Chapter 3

Federalism

Chapter Outline

Federalism Shapes American Politics

  1. “Federalism” can be defined as the division of powers and functions between the central (national) government and regional (state) governments.
  2. In an effort to limit national power, the framers of the Constitution established a system of dual federalism, wherein both the national and state governments would have sovereignty.
  3. The “expressed powers” granted to the national government include the power to collect taxes, to coin money, to declare war, and to regulate commerce. The Constitution also gave Congress implied powers in the necessary and proper clause that enables Congress “to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers.”
  4. One way in which the framers sought to preserve a strong role for the states was through the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment is also called the reserved powers amendment because it aims to reserve powers to the states.
  5. Federalism and a restrictive definition of “interstate commerce” limited the national government’s control over the economy.
  6. Because laws vary between the states, federalism requires cooperation to promote national unity.

The Definition of Federalism Has Changed Radically

  1. Under the traditional system of dual federalism, the national government was small and narrowly specialized in its functions compared with other Western nations. Most of its functions were aimed at promoting commerce.
  2. Under the traditional system, states rather than the national government did most of the fundamental governing in the country.
  3. The system of federalism limited the expansion of the national government despite economic forces and expansive interpretations of the Constitution in cases such as McCulloch v. Maryland and Gibbons v. Ogden.
  4. For most of U.S. history, the concept of interstate commerce kept the national government from regulating the economy. But in 1937, the Supreme Court converted the commerce clause from a source of limitations to a source of power for the national government.
  5. The rise of national government activity after the New Deal did not necessarily mean that states lost power directly. Rather, the national government paid states through grants-in-aid to administer federal programs.
  6. Some federal programs bypass the states by sending money directly to local governments or local organizations. The states are critically important, however; they are integral to federal programs such as Medicaid.
  7. The 1990s saw a revival of interest in the Tenth Amendment and important Supreme Court decisions limiting federal power. Conservatives argued that individual liberties are better protected by returning more power to the states through the process of devolution, in which programs are removed from one level of government by delegating it or passing it down to a lower level of government.
  8. Cooperative federalism is the system of federalism since the New Deal in which grants-in-aid have been used strategically to encourage states and localities to pursue nationally defined goals, with national and state governments sharing powers and resources via intergovernmental cooperation.
  9. One problem that emerged in the 1980s was the increase in unfunded mandates—regulations or new conditions for receiving grants that impose costs on state and local governments for which they are not reimbursed by the national government.