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A Handout for Meetup Organizers
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Conversation Starter Series
Federalism in America
“Federalism” is used to describe how power is divided between a
large, national government and smaller individual governments, such
as states. Federalism takes different forms in different countries, but
in America, federalism primarily means that our national (federal)
government is responsible for handling issues that affect the nation
as a whole while state governments are responsible for handling issues that impact the citizens and businesses within their states.
What You Need to Know
•Representatives (whom we refer to as our Founding Fathers) met
at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 to amend the Articles of
Confederation, which was an agreement of cooperation between
the first thirteen states. What resulted, however, was the creation
of a new, central government (the federal government) and a
new document, the U.S. Constitution.1
Fast FACT
Prior to the Constitutional
Convention, America had no
federal government. Instead,
all the states were part of an
agreement called the Articles
of Confederation.
The Tenth Amendment
“The powers not delegated
to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited
•As our country grew, our Founding Fathers saw a need for uniformity among all the states on certain issues (such as printing curby it to the States, are
rency, establishing foreign policy, protecting individual rights and
reserved to the States respecliberties) and believed that the only way to accomplish this was to
tively, or to the people.”
have a central government composed of representatives from ALL
the states.
•The Constitution created a central (federal) government, which
would have specific powers that were national in nature and limited in scope, while all other issues not addressed were left up to
the individual states to regulate pursuant the Tenth Amendment.
Talking Points
Q
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There is a lot of talk about state rights and federal power.
What is that about?
This debate goes all the way back to the Constitutional Convention
itself. The Constitution is a compromise between those who wanted
the individual states to retain as much power as possible and those
who believed that America needed a strong central government to
survive as an independent country after freeing itself from British rule.
Fast FACT
The Constitution does not
explicitly give the Supreme
Court the authority to declare
actions by the other two
branches unconstitutional. It
was an early Supreme Court
case, Marbury v. Madison
(1803), that established the
power of the Supreme Court
to interpret the Constitution
and to declare federal actions
unconstitutional (and thus
unenforceable or invalid).
1 You can read the text of the U.S. Constitution at http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html.
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While the Constitution created the federal government, it also
put limits on what this new centralized government could do
by dividing its power among three branches: the Executive
Branch (the Presidency), the Judicial Branch (the Supreme Court),
and the Legislative Branch (Congress – made up of the Senate and
the House of Representatives). It then specified what each branch
was allowed to do. Everything
else was left up to the individual
The three branches
states. When debates come up
of the U.S. govenment
about whether the federal govExecutive
ernment is acting lawfully or not,
it can be useful to look through
the text of the Constitution.
Bills (proposals that become law)
“raising revenue” (such as the
imposition of taxes) must start in
the House of Representatives and
Legislative
Judicial
ALL bills must pass both Houses
of Congress in identical form and
be signed by the President. Yet
there are limits on what Congress
can legislate. For example, Congress is directed to borrow money
on behalf of the United States,
establish a uniform Rule of Nationalization, coin money and regulate its value, create a Post Office, and raise an Army. Anything that
Congress does must somehow be tied to a power it is given in
the Constitution.
Q
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How is the U.S. government structured?
Is the Executive Branch equal in power to the others?
All executive power is “vested” in the President. He is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and can enter into treaties with
other countries, with the advice and consent of the Senate, as well as
appoint federal judges. Although the Constitution does not list many
duties for the President, the President is the head of a very large and
powerful branch of the federal government.
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Fast FACT
Although the President is
given the power to veto a bill
passed by Congress, Congress
can override that veto with
2/3 vote in both Houses. A
bill can also become a law if
the President does not sign
or veto it after ten days (if
Congress is still in session).
Fast FACT
Civil rights legislation in
the 1960s was challenged
as being beyond the scope
of Congressional power. It
was upheld by the Supreme
Court in Heart of Atlanta
Motel v. United States (1964)
because Congress was
acting to regulate “interstate
commerce” (as some travelers
might be crossing state lines
to stay at the Heart of Atlanta
motel) pursuant to Article I,
Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S.
Constitution.
Where You Can Learn More
http://www.cas.sc.edu/poli/courses/
scgov/History_of_Federalism.htm
http://www.usconstitution.net/
consttop_fedr.html.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Federalism_in_the_United_States
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