Chapter Three Section 1 Federalism. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.3 | 2...

Chapter Three

Section 1

Federalism

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 3 | 2

Governmental Structure

• Federalism: a political system where local government units can make final decisions regarding some governmental activities and whose existence is protected

• Unitary System: local governments are subservient to the national government


Figure 3.1: Lines of Power in Three Systems of Government


Federalism: A Bold New Plan


Contradictions of Federalism

• No historical precedent• Elastic language in Article I: Necessary

and Proper Clause expands federal power

• Commerce Clause: gives Federal government right to regulate interstate commerce

• Tenth Amendment was added as an attempt to clarify the limits of the national government’s power


Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 of the US

Constitution

"The Congress shall have Power - To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the

foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the

Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof."


The Tenth Amendment

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.


Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the US Constitution

“The Congress shall have power . . . To regulate commerce with foreign nations,

and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes”


Negatives of Federalism

• Negative view: Federalism blocks progress and protects powerful local interests


Negatives of Federalism• New York v. United States (1992), Invalidated the

Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985.

• Printz v US (1995) Invalidated the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act that required state and local law enforcement officials to conduct background checks on persons attempting to purchase handguns.

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) A landmark United States Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation under the doctrine of "separate but equal".


Positives of Federalism

• Positive view: Federalism contributes to governmental strength, political flexibility, and fosters individual liberty–Federalist #10: small political units allow all relevant interests to be heard

–Federalism increases political activity


Hamilton versus Jefferson

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“All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and the well-born; the other the mass of the people ... turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right. Give therefore to the first class a distinct, permanent share in the Government ... Nothing but a permanent body can check the imprudence of local democracy.”

speech to the Constitutional Convention concerning the United States Senate, 06/18/1787

Alexander HamiltonThe First Federalist


“The States can best govern our home concerns and the general government our foreign ones. I wish, therefore...never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where, further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold at market.”

From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 1797

Thomas JeffersonThe First Anti-Federalist


“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.”

Federalist No. 45

James MadisonOriginal Federalist converted to Anti-

Federalism


Federalism Over Time

• Dual federalism (Dual Sovereignty?): Both national and state governments are supreme in their own spheres, which should be kept separate

• Hard to make distinctions between state and federal spheres; distinctions between them were blurred

• The Supreme Court has become the ultimate final judge of the balance between states’ rights and the national government

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