Unit 2, Ch. 4.2: American Federalism

Role of the Supreme Court in Debates about Federalism: The Framers anticipated that the government they created might lead to conflict between the states and the national government. They gave the Supreme Court the power to resolve conflicts between them. What is that power called?? The Court has the authority to hear cases between the states, or involving the Constitution. The Supremacy Clause declares that the laws made by the national gov. are the supreme law of the land, so the court acts as referee between the states and the national gov.

Dual Federalism: The first era of American federalism, dual federalism lasted until the 1930’s. This is when both state and national governments were equal authorities operating independently. The powers of the national gov. included only those listed in the Constitution. The _____________? reserved all other powers to the states or to the people.

The Great Debate: From the beginning, dual federalism was at the center of a great debate. One side stood nationalists, advocating a strong central gov. (Washington, Hamilton). The other side were proponents of states’ rights (Jefferson, etc.). These groups faced off when President Washington’s secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton urged Congress to create a national bank. Jefferson objected to the bank, claiming that it was unlawful. Hamilton said they had a Constitutional power to regulate currency, so they could create a bank. Congress sided with Hamilton. This argument went on, and eventually the Supreme Court weighed in the case of Mculloch v. Maryland and ruled that the nation had the authority to create a bank via the __________________?

A House Divided: Slavery divided the U.S. leading to the Civil War. Politicians in the South believed that the states had the right to nullify national laws they believed contradicted state interests. This was known as the ______________.? If states challenged a law they could choose to separate from the Union. This idea is known as the ______________.? After Lincoln was elected, the southern states elected to do just this… and it led to the Civil War.

Expanding National Power: After the Civil War, the national government expanded its’ power with the Reconstruction acts. Afterwards, due to changes in industry and business, Americans became interested in the safety of workers and the hours they worked. Congress regulated the railroad industry with the Commerce Act, and broke up monopolies with the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Expanding National Power… Interstate Commerce Act Prevented the railroad industry from charging too much for tickets in rural areas where railroads were the only form of long distance transportation Sherman Antitrust Act Broke up monopolies such as Big Tobacco United States v. E.C. Knight Company (1895) Supreme court ruled that because the collection of sugar refining companies were local businesses, they did NOT have the power to regulate them

The great depression and cooperative federalism 1930s—The Great Depression Unemployment and poverty were widespread Helping the poor was previously a state and local responsibility, but the need became so great that local organizations became overwhelmed. In response to the crisis, FDR created the New Deal legislature, a series of national programs aimed at addressing the needs of those who were suffering from the depression. Much legislature from the New Deal was challenged, and several cases were tried in the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court upheld most New Deal legislation as constitutional Marked the beginning of an era of Cooperative Federalism

The Great Society: In the 1960’s, President Lyndon Johnson expanded the powers of national government with his Great Society program, which was aimed at eliminating poverty and social inequality. Johnson’s approach was called creative federalism, because it meant that federal funds had to be released to make it work via grants. These grants came with strings, meaning that if states didn’t cooperate they would get no funding.

New Federalism: Up until this point, national gov. power had expanded. But beginning in the 1980’s leaders in gov. worked to reverse this trend by returning authority to state governments. This era is known as new federalism. Ronald Reagan was a big supporter of this system. He believe that the national gov. was less effective than the states in providing services to the people. He worked to reduce the size of the gov. by cutting national grant money to the states. Republican candidates in 1994 ran with a message they called the Contract with America, which promised to achieve goals within 100 days of taking office. The idea central to this contract is known as devolution, returning power to the states.