Federalism
Chapter 4
The Division of Power
 Federalism
 a system of government in which governmental powers are
divided on a territorial basis
 Each level of government has its own powers.
 Implied in the 10th Amendment to the Constitution – “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.”
Powers of the National
Government
 The national government is a government of
delegated powers
 The government may only do what the
Constitution permits (product)
 The government may only do what it must in the
ways the Constitution permits (process)
Powers of the National
Government
 The national government’s powers may be
classified into three categories
1. Express Powers (“enumerated powers”)
 Clearly stated in the Constitution (mostly in Article I,
Section 8)
 More than 30 distinct powers exist (i.e. coin money,
collect taxes, etc.)
Powers of the National
Government
 The national government’s powers may be
classified into three categories
2. Implied Powers
 Based on the “necessary and proper clause” - Article
I, Section 8, Clause 18
 Congress shall have the power to make all laws that
will be “necessary and proper” to execute any of its
express powers
Powers of the National
Government
 The national government’s powers may be
classified into three categories
3. Inherent Powers
 The powers naturally exercised by all sovereign states
 Examples include acquiring more territory, controlling
immigration, and deporting illegal aliens
Powers Denied to the
National Government
 Expressly denied
 Congress may not tax exports (goods shipped to other
countries)
 Congress may not violate certain rights (speech, religion, etc.)
 Impliedly denied
 The Constitution states that the government may only
exercise the “delegated powers”
Powers Denied to the
National Government
 Powers denied by the idea of federalism
 Historically, states had supreme control over
certain issues (i.e. establishing local governments,
educating children, deciding who can be married,
etc.)
Powers of the States
 Reserved Powers
 Those neither expressly granted to the federal government
nor expressly denied to the states
 States exercise significant powers over many issues (i.e. crime,
education, marriage, developing land, etc.)
 Most of what the government does is done by the states
 The only state power expressed in the Constitution is the
power to regulate the sale of alcohol (21st Amendment)
Powers Denied to the States
 States can not exercise many of the powers expressly
granted to the federal government (i.e. make treaties,
coin money, declare war, etc.)
 States can not tax the federal government
 State powers are also limited by state constitutions
 Since the Civil War, it has been established that states do
not have the power to secede from the USA
Conflicts between National
and State Governments
 Supremacy Clause
 Article VI, Section 2 of the Constitution
 establishes the Constitution as the supreme law of the land –
no state law can challenge the Constitution
 Article VI, Section 2
 elevates acts of Congress and treaties – no state law (including
state constitutions) can violate a federal law or treaty
 The Supremacy Clause guarantees that we remain a united
nation
Conflicts between National
and State Governments
 The Supreme Court and Federalism
 The Supreme Court resolves conflicts between states and the
federal government
 The Supreme Court
 reasserted the supremacy of the federal government for the first time
in McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 US 316 (1819), when it ruled that
Maryland could not tax (and thus destroy) a federal bank