Federalism

Federalism

1. 1. Big Concept: Division of Power

   • State and Governmental Powers were outlined in the constitution
   • Constitution favors central government, but states remain vital
   • Article VI discusses who wins in a conflict: State or Federal
   • Everything not given to Federal goes to states

2. 1. Big Concept: State Obligations

   • Give Full Faith and Credit to other states' documents
   • States should extradite criminals wanted in other states
   • States must offer the same privileges and immunity to visitors as visitors from other states
   • States must abide by federal decisions in which they have no say.

3. 5. Trends in Federal System over time

   • Dual Federalism- Noth state and national government remain supreme within their own spheres. Called outdated by many. Many feel it should be changed to cooperative federalism.
   • Cooperative federalism- federal and state power is shared. Costs and administratin is shared
   • Devolution- Called for by democrats: transferring responsibility for policies from federal to state and local governments

4. 2. Individual Powers within a federal system

   • congress has certain enumerated power, allowing them to coin money,regulate its value, and impose taxes.
   • congress has some forms of implied power allowing them to make economin policy consistent with the constitution
   • The constitution gives congress the power to regulate interstate and international commerce

5. 3. Bill of Rights and Federalism

   • The Constitution laid out powers of federal and state governments
   • However, it was not specific enough and the 10th Amendment addressed this problem
   • The 10th Amendment states that all power not given to the federal government or prohibited from the states is given to the states
   • This acknowledged that the constitution favors a central government and made it so that the government would remain federal. This prevents the federal government from stepping out of its boundaries

6. 4. Conflicts between Federal and State Governments

   • McCulloch v. Maryland- A court case debating whether or not the federal government was able to create a national bank (Implied Power)
   • Gibbons v. Ogden- Worked to define "commerce" very broadly as any type of commercial activity (Commerce Power)
   • Civil War- The most notable clash of state vs federal power. The war was an issue as to how sovereign the states were. The south maintained that they had the right to have slaves and secede. The Federal government did not allow this and the civil war broke out.
   • The governor of Alabama, George Wallace resisted the federal order to integrate schools. This resulted in federal marshals being sent in to uphold the law. This conflict upheld the federal government's power over the state

7. 1. Big Concept: Division of Funds(Fiscal Federalism)

   • Both federal and state governments collect taxes for revenue
   • Fiscal Federalism is the system of distributing money in a federal system
   • The main means of getting federal aid to states are Categorical Grants, which can only be used for one of several hundred specific purposes.
     • Project Grants are a type of Categorical Grant given on the basis of competitive applications
     • Formula Grants are a type of Categorical Grant that are distributed according to a formula
   • Block Grants are used to simplify the process of giving grants. The way they are spent is at the discretion of the district that receives them