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Dual Federalism Vs Cooperative Government

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Dual Federalism and Cooperative Federalism The framers of the United States Constitution adopted a federal system which provided a division between national and state government. This was done in order to provide a limited national government with “expressed powers”. The strong state governments were assured all other powers except those reserved for the national government by the Bill Rights, which is the tenth amendment to the Constitution.
The Constitution is a living document whose interpretation can be adjusted by the judicial branch. Economic events lead to the move from dual to cooperative federalism.
Dual federalism provided shared powers between the national and state governments from 1879 until 1933. There were distinct lines of separation between national and state. The functions assumed by the national government were aimed at assisting commerce. State government duties included economic growth and laws and regulations that were more directly involved the daily life of the citizens of their states. This provided a more …show more content…

The New Deal offered temporary programs financed by the national government but administered by the states. The economic hardships of the 1930s depleted the funds that were used by state and local governments to provide services to their local citizens. Grants-in-aid were introduced during the New Deal Era in 1933 to further alleviate the states’ financial hardships. These grants were funded by the national government for a particular service that they defined, but they were administered by the states. This shift the balance of power from the states to the national government was necessary for the financially strapped states to survive. The states had very little choice. The cooperative relationship involving the transfer of payments from national government to lower levels of government is referred to as fiscal federalism (Bianco,Canon,

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