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Federalism:
Forging A Nation
Man on Life Support
Life support equipment keeps an elderly man alive at a hospital.
Proponents of euthanasia believe that unnecessarily prolonging life in
terminally ill patients causes suffering to the patients and their family
members. Many societies now permit passive euthanasia, which
allows physicians to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment
when directed to do so by the patient or an authorized
representative.
Jack Kevorkian
Retired physician Jack Kevorkian speaks to the press after
being charged by police for his role in assisting a suicide.
An outspoken advocate of legalizing assisted suicide, in
1999 Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder
and delivery of a controlled substance after he injected a
terminally ill man with a lethal dosage of medication. He
was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison.
Euthanasia
Mercy Killing, also known as euthanasia, ending
the life of an incurably ill person to save the
individual from further pain and suffering. It can
involve the withdrawal of extraordinary means of
supporting life, such as high-technology
equipment or intravenous feeding, or the active
administration of a drug to induce death. To
various degrees, the practice is legally approved in
many states and countries.
Does society’s interest in preserving
life outweigh a patient’s desire to die?
Federalism
A governmental system
in which authority is
divided between two
sovereign levels of
government: national
and regional (state).
Patrick Henry
“Who authorized them to speak the language
of ‘We the people’, instead of
‘We the States”.
Federalism as a Governing
System
The Argument for Federalism
1. Protecting Liberty – The American people can shift
their loyalties back and forth
between the national and state
governments in order to keep
each under control.
2. Moderating the Power of Government – A large
republic would impede the efforts
of any single group to gain control
and force compromise.
3. Strengthening the Union – Alleviated the problems
associated with a weak
national authority.
Public Disorder – Shays’ Rebellion.
Economic Chaos – Revolutionary War debt not being
paid by the states.
Inadequate Defense – No national military.
The Tenth Amendment restates a
fundamental constitutional rule: If a
particular power was not assigned
to the federal government by the
Constitution itself, then the states
may exercise the power, unless the
Constitution also prohibits the
states from exercising it. The Tenth
Amendment also states that people
are free to act, without permission
of the federal government, in areas
outside the scope of the federal
government's powers.
Powers Of The Nation
Enumerated Powers – (Expressed)
The seventeen powers granted to the
national government by the
Constitution. (Article 1 Section B)
Ex. – taxation / national defense
“Supremacy Clause” – establishes the
laws of the United States as the
supreme law of the land.
Powers Of The Nation
Implied Powers
The federal government’s constitutional
authority to take action that is not
expressly authorized by the
Constitution but supports actions that
are so authorized.
“Necessary and Proper Clause” –
“Elastic Clause” – allows the making
of laws which are necessary and
proper for the implementation of its
enumerated powers.
Powers Of The States
Reserved Powers
The powers granted to the states under
the 10th Amendment to the
Constitution.
“The powers not delegated to the
United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the states, are
reserved to the States.”
Federalism as a Governing
System
Historical Progressions of
Federalism
1.
1.
2.
The Indestructible Union (1789 –
1865)
Dual Federalism and Laissez Faire
Capitalism (1865 – 1937)
Federalism Today
The Indestructible Union
Characterized by states disputing national
policies that threatened their particular interest.
1st Major Dispute:
1791 – Congress established the First Bank of
the United States.
1811 – Bank’s charter ran out – No renewal.
1816 – Congress establishes the Second Bank
of the United States.
The Indestructible Union
McCulloch v. Maryland
Served as a precedent for future assertions of national
authority.
Gibbons v. Ogden
Congress’s power extended into a state when commerce
between states was at issue.
Scott v. Sandford
Landmark case of the 1850s in which the Supreme Court of the
United States declared that African Americans were not U.S.
citizens.
Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was the slave of
John Emerson, a United
States Army surgeon who, in
1834, took him from Missouri
to live in Illinois and then
Wisconsin Territory, both of
which forbade slavery. Three
years after Emerson’s death
in 1843, Scott sued the
surgeon’s widow for his
freedom, arguing that his
residence in a free state and a
free territory made him free.
The case reached the U.S.
Supreme Court, which
decided in 1857 that the
government could not make
citizens either free or slaves,
and that no black could claim
U.S. citizenship.
“Doctrine of Nullification”
John C. Calhoun
Each state had the
constitutional right to
nullify a national law.
Dual Federalism and LaissezFaire Capitalism (1865 – 1937)
Dual Federalism
Doctrine based on the idea that a
precise separation of national
power and state power is both
possible and desirable.
Major Issue – Racial Policy
No State shall make or enforce any
law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of
citizens of the United States; nor
shall any State deprive any person
of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor deny to any
person within its jurisdiction the
equal protection of the laws.
Plessy v. Ferguson
Landmark case of 1896 in which the Supreme
Court of the United States upheld the legality of
racial segregation. At the time of the ruling,
segregation between blacks and whites already
existed in most schools, restaurants, and other
public facilities in the American South. In the
Plessy decision, the Supreme Court ruled that
such segregation did not violate the 14th
Amendment of the Constitution of the United
States
“Separate but Equal”
The Plessy ruling became a justification
for the separate but unequal treatment
of black Americans. The southern
states could now use it as a basis to
segregate the races.
Judicial Protection of Business



1886 – The Supreme Court decided that
corporations were “persons” within the
meaning of the 14th Amendment –
corporation’s property rights were protected
from state regulation.
Irony – a constitutional amendment that
had been enacted to protect the newly freed
slaves was ignored for this purpose but was
used to protect fictitious persons – business
corporations.
Ex. – Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) – An
attempt to break up a monopoly on the
manufacture of sugar that was blocked by
the Supreme Court.
Child Labor
Hammer v Dagehart
U.S. Congress passed a law that
prohibited the interstate
shipment of goods produced by
child labor. Citing the 10th
Amendment, the Supreme court
invalidated the law.
National Authority Prevails
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s legislative
package (New Deal) to end the Great
Depression almost wasn’t because
the Supreme Court saw it as
unconstitutional.
Massive public works programs to
create jobs were viewed as
communistic.
National Authority Prevails
1937 – Roosevelt proposed legislation to appoint to the
Court an additional justice when a seated member
reached the age of seventy. For a reason that has
never been explained, Justice Owen Roberts
abandoned his opposition to Roosevelt’s policies
and gave the president a 5-4 majority.
Economic recovery was just around the corner.
(FDIC)
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
gave depositors confidence to keep the
money in banks and thrifts.
Toward National Citizenship
► Eliminated
Government sponsored
discrimination.
► Created Compensatory opportunities
for women and minorities.
► 1954 – Supreme Court outlaws racial
segregation in public schools.
► The Miranda Ruling – Informing
crime suspects of their rights at
the time of arrest.
Federalism Today
Long Term Expansion of National Authority
Cooperative Federalism
National, state and local levels work
together to solve problems.
Characterized by shared responsibilities
instead of divided ones.
Federalism Today

1965 – President Johnson’s “Great Society”
Medicaid – healthcare for the poor.

1. Jointly Funded (State and National Governments)

2. Jointly Administered (State and Local mostly,
National provided
administration)
3. Jointly Determined (State and National deciding
eligibility and benefit levels.)
Before the enactment of the Medicaid program in1965, poor
people in many states were not entitled to government-paid
health care. Now most poor people are eligible regardless
of where in the United States they live.


Fiscal Federalism
Refers to the expenditures of federal
funds on programs run in part
through the states and localities.
The government accomplishes this
through cash payments or grants-inaid to states and localities in two
major forms:
Categorical Grants and Block Grants.
Fiscal Federalism
Categorical
Grants
Federal grants-in-aid to
state and localities
that can be used only
for designated
projects. Funds for
lunchroom support
can only be used for
that purpose.
Block Grants
Federal grants-in-aid
that permit state and
local officials to
decide how the
money will be spent
within a general level,
such as education or
health.
Devolution
The passing down of authority
from the national government to
the state and local governments.
Devolution
Budgetary Pressures And Public Opinion
Huge budget deficits of the early 1980’s
drastically reduced the amount of federal aid
available. Thus, states and localities were
forced to pay an increasingly larger share of
joint programs (food stamps / public housing).
Devolution
The Republican Revolution
Republican party moves to a more decentralized form of
federalism.
Fewer unfounded mandates. (Mandates only
partially funded by Washington –
disability access)
Reduction in Block Grants (states controlled more
money)
Major Legislation
 1996 Welfare Reform Act
Ended the decades-old program that granted cash to
every poor family with children. (TANF – Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families restricts a family’s
eligibility for federal assistance to five years.)

Devolution
Judicial System
A series of Supreme Court decisions have limited
Congress’s Authority to enact laws that are binding
on the states.
United States v. Lopez – Supreme Court struck down a
federal law that prohibited the possession of guns
within one mile of a school.
Printz v. United States – The Supreme Court struck
down that part of the federal Handgun Violence Act
(the so-called Brady Bill) that required local lawenforcement to conduct background checks on
perspective handgun buyers