Search results
Oct 19, 2023 · These enumerated powers include, among other things, the power to levy taxes, regulate commerce, establish a uniform law of naturalization, establish federal courts (subordinate to the Supreme Court), establish and maintain a military, and declare war.
Although the text of the Constitution does not clearly delineate many of the boundaries between the powers of the federal and state governments, the Supreme Court has frequently invoked certain constitutional provisions when determining that Congress has exceeded its constitutional powers and infringed upon state sovereignty. 7 Footnote
- Overview
- Enumerated vs. implied powers
- Key documents to know
- Key cases to know
- Key takeaways from this lesson
- Review questions
A high-level overview of the key terms, themes, and concepts in this lesson.
Federalism is the distribution of power between the federal government and state governments. However, the Constitution does not create clear-cut lines for which types of policy fall under each level of government.
What's the difference between enumerated and implied powers, and why should we care?
Here's a real-world example: Say that your parents tell you that they'll pay for you to get ice cream with your friends. Awesome!
You make a plan with your friends, wait for the bus to head downtown, pay the fare, ride to the ice cream shop, get ice cream, and come back by the bus. When you get home, you tell your parents that the ice cream cost you $5 and the bus fare came to $4, so you need $9, please.
Your parents respond, "We only said we'd pay for ice cream! We didn't say we'd pay for you to get to the ice cream shop. We only owe you $5."
But how could you have gotten ice cream with your friends if you couldn't get to your friends? Well, maybe you could have bought a half-gallon of ice cream and invited your friends over . . . although you still would have had to go to the grocery store to do that, too. Is it even possible to get ice cream without going through some other step?
This is the essence of enumerated vs. implied powers: enumerated powers are those things that the Constitution explicitly says Congress can do (in Article I): levy taxes, regulate commerce with other nations, borrow and coin money, establish post offices, raise an army, and declare war, among other things.
Constitution (1787) — The fundamental laws and principles that govern the United States. The document resulted from several compromises between Federalists and Anti-Federalists in the Constitutional Convention.
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) — Supreme Court case which guaranteed the supremacy of federal laws over state laws and declared that Congress has implied powers not listed in the Constitution in order to fulfill their enumerated powers.
US v. Lopez (1995) — Supreme Court case which stopped Congress from using the commerce clause to ban guns in schools
Questions about federalism: Federalism refers to the distribution of power between the federal government and the state governments. The Constitution sketches a federal framework that aims to balance the forces of decentralized and centralized governance in general terms. However, the Constitution does not flesh out standard operating procedures that say precisely how the states and federal governments are to handle all policy contingencies imaginable.
Therefore, officials at the state and national levels have had some room to maneuver as they operate within the Constitution’s federal design. This has led to changes in the configuration of federalism over time, changes corresponding to different historical phases that capture distinct balances between state and federal authority.
Enhancing federal power: When the Constitution was ratified, there were still debates between the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans in Congress about how much power the federal government should have.
Interpretations of particular clauses in the Constitution have led to an increase in federal power over time. The necessary and proper clause gives the federal government power to create laws that they deem “necessary and proper,” while the commerce clause gives the federal government power over interstate commerce.
In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had implied powers to fulfill the duties of their enumerated powers. Later, the federal government enhanced its power over the states by passing the Fourteenth Amendment, which prevented the states from infringing on the rights of individuals.
Enhancing state power: Concerns over a strong central government motivated Anti-Federalists to argue for the inclusion of a Tenth Amendment in the Bill of Rights. The Tenth Amendment guaranteed that all powers not granted to the federal government are state powers.
What constitutional arguments has the Supreme Court used to enhance or limit federal power over time?
What is the difference between enumerated and implied powers?
How did the Fourteenth Amendment give the federal government more power over the states?
[Notes and attributions]
United States, 564 U.S. 2 1 1, 222 (20 1 1) ( By denying any one government complete jurisdiction over all the concerns of public life, federalism protects the liberty of the individual from arbitrary power. When government acts in excess of its lawful powers, that liberty is at stake. ); United States v.
People also ask
What powers does the federal government have?
What is a federal government?
What type of government does the United States have?
How have federal and state powers been enhanced?
- Article I assigns the responsibility for making laws to the Legislative Branch (Congress). Congress is divided into two parts, or “Houses,” the House of Representatives and the Senate.
- Article II details the Executive Branch and the offices of the President and Vice President. It lays down rules for electing the President (through the Electoral College), eligibility (must be a natural-born citizen at least 35 years old), and term length.
- Article III establishes the Judicial Branch with the U.S. Supreme Court as the federal court system’s highest court. It specifies that Federal judges be appointed for life unless they commit a serious crime.
- Article IV outlines states’ powers in relationship to each other. States have the authority to create and enforce their own laws but must respect and help enforce the laws of other states.
Key points. The Framers of the US Constitution structured the government so that the three branches have separate powers. The branches must both cooperate and compete to enact policy. Each of the branches has the power to check the other two, which ensures that no one branch can become too powerful and that government as a whole is constrained.
The U.S. federal government, sometimes simply referred to as "Washington", is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U.S. Constitution in the Congress, the president, and the federal courts, respectively.
