USD Political Science Department

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American Politics Web Course: Class Notes and Assignments

A. Federalism refers to the division of power between national, state and local government. It structures our Constitution because of its role in creating/defining the relationships between governments in the new United States and, as a result, the liberties of citizens. This was a highly contentious issue in the debate over the Constitution's ratification because citizens feared a powerful central government. They had just fought for independence from the powerful King George and new American citizens did not want to make the same mistake by creating a powerful central government. Still, greater centralization was needed to coordinate ecomonic activity and provide adequate protection against foreign and domestic challenges to the new republic. The resulting balance was federalism .........

Note, that federalism is a relatively unique form, as most nations have Unitary systems (88% of UN).

Federalism is a structural feature created in the Constitution. Its constitutional bases are

1. Shared Powers between institutions, governments, and jurisdictions.

2. Supremecy Clause

3. Full Faith and Credit Clause

4. Privileges and Immunities Clauses

5. Extradition Clause

6. Necessary and Proper Clause -- After the ratification of the Constitution, this would become an extremely important source of the US Supreme Court's interpretation of federalism.

 

Weaknesses and Strengths of US Federalism

 

Weaknesses: Lack of national standards in public policy Civil Rights Education Environment Low visability of local politics leads to less control over government Inefficient administration of policy without centralized administration and coordination - overlapping services

Strengths: States and/or regions can enact policy that supports their specific needs Closer proximity to citizens >> greater responsiveness Innovation and experimentation. "States as laboratories" Supports the founders' belief that tyranny is less likely if power is dispersed Inhibits fully unified political parties

C. Conflicts over the working of Federalism

Federalism, with a strong role of the federal government, has evolved slowly over time and not without conflict.

Conflicts Included:

1. Alien and Sedition Acts (1789) -- Used by federalists to restrict
Dissent of those who would challenge the legitimacy of the federal government.

2. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions -- Declared that states did
not have to obey unconstitutional national laws and that the states had power to decide what was constitutional because of they were original source of authority for the Constitution.

3. Civil War -- From a Constitutional perspective, the war was fought over the question of whether the south had the independent legal authority to succeed from the nation when that nation no longer met with the state's satisfaction (see Bill or Rights).

4. Many other instances of of conflict existed, but refer to the above three to gain understanding of the kinds of problems that resulted.

D. The Supreme Court and Federalism

Perhaps the most important role of the Court's during early constitutional history was figuring out the nature of the relationship between federal and state powers in the new nation. The debate was motivated by partisan conceptions of the nature of the "United States." Where they States that were united for a common purpose or did they form a single united set of states?

Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, John Marshall, and the Federalists believed in the latter conception and strongly enforced the Supremacy Clause in early US Supreme Court decisions.

1. Marbury v. Madison (1803) when they first created Judicial Review declared to be an implied power, judicial review creates strong role for Court as well as the Federal Government

2. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) -- expands Supremacy Clause and establishes the Necessary and Proper Clause as source of federal government authority

These cases, and others, would define the legal -- that is constitutional -- scope of the relationship between federal and state governments. That relationship is called federalism.