Federalism

American History

December 8, 2007

Debate On Federalism

The United States constitution created a new type of government called federalism, which divided power between the states and the national government. But the proper balance of federalism has been debated throughout the history of the United States, Federalism, which signifies members of a group that are bond together with a governing representative head. Two time periods that there has been a debate on federalism was the Supreme Court under John Marshall in (1801- 1835) and the extension of slavery in (1820-1860).

During the time period in which Supreme Court was under the rule of John Marshall the power of judicial branch was greatly strengthened. The decision of the Supreme Court in McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819, states could not tax federal institutions and upheld by congressional authority to create the Second Bank of the United States, even though the authority to do this was not expressly stated in the Constitution. This decision made stronger the federal supremacy and national economic interests. Also the debate between Federalist and Anti-Federalists over approval demonstrated the existence of differences of opinion on government. The formation of political parties led to constitutional changes in the method of electing the president, which is today voting.

The second debate is the extension of slavery that was a series of Lincoln-Douglas Debates. In Illinois, in (1858) Lincoln who was a republican was challenged by a senator named Stephen A. Douglas, in the campaign for U.S Senate. These debates were detained and Douglas became the senator but the debates hurt Douglas in the south while it made Lincoln a national political figure because it was unacceptable to the south because of his position against the extension of slavery. The south believed that slaves were