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Intro.7.3 Federalism and the Constitution. Another basic concept embodied in the Constitution is federalism, which refers to the division and sharing of power between the national and state government s. 1. By allocating power among state and federal government s, the Framers sought to establish a unified national government of limited powers ...
The new Tenth Amendment stated: “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 ...
- 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]
1. The federal government has the exclusive power to raise an army. The state governments have the exclusive power to vote to ratify an amendment. Both the federal government and the state governments can collet taxes and charter banks. 2. The American government is divided into three levels to fit the needs of differing regions.
People also ask
What is a state government system?
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- Robert Longley
- The Founders and Federalism. Seeing the importance of balancing liberty with order, America’s Founding Fathers identified three main reasons for creating a government based on the concept of federalism
- Where the States Get Their Powers. The states draw their powers under our system of federalism from the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution, which grants them all powers not specifically granted to the federal government, nor forbidden to them by the Constitution.
- Exclusive Powers of the National Government. The Constitution grants the U.S. national government three types of powers: Delegated Powers. Sometimes called enumerated or expressed powers, the delegated powers are specifically granted to the federal government in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.
- Exclusive Powers of State Governments. Powers reserved to state governments include: Establish local governments. Issue licenses (driver, hunting, marriage, etc.)
Identify the powers and responsibilities of federal, state, and local governments; Modern democracies divide governmental power in two general ways; some, like the United States, use a combination of both structures. The first and more common mechanism shares power among three branches of government—the legislature, the executive, and the ...
Concurrent powers refer to powers that are shared by both the federal government and state governments. This includes the power to tax, build roads, and create lower courts. Further Reading. For more on federalism, see this Florida State University Law Review article, this Vanderbilt Law Review article, and this Stanford Law Review article.
