Histories Forgotten: The 1900s, Federal intervention for wildlife and the Lacey Act

One of the top priorities of organized sportsmen early on was the elimination of trade in wildlife. State enforcement efforts, however, remained weak.
At the federal level, Congress had yet to insert itself into the wildlife protection scheme for two reasons. The first principle flowed directly from the passage of the Bill of Rights, and more specifically, the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”