Federalism

Federalism

The Constitutional Convention in 1787 created the basic idea of our American federal system by giving people a reason and a way to unite and form a basis for political union. Federalism was seen as a way to limit national power by giving states their own powers. Dual federalism used the Supreme Court to umpire between the national and state governments. When Franklin D Roosevelt responded to the Great Depression in 1937 with his New Deal we entered into Cooperative Federalism, The Supreme Court had upheld federal laws starting social welfare and public works programs giving the national government the power to give the state and local governments money for certain needs, like major highways, and them the power to administer spending. President Johnson called his government Creative Federalism when congress enacted the Great Society Legislation further expanding the role of the federal government. New Federalism was termed by President Nixon. This returned federal tax money to the state and local governments. Regulatory federalism is a term used for our present government. This started in the 1960's where the federal government passed laws and regulations requiring the states and local governments to meet certain standards like the Clean Air Act of 1970 and Aid to Families with Dependent Children. But until 1995 when President Clinton signed in to law the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, the federal government did not have to fund these laws and regulations. The states and local governments do not have to accept some of these regulations, but if they don't at least meet the minimum requirements they can lose their federal funding.