POLS 34102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act, New Federalism, Environmental Policy
29 Jun 2018
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CH 03 OUTLINE
Federalism in the Constitution
1. In a federal system, the central government shares power or functions with lower levels of
government, such as regions or states.
2. The Constitution granted a few expressed powers to the national government and, through the
Tenth Amendment, reserved all the rest to the states.
3. The Constitution also created obligations among the states in the full faith and credit clause
and the privileges and immunities clause.
4. Federalism allows a great deal of variation between states.
5. Local government has no status in the U.S. Constitution. State legislatures created local
governments, and state constitutions and laws permit local governments to take on some of the
responsibilities of the state governments. Most states amended their own constitutions to give
their larger cities home rule—a guarantee of noninterference in various areas of local affairs.
The Changing Relationship between the Federal Government and the States
1. Under the traditional system of federalism, the national government was small and narrowly
specialized in its functions compared with other Western nations. Most of its functions were aimed
at promoting commerce.
2. Under the traditional system, states rather than the national government did most of the
fundamental governing in the country.
3. The system of federalism limited the expansion of the national government despite economic
forces and expansive interpretations of the Constitution in cases such as McCulloch v. Maryland
and Gibbons v. Ogden.
4. For most of U.S. history, the concept of interstate commerce kept the national government
from regulating the economy. But in 1937, the Supreme Court converted the commerce clause
from a source of limitations to a source of power for the national government.
5. Recent years have seen a revival of interest in returning more power to the states, and the
Supreme Court has handed down several decisions that limit federal power.
Who Does What? Public Spending and the Federal Framework
1. The rise of national government activity after the New Deal did not necessarily mean that
states lost power directly. Rather, the national government paid states through grants-in-aid to
administer federal programs.
2. The national government also imposed regulations on states and localities in areas such as
environmental policy in order to guarantee national standards. However, the growth of national
standards has created some new problems, such as the increase in unfunded mandates.
New Federalism and State Control
1. As states have become more capable of administering large-scale programs, the idea of
devolution—the policy of removing a program from one level of government by passing it down to
a lower level—has become popular.
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Document Summary
In a federal system, the central government shares power or functions with lower levels of government, such as regions or states: the constitution granted a few expressed powers to the national government and, through the. State legislatures created local governments, and state constitutions and laws permit local governments to take on some of the responsibilities of the state governments. Most states amended their own constitutions to give their larger cities home rule a guarantee of noninterference in various areas of local affairs. The changing relationship between the federal government and the states: under the traditional system of federalism, the national government was small and narrowly specialized in its functions compared with other western nations. Supreme court has handed down several decisions that limit federal power. Public spending and the federal framework: the rise of national government activity after the new deal did not necessarily mean that states lost power directly.
