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American Government Syllabus

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American Government
Notes from 2/1/01

 

In this class we covered federalism. Federalism refers to a system of shared power between different layers or units of government. Whereas the United States under the Articles of Confederation was a confederation (a weak national government and strong, nearly independent states), the constitution created a federal system, in which powers and responsibilities are shared by the national and state governments. The other alternative is a unitary system, in all the powers reside in the national government. Today, most countries actually have unitary systems.

There are important advantages and disadvantages to our form of federalism. One advantage is that it enhances citizen access to government officials. Many of our problems can be addressed at the local or state level, rather than at the federal level. Another advantage is that federalism allows for more formal participation. With so many state and local governments, there are more elected offices to which people can aspire. Finally, federalism allows local and state governments to tailor policies to the particular needs of their constituents.

There are also disadvantages. For one thing, there can be substantial differences in the resources available to different states, or the amount that various states are willing to spend on problems. A good example is education, where there are substantial differences in how much is spent on children from state to state. [SEE GRAPHIC] Another problem might be confusion. With so many layers of government, sometimes people don’t know where to go to get problems solved.

Finally, I talked about the fact that despite the intent of the constitution’s framers, our federal government has grown more powerful relative to state governments during the past 200 years. A number of factor account for this. For one thing, courts have consistently held that under Article VI, federal laws take precedence over state laws. Article VI (see p. 355) contains the supremacy clause, which states that the constitution and the laws of the United States "shall be the supreme Law of the Land." In the famous case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), the Supreme Court said that this meant that states could not interfere with federal laws.

In the McCulloch case, the Court also said that Congress could do some things even if they were not specifically enumerated in the constitution. Congressional powers could be implied by provisions such as the elastic clause of Article I, Section 8, which says that Congress can do anything that is "necessary and proper" for executing its enumerated powers. In addition, the fact that the constitution gives Congress the power to regulate commerce has allowed the federal government the opportunity to get involved in all sorts of problems and areas that weren’t specifically spelled out by the framers.

So the conclusion is that although we remain a federal system, our national government has grown steadily since 1789.  Throughout the course we will consider specific historical periods and events such as the Civil War (1861-1865), the Industrial Revolution and Progressivism (1870’s – 1910’s), the administration of Franklin Roosevelt (1932 – 1945), and the administration of Lyndon Johnson (1963 – 1968) that were important in expanding federal authority.