American Federalism

Federalism, by definition, is the division of government authority between at least two levels of government. In the United States, authority is divided between the state and national government. "Advocates of a strong federal system believe that the state and local governments do not have the sophistication to deal with the major problems facing the country" (Encarta.com).

Even before the Constitution was ratified, strong argument were made by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison in the Federalist Papers urging the inclusion of a federal form of government to replace the failed confederation. In Federalist Paper No. 9 Hamilton states, "This form of government is a convention by which several smaller states agree to become members of a large one, which they intend to form. It is s kind of assemblage of societies that constitutes a new one, capable of increasing, by means of new associations, until they arrive to such a degree of power as to be able to provide for the security of a united body" (Usinfo.state.gov). The people of the United States needed a central government that was capable of holding certain powers over the states.

Those who feared that the federal government would become too strong were assured by Madison in Federalist No. 14 that "in the first place it is to be remembered that the general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administrating laws...The subordinate governments, which can extend their care to all those other objects which can be separately provided for, will retain their due authority and activity"

(Usinfo.state.gov).

The "necessary and proper" clause was included in the Constitution to allow for an "active and powerful government." It is also known as the Elastic Clause and basically stated that the national government had the ability to pass any law that was necessary and proper to carry out national business. John Marshall expanded the interpretation of the "necessary and proper" mainly through the Supreme Court decision in McCulloch v. Maryland. His decision that a state could not tax an agency of the national government was not the only outcome of the court case. Marshall took the opportunity to say that even though it is not mentioned in the Constitution, the national government has the right to charter a national bank (Usinfo.state.gov).

The first era of federalism is dual federalism. Dual federalism is the belief that having separate and equally powerful levels of government is the best arrangement. One major leader during this era was Roger B. Tanney, who was the head of the Supreme Court. During this era, there was heated political debate on the issue of slavery. The Dred Scott v. Sanford decision in 1857, this was the first decision to take powers away from the national government. During this time, the Civil War occurred (Nvcc.com).

After the Civil War, with the passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments became sources of power for the national government when it came to its jurisdiction over the states. By passing laws against slavery and allowing "equal protection under the law," the national government gave itself the power to enforce those laws and therefore enhanced authority over the states. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and in Section 2 stated that "Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." By adding Section 2 to the amendment, Congress was simply ensuring their supremacy over the state governments. Among other things, the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees "equal protection under the law" to all citizens. Since all citizens are guaranteed protection, it is left up to the national government to make sure all citizens are receiving these rights. Even though many thought that the Fourteenth Amendment meant that the Bill of Rights was nationalized, its interpretation by the Supreme Court was much different. Just as in the Thirteenth Amendment, the Fourteenth in Section 5 is given the power to enforce the article. The Fifteenth Amendment gave the right to vote to former slaves and says that the right to vote cannot be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition or servitude. Just as in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth, the Fifteenth Amendment allows for enforcement of the law by Congress (Nvcc.edu).

Dual federalism ended with the problems brought on by the Great Depression. "Line an earthquake, the stock market crash of October 1929 cracked startlingly across the United States, the herald of a crisis that was to shake the American way of life to its foundations. The events of the ensuing decade opened a fissure across the landscape of American history" (Kennedy 10).

During the New Deal, President Roosevelt needed to act drastically to solve the problem of the Great Depression. A new form of federalism came about known as marble cake federalism. The federal government, led by Roosevelt, became more intrusive in what was typically the domain of state governments. Both the states and federal government would work more closely together and have specific responsibilities (Kennedy 45).

Establishing federal relief and recovery programs such as the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) and the National Recovery Act (NRA), and reforming such localized institutions with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) resulted in a much greater involvement on the local level by the federal government. Public work programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps further brought the federal government into cities. Public policy became more of a sharing between state governments and the federal government. The federal government would provide money while the state governments would administer the programs (Badger 169-172).

Not with a bang, but a whimper, the New Deal panned out in 1938. Franklin Roosevelt's annual message to Congress in January 1939 was his first in which he did not propose new social and economic programs. "We have now passed the period of internal conflict in the launching of our program of social reform," he announced. "Our full energies may now be released to invigorate the processes of recovery in order to preserve our reforms" (Kennedy 73).

After the New Deal, cooperative federalism increased greatly during and after World War II. When the country prepared itself for war, the federal government had to direct the citizens regarding essential services. Immediately following the war, the federal government responded to the needs of the returning soldiers with the GI Bills of Rights. On June 22, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the GI Bill of Rights. At