Chapter 3: Federalism
American Democracy Now, 4/e
Federalism
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An Overview of the U.S. Federal System
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A federal system has two constitutionally recognized
levels of government, each with sovereignty—that is,
ultimate governing authority, with no legal superior—
over different policy matters and geographic areas.
The American colonists’ experience with a unitary
system, and subsequently the early U.S. citizens’ life
under a confederal system (1781–1788), led to the
creation of the innovative federal system.
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Unitary System
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Majority of world’s nations, including Great
Britain, have unitary systems.
In a unitary system, the central government is
sovereign.
The central government can also unilaterally
take away any responsibilities it has delegated
to the regional governments it creates and can
even eliminate the regional governments.
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Confederal System
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In a confederal system, several independent
sovereign governments agree to cooperate on
specified matters while each retains ultimate
authority over all other governmental matters
within its borders.
The cooperating sovereign governments
delegate some responsibilities to a central
governing body.
The sovereign governments retain ultimate
authority.
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Federal System
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The Constitution’s framers established dual
sovereignty by detailing a new, sovereign
national government for the United States and
modifying the sovereignty of the existing state
governments.
The national government has no legal superior
on matters over which the Constitution gives it
authority, and the state governments have no
legal superior on the matters over which they
are granted authority by the Constitution.
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What a Federal System Means
for Citizens
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The majority of U.S. citizens live under the
jurisdiction of at least five governments: national,
state, county, municipal or township, and school
district.
Each of these governments can impose
responsibilities on the people living in its
jurisdiction, e.g. taxes.
Each government can also guarantee personal
liberties and rights.
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Federalism
Where Do You Stand?
How satisfied are you with the state of
education in the United States today?
a. Satisfied
b. Not satisfied
Source: “Slim Majority Dissatisfied with Education in the U.S.,”
www.gallup.com/poll/18421/Slim-Majority-Dissatisfi ed-Education-US.aspx.
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reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGrawHill Education.
Federalism
Where Do You Stand?
Do you support or oppose a return to the
military draft in the United States today?
a. Support the draft
b. Oppose the draft
Source: “Vast Majority of Americans Opposed to Reinstating Draft,”
www.gallup.com/poll/28642/Vast-Majority-Americans-Opposed-ReinstitutingMilitary-Draft.aspx.
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reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGrawHill Education.
Constitutional Distribution
of Authority
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By distributing some authority to the national
government and different authority to the state
governments, the Constitution creates the dual
sovereignty that defines the U.S. federal system.
To fulfill their responsibilities to their citizens,
both the national and the state governments
have the authority to engage in the functions
inherent to all sovereign governments.
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Concurrent Sovereign
Authority
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To function, sovereign governments need the
authority to make policy, raise money, establish
courts to interpret policy when a conflict arises
about its meaning, and implement policy.
In the U.S. federal system, we designate these
inherent governing functions as the concurrent
powers because the national and the state
governments hold these powers jointly and each
can use them at the same time.
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National Sovereignty
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Article I of the Constitution enumerates (lists) the
matters over which Congress holds the authority
to make laws (enumerated powers).
The Constitution also gives Congress implied
powers—that is, powers that are not explicitly
described but may be interpreted to be
necessary to fulfill the enumerated powers.
Congress specifically receives implied powers
through the Constitution’s necessary and
proper clause (elastic clause).
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The Supremacy Clause

Unless the Supreme Court finds a national law
to be outside of the enumerated or implied
powers, that law is constitutional and hence the
supreme law of the land, as defined by the
supremacy clause in Article VI of the
Constitution.
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National Treaties
with Indian Nations
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Throughout U.S. history, the national
government has signed treaties with Native
American nations, which are legally viewed as
sovereign foreign nations.
Today, the federal government recognizes more
than 550 Indian tribes.
Even though Indian reservations lie within state
borders, national treaties and national laws, not
state or local laws, apply to the reservation
populations and lands.
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State Sovereignty

Powers Reserved to the States
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10th Amendment reserved powers clause
The states’ reserved powers to protect the health,
safety, lives, and property of their citizens are referred
to as their police powers.
Powers Delegated to States

The state powers enumerated in the Constitution give
the states a distinct voice in the composition and
priorities of the national government.
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The Supreme Court’s Interpretation of the
Constitution’s Distribution of Authority

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) established the
use of the implied powers to expand the national
government’s enumerated authority.
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The Power to
Regulate Commerce

In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), the Supreme
Court established a broad definition of
commerce: “all commercial intercourse—
meaning all business dealings.”
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The Power to Provide for the
General Welfare
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In 1937, the Supreme Court had to decide: Was
Social Security welfare for which Congress is
delegated the authority to raise and spend
money? Or was Social Security a matter for the
state governments to address?
The Court found the national policy to be
constitutional—a reasonable congressional
interpretation, the justices wrote, of the
enumerated and implied powers of the national
government.
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State-to-State Obligations:
Horizontal Federalism

In Article IV, the Constitution sets forth
obligations that the states have to one another.
Collectively, these state-to-state obligations and
the relationships they mandate are forms of
horizontal federalism.
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Interstate compacts.
Extradition.
Privileges & Immunities.
Full faith and credit clause.
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Judicial Federalism

Political scientists use the phrase judicial
federalism to describe the practice whereby
state judges base decisions regarding citizens’
legal rights and liberties on their state
constitutions when those laws guarantee more
than the minimum rights or liberties enumerated
in the U.S. Constitution.
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Evolution of the Federal System

The federal system established by the
Constitution has evolved from a simple system
of dual federalism to a complex system of
intergovernmental relations characterized by
conflicted federalism.
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Dual Federalism

Dual Federalism refers to the relationship
between the national and state governments,
dominant between 1789 and 1932, whereby the
two levels of government functioned
independently of each other to address their
distinct constitutional responsibilities.
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Cooperative Federalism
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Cooperative federalism is the relationship between the
national and state governments whereby the two levels
of government work together to address domestic
matters reserved to the states, driven by the policy
priorities of the states.
This era of federalism began during the Depression.
Grants-in-aid—transfers of money from one level of
government to another that need not be paid back (also
known as intergovernmental transfers)—became a
main mechanism of President Roosevelt’s New Deal
programs.
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Centralized Federalism
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By the time of Lyndon Johnson’s presidency (1963–
1969), a new kind of federalism was replacing
cooperative federalism.
In centralized federalism, directives in national
legislation force state and local governments to
implement a particular national policy.
Presidents since Richard Nixon (1969–1974) have
fought against this centralizing tendency.
Devolution refers to the return of policy responsibilities
to state and local governments.
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Conflicted Federalism

Conflicted federalism describes the
current status of national-state relations
that involve the conflicting elements of
dual, cooperative, and centralized
federalisms.
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Federalism
Where Do You Stand?
Are you for or against the legalization of
marijuana for medicinal purposes?
a. For legalization
b. Against legalization
Source: “Americans Support Legalization of Marijuana for Medicinal Use,”
www.gallup.com/poll/2902/Americans-Support-Legalization-Marijuana-MedicinalUse.aspx.
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Constitutional Amendments and the
Evolution of Federalism
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The Civil War and the Postwar Amendments
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13th Amendment brought the legal end of slavery in
every state.
14th Amendment extended the rights of citizenship to
individuals who were previously enslaved, and also
placed “due process” and “equal protection” limits and
obligations on states.
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Constitutional Amendments and the
Evolution of Federalism

The Sixteenth Amendment
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Enhanced ability of national government to raise
money
The Seventeenth Amendment

Direct election of US senators
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Federal Grants-in-Aid to State and Local
Governments (in millions of dollars)
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Further Evolutionary Landmarks:
Grants-in-Aid
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Today, federal grants-in-aid amount to close to
20 percent of federal annual spending, which
covers about 25 percent of the annual spending
by state and local governments.
Fiscal federalism refers to the relationship
between the national, state, and local
governments that grows out of the grants of
money that the national government provides to
state and local governments.
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Categorical Grants
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Historically, the most common type of grant-inaid has been the categorical formula grant—a
grant of money from the federal government to
state and local governments for a narrow
purpose, as defined by the federal government.
Since the 1960s, the national government has
also offered categorical project grants. State
and local governments compete for these grants
by proposing specific projects they wish to
implement and what level of funding they need.
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Block Grants

Block grants refer to money granted by
the national government to states or
localities for broadly defined policy areas,
with fewer strings than categorical grants,
and in amounts based on complicated
formulas.
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Mandates
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Mandates are portions of federal laws that
require state and local governments to do
something.
Funded mandate: the national government pays
the entire cost.
Unfunded mandate: state and local governments
must pay all or part of the cost.
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Preemption


Preemption is a constitutionally based principle
that allows a national law to supersede state or
local laws.
States can enact laws that offer more rights and
liberties than does national law.
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Preemption


Preemption is a constitutionally based principle
that allows a national law to supersede state or
local laws.
States can enact laws that offer more rights and
liberties than does national law.
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Today’s Federalism
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
Federalist No. 45
Funded and unfunded mandates, national
grants-in-aid, and preemption all foster
interdependency and interconnectedness of
national, state, and local governments—
intergovernmental relations—that make it hard
to distinguish national policy responsibilities from
state and local policy responsibilities.
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