Federalism and State Powers
| Author | Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw |
| Pages | 951-959 |
Page 951
Throughout U.S. history, the division of power between the federal government and state governments has been the subject of continuous political and legal battles. After suffering from the British government's political and economic tyrannical policies applied to the American colonies that eventually led to the American Revolution (1775–1783), many Americans greatly distrusted centralized governmental powers. As a result, when the Continental Congress drew up the Articles of Confederation in 1781, the new central government was assigned few powers. The central government had little authority over commerce, no court system, and no power to tax. The states were essentially a loose union of sovereign (politically independent) governments, each free to regulate commerce as it saw fit, make money, and have their state courts hold judgement over national laws.
It soon became apparent to many Americans that such a fragmented governmental structure based almost solely on state powers would greatly hold back political and economic growth of the young nation. So, in 1787 a Constitutional Convention was called to restructure the government and create a national economy. Debates raged between federalists, those supporting a strong central government as proposed in a Virginia plan, and
Page 952
anti-federalists supporting continued strong state governments as proposed in a New Jersey plan which greatly resembled the Articles of Confederation. Finally, a compromise, known as the Great Compromise, was struck deciding on federalism as the basis for the governmental structure. Federalism is a dual (split in two) system of sovereignty, splitting power between a central government and various state governments. Both the federal and state governments can directly govern citizens through their own officials and laws. The resulting Constitution in recognizing the sovereignty of both federal and state governments gave to each some separate unique powers and some shared powers. Importantly, both the federal and state governments must agree to any changes to the Constitution.
The new federal system proposed in the Constitution was so controversial in the states, that national leaders, both federalists and advocates for state powers (antifederalists) temporarily joined forces to convince the states to ratify the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton and James Madison along with John Jay wrote a series of eighty-five articles to support ratification of the Constitution. Initially they were published separately in New York newspapers. Collectively, the essays became known as The Federalist are considered one of the more important political documents in U.S. history. Purpose of The Federalist was to explain various provisions (parts) of the Constitution. As described by the authors, the basic principles of the new government included republicanism (representatives elected by the public), federalism (power split between a central and state governments), separation of powers (power split between two or more branches of government), and free government.
Many of the Constitutional Convention's delegates as well as public citizens feared that too strong of a central government was being established. For example, the Supremacy Clause in Article VI of the Constitution states that the Constitution, federal laws, and treaties are superior to state laws and constitutions. States can not ignore or take actions against federal law or the Constitution. In an effort to ease American's fears and to gain acceptance of the Constitution, therefore moving ratification (adoption by the states) along, the federalists and antifederalists agreed to a compromise. A list of basic rights was written with intentions of adding it to the Constitution. The Constitution then gained the required ratification of the states by 1788. One of the first acts of the new Congress was to add the list of basic rights to the
Page 953
Constitution. The list contained ten amendments (changes or additions) to the Constitution and became known as the Bill of Rights. The Tenth Amendment in particular protected state powers and became the basis throughout American history for proponents of strong state powers to fight for their cause.
Articles I through VI of the Constitution largely define Federal powers and puts some restrictions on state powers. For example, only the federal government has power to coin money, declare war, raise armies and a navy, and govern Indian tribes. Concerning...
To continue reading
Request your trial