1. Federalism

2. Figure 3.1: Lines of Power in Three Systems of Government

3. National Government - Supreme
Unitary Government
National Government - Supreme

4. Confederation
States - Supreme

5. Shared Power-Federal Government - Supreme in Some Areas Only

6. American Federalism A bold, new plan to protect personal liberty
Founders believed that neither national nor state government would have authority over the other because power derives from the people, who shift their support.
New plan had no historical precedent.
Tenth Amendment was added as an afterthought, to define the power of states

7. Chief Justice of Supreme Court
John Marshall
Chief Justice of Supreme Court
( )

8. Marbury vs Madison (1803)
Judicial Review

9. McCulloch vs Maryland (1819) “necessary and proper clause”

10. Article VI, the Supremacy Clause
Article I, Section 8
Article VI, the Supremacy Clause
10th Amendment
Article IV

11. Dual federalism
Both national and state governments supreme in their own spheres
Hence interstate versus intrastate commerce
Early product-based distinction difficult
"Original package" also unsatisfactory

12. Grants-in-aid
Grants show how political realities modify legal authority.
Began before the Constitution with "land grant colleges," various cash grants to states
Dramatically increased in scope in the twentieth century
Were attractive for various reasons
Federal budget surpluses (nineteenth century)
Federal income tax became a flexible tool
Federal control of money supply meant national government could print more money
"Free" money for state officials

13. Meeting national needs: 1960s shift in grants-in-aid
From what states demanded
To what federal officials found important as national needs

14. Categorical grants versus revenue sharing
Categorical grants for specific purposes; often require local matching funds
Block grants devoted to general purposes with few restrictions
Revenue sharing requires no matching funds and provides freedom in how to spend.
Distributed by statistical formula
Ended in 1986

15. Mandates Most concern civil rights and environmental protection
Administrative and financial problems often result
Growth in mandates, 1981 to 1991
Features of mandates
Regulatory statutes and amendments of previous legislation
New areas of federal involvement
Considerable variation in clarity, administration, and costs

16. Federal courts have fueled the growth of mandates
Court orders and prisons, school desegregation, busing, hiring practices, police brutality

17. Conditions of aid Received by states voluntarily, in theory
Financial dependence blurs the theory
Civil rights generally the focus of most important conditions in the 1960's, a proliferation has continued since the 1970's

18. Devolution

19. Renewed effort to shift important functions to states by Republican-controlled Congress in 1994
Key issue: welfare (i.e., the AFDC program)
These and other turn-back efforts were referred to as devolution.
Old idea, but led by Congress
Clinton agreed with need to scale back size and activities of federal government.

20. Figure 3.2: The Changing Purposes of Federal Grants to State and Local Governments
Source: Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 1999, Table 12.2,

21. Figure 3.3: Federal Aid to State and Local Governments, 1980-2000
Source: Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 1998, Historical Tables, Table 6.1, 99.

22. Figure 3.5: Devolution in the Polls: The States over Washington

23. For more information about this topic, link to the Metropolitan Community College Political Science Web Site