The Federal System
National and State Powers
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The federal system divides government
powers between national and state
governments.
U.S. federalism has continued to change since
its inception in 1787.
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The national government’s expressed powers
allow the government to:
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Levy taxes.
Coin money.
Make war.
Raise an army and navy.
Regulate interstate commerce.
Expressed powers: powers directly expressed
or stated in the constitution by the founders.
Also called enumerated powers.
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Implied powers have helped the national
government strengthen and expand its authority
to meet many problems the Founders did not
foresee.
◦ Implied powers: those powers that the national
government requires to carry out the powers that are
expressly defined in the Constitution
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Inherent powers are not spelled out in the
Constitution but are necessary for a government
to function.
◦ Inherent powers: powers that the national government
my exercise simply because it is a government
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The reserved powers belong to the states,
which may exercise any power not delegated
to the national government, reserved to the
people, or denied them by the Constitution.
Some reserved powers include:
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Regulating intrastate commerce.
Establishing local government systems.
Administering elections.
Protecting the public’s health, welfare, and morals.
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The Supremacy Clause
◦ Supremacy clause: statement in Aricle VI of the
Constitution establishing that the Constitution, laws
passed by Congress, and treaties of the United
States “shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”
◦ States cannot make any laws that interfere with the
Constitution.
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Concurrent Powers
◦ Concurrent powers: powers that both the national
government and the states have
◦ Concurrent powers include:
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Levying taxes.
Borrowing money.
Spending for general welfare.
Establishing courts.
Enacting and enforcing laws.
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Denied Powers
◦ The Constitution also lists powers that are denied
to both national and state governments.
◦ The Constitution imposed restrictions on
governments designed to protect individual
liberties.
 Found in Article I, Section 9, The Bill of Rights, and in
several other amendments.
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States are guaranteed a republican form of
government.
States are guaranteed protection from
invasion and domestic violence.
States are guaranteed respect for their
territorial integrity.
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Congress has the power to admit new states
to the Union.
Congress or the president my set conditions
for admitting a state.
Each state admitted is equal to every other
state.
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The NGA helps the state’s governors solve
common problems.
By joining together, governors become more
active in national policy making.
The Constitution obligates states to conduct
and pay for all elections of federal officials
and to consider the ratification of
constitutional amendments.
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The Supreme Court and the federal courts
settle disputes between the states and the
national government.
The Court has held that the national
government is supreme.
Relations Among the States
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Article IV of the Constitution requires states
to do the following:
◦ Give “full faith and credit” to the laws, records, and
court decisions of other states.
◦ Give one another’s citizens all the “privileges and
immunities” of their own citizens.
◦ Extradite criminals and fugitives who flee across
state lines to escape justice.
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Lawsuits brought by a state against another
state are tried in the Supreme Court.
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The Constitution requires each state to
recognize the laws and legal proceedings of
all other states in civil, but not criminal,
matters.
Without this kind of rule, each state could
treat all other states like foreign countries.
This clause only applies to civil law.
◦ Civil Law: laws relating to disputes between
individuals, groups, or with the state.
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Each state must treat citizens of other states
equally with its own citizens and not
discriminate against them, though
nonresidents may not enjoy all the rights of
state citizens.
Included are the rights to pass through or live
in any state; use the courts; make contracts;
buy, sell, and hold property; and marry.
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Because states are basically independent of
one another, some means is needed to
prevent criminals from escaping justice
simply by going to another state.
Criminals fleeing to other states may be
returned to their home state by extradition.
◦ Extradition: the legal process through which one
state government surrenders an accused criminal to
another state government
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The Constitution requires states to settle their
differences without the use of force.
◦ Interstate Compacts: written agreements between two or
more states
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States use interstate compacts, or agreements
among themselves, to settle border or
jurisdiction conflicts and to deal with common
problems, such as toxic waste disposal, but these
compacts must be approved by Congress.
The number of interstate compacts has increased
steadily as society has become more complex.
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Lawsuits brought by a state against another
state is tried in the Supreme Court.
Since 1789 more than 220 disputes between
states have wound up in court.
Cases in the west often involve water rights.
Other cases have involved sewage and
disputes over boundary lines.
Developing Federalism
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Throughout American history, there have
been two different views of how federalism
should operate.
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States’ rights position: favors state and local
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Nationalist position: favors national action in
action in dealing with problems.
dealing with problems
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Based on the 10th Amendment, which says
that powers not delegated to the national
government are reserved to the states.
This view holds that the Constitution is a
compact among the states.
The states created the national government
and gave it only certain limited powers.
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Because national government is an agent of
the state, all of its powers should be narrowly
defined.
State government are closer to the people
and better reflect their wishes than the
national government.
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The nationalists position is that the people,
not the states, created the national
government and that its power should be
expanded to carry out the people’s will.
The national government stands for all the
people, while each state speaks for only part
of the people.
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Movement gained ground in the late 1930s
during the Great Depression.
The courts supported expansion of the
national government in order to deal with the
nation’s terrible economic problems.
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The flexibility of the Constitution has allowed the
Supreme Court, Congress, and the President to
stretch the power of the national government to
meet the nation’s growing needs.
The expansion of the national government’s
powers has been based on three major
constitutional provisions:
◦ The war powers
◦ The power to regulate interstate commerce
◦ The power to tax and spend
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The power to wage war has expanded the
national government’s power.
Factors such as the condition of the economy
and the strength of the educational system
can affect the nation’s military capabilities.
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Supreme Court decisions have stretched
Congress’s power to regulate commerce to cover
many different areas of public activities.
The courts consistently interpret the term
commerce to mean nearly all activities concerned
with the production, buying, selling, and
transporting of goods.
This interpretation has allowed the courts to
influence decisions regarding social law such as
the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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Congress has used its taxing power to
increase the authority of the national
government.
Congress has the authority to raise taxes and
spend money for the purposes of promoting
the general welfare.
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The 16th Amendment gave Congress the
power to tax incomes which has become a
major source of money for the national
government.
Taxes can be used to regulate business and
to influence states to adopt certain kinds of
programs.
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As the national government has grown and
enlarged its powers, Congress has developed
two major ways to influence the policies of
state and local governments.
◦ Providing money through federal grants
◦ Imposing mandates that take away the ability of
state and local governments to make their own
policies.
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Federal aid has greatly increased since the
1950s.
The main way the national government
provides money to the states is through
federal grants.
◦ Federal grants: sums of money given to a state or
local government to be spent for a variety of
specific purposes
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Federal grants redistribute income among the
states by collecting taxes from all 50 states,
then allocating money to groups in other
states.
◦ Work to reduce the inequalities between wealthy
and less wealthy states.
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Preemption laws limit the authority of state
and local governments to make their own
policies.
◦ Preemption: the power to assume responsibility for
a state government function in order to gain
authority over a state
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Preemption laws limit the authority of state
and local governments through restraints and
mandates.
States must obey national law, even if their
requirements are more strict than national
law.
Federalism and Politics
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Public Policy: the course of action a
government takes in response to some issue
or problem
Federalism affects public policy making in
two ways.
◦ How and where policies are made in the US.
◦ Introduces limits on government policy making.
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Policy may originate at the national, state, or
local level of government.
Federalism permits states and localities to
serve as proving grounds where new policies
can be developed and tested.
◦ Sunset laws in Colorado
◦ Sunshine laws in Florida
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The two major parties, Republicans and
Democrats, have competed for control in
national, state, and local elections.
Each political party has a chance to win some
elections somewhere in the system. In this way,
Federalism helps to lessen the risk of one
political party gaining an monopoly on political
power.
Control of the government at all levels has
shifted between these two political parties.
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Our federal system gives citizens many points
of access to government and many
opportunities to influence public policy.
◦ Citizens can vote for candidates for a variety of
offices as well as for local issues.
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Citizens can vote for state and local officials
and work together to influence politics at all
levels of government.
◦ There is a high chance that one’s political
participation will have some practical impact.
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The growth of federal programs has created a
large bureaucracy with specialized knowledge
to implement those programs.
These increased federal programs have
changed the political relationship between
state and local government officials.
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Federalism has contributed to important
economic and political differences among the
states.
◦ Some states do more than others to regulate
business and industry while some provide more
health and welfare services.
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Political and economic differences among
states give US citizens wider opportunities for
choosing the conditions under which they will
live.
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The balance of power between the national
government and the states is constantly
evolving in response to new issues.
In recent decades, Democrats have generally
favored a nationalist position while
Republicans have favored a states’ rights
view.