Chapter 3 Notes
Terms:
Block Grants: federal grants which allow states considerable leeway or discretion in how t he funds should be spent
Categorical Grants: congressional grants given to states and localities on the condition that expenditures be limited to a problem or group specified by law
Commerce Clause: Article 1 Section 8 of Const., which delegates to Congress the power “to regulate
Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States with Indian Tribes”. The Supreme Court interpreted thus clause in favor of national power over the economy.
Concurrent Powers: powers exercised by both the federal and the state governments
Cooperative Federalism: federalism existing since the New Deal era in which grants-in aid have been used strategically to encourage states and localities to pursue nationally defined goals, with national and state gov’s sharing powers and resources via inter-gov. cooperation
Devolution: a policy to remove a program from one level of gov. by delegating it or passing It down to a lower level of gov., such as from the national government to the state and local gov’s
Dual Federalism: the system of gov that prevailed in the US from 1789-1937, in which most fundamental gov powers were shared between the federal and state government.
Expressed Powers: Specific powers granted by congress in the Const.
Federalism: a system of gov in which power is divided, by a constitution, between the central (national) gov and regional (state) gov’s
Full Faith & Credit Clause: provision from Article IV, Section 1. Of the Constitution requiring that the states normally honor the public acts judicial decisions’ that take place in another state
General Revenue Sharing the process by which one unit of gov yields a portion of its tax income to another unit of gov, according to an established formula Revenue haring typically involves the nayional government providing money to state governments.
Grants in Aid: programs through which Congress provides money to state and local governments on the condition that the funds be employed for purposes defined by the federal government.
Home Rule: power delegated by the state to a local unit of gov to manage its own affairs
Implied Powers: powers derived from the necessary and proper clause or Article 1, Section 8 of the
Const.. Such powers are not specifically expressed but are implied through the expansive interpretation of delegated powers.

Necessary and proper clause: provision from Article 1 Section 8 of the Const. providing Congress with the authority to make all laws necessary and proper to carry out its expressed powers
New Federalism: policy of Presidents Nixon and Reagan to return power to the states through block grants
Police Power: power reserved to the government to regulate the health, safety and morals of its citizens
Preemption: the principle that allows the national gov to override state or local actions in certain policy areas
Privileges & Immunities Clause: provision from Article 4, Section 2 of the Constitution that citizens of one state should be entitled to similar treatment in other states
Reserved Powers: The Tenth Ammend to the Const, which aims to reserve power to the states
States Rights: the principle that the state should oppose the increasing authority of the national gov.
This principle was most popular in the period before the Civil War.
Unfunded Mandates: Regulations or conditions for receiving grants that impose costs on state and local gov’s for which they are not reimbursed by the federal gov.
Unitary System: A gov system that gives most power to the federal or national governments