The constitution was the agreement, and they numbered the powers granted to the feds. So your solution is the the federal government gets to decide what it's limits are? Wow what a great idea?
Yes, the Constitution WAS the agreement, and they numbered the Powers granted to the Federal Government.
The Founding Fathers are the ones who put the Constitution together; and the Constitution they put together gives the Federal Government, as a concept, limited Power, but in application, the Federal Government has unlimited Power.
Seriously, I'm going to utter his name again, with my finger tips--not saying I agree with him completely, just pointing out a person that individuals ought to read-up on, not him personally, but his ideas: Noam Chomsky.
The Founding Fathers seemed to have been lost in the heat of the moment when they put together the structure of our Government, and the Constitution. It's was definitely one of those situations--I have had many in my life--where you put something together, it sounds fantastic, it sounds like it reached down into the pit of some fundamental Thing...then you wake up the next day, you start digging through the details, and you discover, what is typically the case, the first few lines started with a premise that isn't necessarily Truth: DOI: "...We hold these truths to be self-evident."--a taste of what they were actually stating.
They were acknowledging that the only Truth that is self-evident, must be held to be--a notion, a concept of what is, and is not fundamental. Then they go on to state that Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness are merely bestowed upon us, by some Creator. Rights DO NOT EXIST.