Constitution and federalism
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Transcript of Constitution and federalism
The Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention of 1787: Conflict and Compromise
The Virginia Plan
Principle author: James Madison
National government would be supreme over the states
Favored by populous states
The New Jersey Plan
Principle author: William Patterson of New Jersey
“Confederation model”
Favored by smaller states
2 competing plans
The Constitutional Convention of 1787: Conflict and Compromise
The Conflict
State-based approach versus an individual-
based approach
The Compromise
House of Representatives: proportional; Senate: equal number of representatives
from each state
The Conflict
Northerners were increasingly abolitionist
The Compromise
The Constitution was to protect the Atlantic Slave Trade for at least twenty
years
The Constitutional Convention of 1787: Conflict and Compromise
The Conflict
If representation is proportional in the House of Representatives, how
should slaves be counted?
The Compromise
Three-Fifths of the slaves in each state would be
counted
The U.S. Constitution
The U.S. Constitution
Seven Articles of the Constitution
1.The Legislative Branch2.The Executive Branch3.The Judicial Branch
4.Guidelines for Relations between States5.The Amendment Process
6.Federal-State Relations; Oath for Officers7.How the Constitution Can be Ratified
Commerce Clause (Art. 1)
• The Congress shall have power . . . To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes
Commerce Clause (Art. 1)
• The Congress shall have power . . . To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes
– U.S. v. E.C. Knight Company (1895)– Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918)
Denied Powers
• No abolition until 1808• Habeas Corpus• No ex post facto laws• No capitation/direct tax*• No taxes on interstate trade• No titles of nobility
Article IV: Interstate Relations
• Full Faith and Credit Clause:“Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state”
- Marriage, for example
Article IV: Interstate Relations
• Full Faith and Credit Clause:“Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state”
• Privileges and immunities clause:“the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states”
Privileges
• According to California law, a “citizen” is a person that has taken up permanent residence in the state. A family moves from Arizona to California and is denied welfare benefits. The state requires them to be residents for at least 1 year.
– Is this constitutional?
Privileges
Saenz v. Roe (1999)-California violated the U.S. Constitution
Privileges
• What should this mean for out-of-state tuition?
Article VI: Supremacy
• Supremacy Clause– The national government is above all sub-national
governments– All federal and state officials swear an oath to the
federal government
• Counter to the Doctrine of Nullification and Doctrine of Secession
Article VII: Ratification
The Federalist Papers– James Madison, Alexander
Hamilton, and John Jay
The “Brutus” Essays
Federalists versus Anti-Federalists
Federalist Papers
• Op-Ed pieces• Written anonymously by James Madison,
Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay• Intended to cultivate a pro-Constitution
culture• Modern judges use the papers to determine
original intent
Alexander HamiltonFederalist 27
• Federal government may act “odious or contemptible” toward the people, but a strong central government is needed
• Citizens would have “less occasion to recur to force”
James MadisonFederalist 10
• Factions – citizens united by “common impulses of passion”
• Tyranny of the Majority could result• 2 Ways to rid of Factions– Rid of liberty– Check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker
party
Republican government is the solution
James MadisonFederalist 39
• A hybrid regime - Federalism– The power to govern must be derived from the
consent of the people. – Representatives elected from the people are the
administrators of the government. – The terms of service of the Representatives must
be limited by time or good behavior. – Powers to be divided between national and state
governments
Anti-Federalists
• Need for states to have more power because only at smaller levels can public be accurately represented
• Brutus essays (Anti-Federalist)i. Fear of presidential powerii. No Bill of Rights
Anti-Federalist #84
• Called for stronger guarantees of individuals liberties
• Federalists were uneasy about a Bill of Rights– Feared it would be interpreted as the ONLY rights
individuals had– Ultimately included in order to gain more support
for the Constitution
Constitutional Ambiguity
“Its nature, therefore, requires, that only its greatest outlines should be market, its important objects designated, and the minor ingredients which compose those objects, be deduced from the nature of the objects themselves.”
-Marbury v. Madison
Constitutional Ambiguity
• The Constitution lays out the basic framework for the U.S. government in about 4 pages and has been amended only 27 times.
• The Alabama Constitution contains over 300,000 words and has been amended more than 700 times.
Important Principles
• Separation of Powers• Checks and Balances
Important Principles
• Separation of Powers• Checks and Balances• Federal System– A system of government in which power and
authority are divided between a central government and regional sub-units
Important Principles
• Separation of Powers• Checks and Balances• Federal System• Representative Republicanism– Limit the influence of the masses– Senators were originally chosen by state
legislatures
Important Principles
• Separation of Powers• Checks and Balances• Federal System• Representative Republicanism• Reciprocity– Full faith and credit– Equal rights to out of state citizens
Important Principles
• Separation of Powers• Checks and Balances• Federal System• Representative Republicanism• Reciprocity• Fixed system open to change
Relevance of the Constitution
• Does meaning change over time?• Living constitution vs. Original intent
Defining Federalism
Federalism
Constitutional arrangement
whereby power is distributed between
a central government and
subnational governments called states in the United
States.
“Look, the American people don’t want to be bossed around by federal
bureaucrats. They want to be bossed around by state bureaucrats”
Governing Levels
• 1 National Government• 50 State Governments• Thousands of local governments
Governing Levels
• Is there some kind of ‘federalism’ between state and local governments?
Governing Levels
• Is there some kind of ‘federalism’ between state and local governments?
– Dillon’s Rule (1868)– Home Rule
Types of Government
• Federalism– Powers divided between central government and
smaller governmental units
Types of Government
• Federalism• Confederation– Definition?
Types of Government
• Federalism• Confederation– States retain ultimate authority
Types of Government
Types of Government
• Federalism• Confederation• Unitary– Central government exercises all governmental
powers and can change or abolish its constituent units (states)
Advantages of Federalism
• Diversity of Needs• Closeness to the people• Innovation and Experimentation– Sub-national units are “laboratories”
• Check on Federal Power
Federalism
• Sometimes used to address ethnic divisions– South Africa– Iraq
Disadvantages
• Lack of National Standards• Low visibility and lack of popular control• Lack of uniformity in rules and programs
Disadvantages
• Lack of National Standards• Low visibility and lack of popular control• Lack of uniformity in rules and programs
– Yugoslavia was a disaster• A collection of “ethno-nationalist republics”
Federalism in the Constitution
• States have independent powers• Supremacy Clause• Congressional powers are enumerated (Article
I, Section 8)• Tenth Amendment– Powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are “reserved to the states respectively, or to the people”
State Roles
• Amendments– ¾ of all state legislatures must ratify an
amendment– States must approve the creation of new states
The Great Debate: Centralists versus Decentralists
Centralism
Supporters: Chief Justice John Marshall, Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin Roosevelt, and the Supreme Court for most of its history
Position: The central government should be denied authority only when the Constitution clearly prohibits it from acting
Decentralism
Supporters: Antifederalists, Thomas Jefferson, Supreme Court from 1920s to 1937, and Presidents Ronald Reagan and G. W. Bush
Position: Views the Constitution as a compact among states that gives the central government very little authority
Historical Markers in the Development of American Federalism
• McCulloch V. Maryland and the Necessary and Proper Clause
• Secession and the Civil War
• National Guarantees of Civil Rights
• The Expansion of Interstate Commerce
• The Income Tax and Federal Grants
The Evolution of American Federalism
“State-Centered Federalism”
1787 to 1868
• From the adoption of the Constitution to the end of the Civil War, the states were the most important units of the American Federal System
• McCulloch v. Maryland decided during this phase
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)“The power to tax involves the power to destroy…If the
right of the States to tax the means employed by the general government be conceded, the declaration that
the Constitution, and the laws made in pursuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of the land, is empty
and unmeaning declamation.”
Question
I thought the Civil War was about slavery. What does federalism have to do with the Civil War?
The Evolution of American Federalism
“Dual Federalism”
1868 to 1913
In this phase, the national government narrowly interpreted its delegated powers and the states
continued to decide most domestic policy issues
Evolution of American Federalism
After the Civil War, industrialization and urbanization created new challenges for the federal system
The Evolution of American Federalism
The system was likened to a marble cake in that “as the
colors are mixed in a marble cake, so functions are mixed in the American federal system.”
“Cooperative Federalism”
1913 to 1964
Cooperative Federalism
• 1932-1936: Supreme Court invoked doctrine of Dual Federalism to challenge FDR’s New Deal– Court packing scheme– Court has since sided with national government
Doctrine of Incorporation
• The Supreme Court has “incorporated” new rights into the due process clause of the 14th Amendment– Expands civil liberties on the national level
The Evolution of American Federalism
• The presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) marked a critical point in the evolution of federalism
• Federal government clearly had its own national goals
“Centralized” or “Creative” Federalism1964-1980
The Great Society and Creative Federalism
• Johnson’s “Great Society”– War on Poverty
• Federal funds were directed to states, local government, and a wide variety of social programs
The Great Society and Creative Federalism
The Great Society and Creative Federalism
The Changing Nature of Federal Grants
Grants-in-AidFederal funds given to state and local governments on the condition that the money be spent for specified purposes,
defined by officials in Washington
Types of Grants
• Categorical– For a specific
purpose
• Block Grants– For a general area
New Federalism
• Ronald Reagan sought to return more power and responsibility to the states
• “Government is not the solution; it’s the problem”- Ronald Reagan
Devolution
The Republican “Contract with America” called for devolution-- the transfer of political and economic power to the states
Copyright 2006 Prentice Hall
The Supreme Court and the Role of Congress
Beginning in 1995, justices interested in granting more deference to state authority gained a slim five-to-four majority in the
Supreme Court
Our Federal System
Is the federal government getting too big to provide an effective response to local
problems?