the idea that a government’s duty was to protect individual rights but, rather, in the conviction that government’s most important obligation was to secure the health, safety, and general well-being of a community. States exercised their “police power” when they regulated slaughterhouses and ports; when they established rules for the sale and consumption of alcohol; or when they made provisions to encourage commerce and build infrastructure. Laws concerning
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