National and State Powers
United
States
Constitution
=
US Constitution is over all levels of
government.
National Government is over the States.
Some delegates
feared the central
government would
be too powerful. A
federal govt. was
created to allow
states and local
govts to handle
their own affairs.
National
Govt.
State Government
Powers of
government are
divided between a
National, state
and local
governments.
Powers of
government are
shared by all
levels.
Local Government
Federal
United
States
Constitution
=
•Supreme law of the land….
•It is above all levels of government and no act,
law or public policy can be in conflict with it.
National Government is over the States.

A way of organizing a nation so that two or
more levels of government share power.
Confederations- sovereign nations,
through a constitutional compact,
create a central government but
carefully limit the power of the
central government and do not give
it the power to regulate the conduct
of individuals directly. Ex.- Articles
of Confederation and the European
Union.
Unitary Government- All
governmental power is vested in the
central government. The central
government may delegate authority
to constituent units, but what it
delegates it may take away. Ex.France, Israel, and in the U.S. state
constitutions usually create this
kind of relationship between the
state and local governments.


Delegated powers: powers the Constitution
grants or delegates to the national government
(expressed, implied, and inherent)
Expressed powers: powers directly expressed or
stated in the Constitution by the Founders; also
called enumerated powers (Art. I, II, III)


Levy and collect taxes, coin money, make war, raise an army
and navy, regulate commerce among states
Implied Powers: authority that the national
government requires to carry out the powers that
are expressly defined in the Constitution
◦ Power to draft people into armed forces
◦ Elastic clause: allows powers of Congress to stretch;
necessary and proper clause ( Art. I, Sect. 8)

Inherent powers: powers of the national
government may exercise simply because it is a
government
◦ Gov’t must control immigration and establish diplomatic
relations w/other countries



Supremacy clause: no state law or state
constitution may conflict with any form of
national law; acts and treaties of the U.S. are
supreme (Art. VI, Sect. 2)
Concurrent powers: powers that both the
national government and states have
Denied powers: powers the Constitution
specifically denies to the states or national gov’t

http://glencoe.com/sites/common_assets/so
cialstudies/in_motion_10/usg/USG_097.swf
Delegated
Concurrent
Powers given to
national govt
Expressed
Implied
Power to tax
Make treaties
Coin money
Establish Post Offices
Raise a military
Declare war
Admit new states
Build dams
Interstate highways
Fund NASA
Regulate naturalization
Establish courts
Recognize new countries
Copyright/Patents
Weights/measurements
Prohibit racism
Regulate commerce
Powers shared
by all 3 levels
Make/enforce laws
Maintain courts
Collect taxes
Borrow money
Charter banks
Protect welfare of people
Call out the militia
Reserved
Powers given only
to the states
Provide for education
Establish local govts
Conduct elections
Protect public safety
Build state highways
Raise a state militia
Issue licenses
Incorporate businesses
Regulate trade in state
Regulate drinking age
Set speed limit
Create counties/cities
Decide death penalty
Marriage definition
Medicinal marijuana

The Division of Power
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
The U.S. Constitution
Laws of Congress
Treaties
State Constitutions
State Laws

Establishing National Supremacy
◦
◦
◦
◦
Implied Powers
Commerce Powers
The Civil War
The Struggle for Racial Equality


Commerce Clause: The clause in the
Constitution that gives Congress the power to
regulate all business activities that cross state
lines or affect more than one state or other
nations (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3):
Through the commerce clause, the national
government has found constitutional
jurisdiction for regulating a wide range of
human activity.


“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.”
Tenth Amendment does not give states power superior to that of the
national government for activities not mentioned in the Constitution
as upheld in 1985 by Garcia v. San Antonio Metro


McCulloch v. Maryland: An 1819 Supreme Court
dispute between Maryland and 2nd National Bank
Cashier, James McCulloch, in which McCulloch
refused to pay the $15,000 tax imposed by the
state of Maryland in its effort to oppose Federal
power. Supreme Court ruled in favor of
McCulloch and established supremacy of national
gov’t over the states
The national gov’t has certain implied powers
that go beyond its enumerated powers through
the Necessary and Proper clause


Gibbons v. Ogden: A dispute over a monopoly to
operate steamboats in New York waters that the
state of New York had granted to Robert
Livingston and Robert Fulton. Ogden, who was
licensed to have the exclusive right to operate
steamboats between NY and NJ, sued to stop
Thomas Gibbons from running a competing
ferry. The ruling promoted a national economic
common market in holding that states may not
discriminate against interstate transportation and
out-of-state commerce.
Supreme Court defined commerce very broadly to
encompass almost every form of commercial
activity (movement of goods, radio signals,
electricity, telephone messages, Internet,
insurance transactions, etc)

What McCulloch pronounced constitutionally,
the Civil War settled militarily- the national
government is supreme to the states



Brown v. Board of Education
School segregation was declared
unconstitutional and the federal gov’t
enforced its ruling despite massive state
resistance.
National gov’t reigns supreme over states




The Constitution requires the national
government to do three things for the states
Republican form of government- enforce that
each state has a republican form of gov’t
Protection- protect states from invasion and
domestic violence
Territorial integrity- respect territorial
integrity of each state
Relations Among the States


Constitution set rules for how the states must
interact with each other
Article IV
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
Full faith and credit
Privileges and immunities
Extradition
Interstate compacts
Lawsuits between states




People cannot avoid their legal obligations by
moving to another state; thus, “full faith and
credit” shall be given in each state to the public
acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every
other state
Public acts= civil laws passed by state
legislatures
Records= documents such as mortgages, wills,
marriage licenses, car registrations, and birth
certificates
Judicial proceedings= court actions affecting civil
matters


“the Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all
Privileges and Immunities as citizens of that
state”
Meant to stop states from discriminating against
citizens of other states
◦ Visitors pay same sales tax and receive same police
protection


Generally, the more fundament the rights, such
as owning property or receiving police
protection, the less likely it is that a state can
discriminate against a citizen of another state
Many exceptions
◦ Out of state tuition to state universities


A lawbreaker cannot avoid
punishment by escaping to
another state
“A Person charged in any State
with Treason, Felony, or other
Crime, who shall flee from
Justice, and be found in
another State, shall on
demand of the executive
Authority of the State from
which he fled, be delivered up,
to be removed to the State
having Jurisdiction of the
Crime.

Article IV, Section 2
◦ States must return a person
charged with a crime in a another
state to that state for trial or
imprisonment



Written agreements between two or more
states
One way in which states settle their disputes
peacefully
Congress must approve interstate compacts
to prevent states from making alliances
among themselves and threatening union.


States can bring one another to court for a
variety of reasons. Many cases are over water
rights.
220 disputes have been brought to Supreme
Court since 1789