The debate between who should hold more power; the state or federal government, has been debated and discussed since the inception of our nation. The original debate was centered on two opposing parties and their respective ideas, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Due to the numerous debates and shifting political climates, the powers have shifted between the states and federal government several times through the nation’s short history. The original debate was arguably during the beginning years with the Articles of Confederation. The Articles were in place for a decade, and were deemed as ineffective by a number of figures. This led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where the Federalists and Anti-Federalists fought over who should get more power over the other. (UMKC) The ultimate document, now seen as the United States Constitution, reflects the numerous compromises made to each party, and divides the powers up specifically within its Articles. The most commonly attributed Amendment is the 14th Amendment, which reads; “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 …show more content…
Many feuds and even a civil war have been fought over this issue. The Civil War was arguably the climax of disagreement on the issue, where southern states declared themselves sovereign against the federal United States government and formed a short-lived Confederacy. (HistoryNet) When the Civil War was won in favor of the union, and the Southern states’ Confederacy was dissolved and rejoined into the Union, the states power was dwindled in favor of the federal government.
Why did the Framers of the United States Constitution ultimately decided to give more power to the Federal government rather than the state governments? One topic that will be presented in this essay is the problems with the Articles of Confederation. Another topic that will be discussed is what a Federal government is, and why the Framers chose it. Also it will talk about what a State government is, and why the Framers didn’t choose it. Did the Framers do the right thing by handing over their power to the Federal government or should they have chosen the State government?
The original political parties, Federalist and Democratic-Republicans, in America differed in their view of strong federal government vs strong state government.
America’s power was first split into two separate governments between a central government and a state government. These two governments each had powers of their own, as well as powers that they shared. The state was given the power of setting up local governments, holding elections, establishing schools, passing marriage and divorce laws, and regulating in-state businesses. The central government was given the power of regulating
Over 200 years ago the United States’ Founding Fathers created a unique system of government that allowed a balance to exist between both the federal government and the separate state governments. Through the three branches of government, specifically the executive and legislative branches, the United States has been able to act as a unified body with several varying individual parts. With the executive branch and the legislative branch each having outlined powers of their own the Founders were able to equally balance the power of the national government and the state governments. Although this system has managed to stay in tact for two centuries and has allowed the United States of America to become a dominate player in international affairs, there has consistently been a battle of power between the president in the executive branch and the two houses of congress in the legislative branch. As the United States continues to evolve and face multiple obstacles, so does the relationship between these two branches.
The school of thought that adheres to the belief that a centralized form of government is preferable has argued the states’ power needs to be checked. They have argued that there are issues that require a uniform set of laws and allowing states to regulate this area will lead to uncertainty in the law. Additionally, in order to curb the power of the states, the federal government, although limited in its enumerated power, has found creative ways of doing of curbing the power of the states. It has employed the use of the supremacy clause (in U.S. Const. art VI cl. 2) in declaring state law unconstitutional when it conflicts with federal law (see, Martin v Hunter's Lessee, 14 U.S. 304 (1816)). Congress has also sought to regulate several areas
American politics is often defined by a continuing power conflict between the executive and the legislative branches of the government. This struggle for political power between the two stronger branches of the three is inherent in the Constitution, itself. The concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances ensure that the branches of government will remain in conflict and provide a balance that keeps the entire government under control. As it was first established, the executive branch was much smaller and weaker than as we know it today. Consequently, the legislative branch was unquestionably dominant. Over the course of history, the executive branch grew in both size and power to the point where it occasionally overtook the
The government occasionally push their powers to the Sates and tried to lessen the expansion of the federal government. On the other hand, the states complied case in point, Presidents Franklin Roosevelt 1930, and Reagan 81-89, used the New Deal program. Programs such as Agricultural Adjustment Administration to slowly reduced the growth of federal government, these programs administered by the states (ushistory, 3b). In the 60s, Nixon on his side openly wanted the powers of the federal government given back to the states that gave him a win during his campaign (ushistory, 3b). Also, the New Federalism during Reagan’s administration to returned the power to the states, unfortunately according to the United Sates Constitution the federal government law would triumph over any other states law. The states have the right to control and make laws on citizens safety, welfare, health, education, and protection. These powers only delegated to the states. For the states to able to counter the power of the federal government, the state should have enumerated powers, inherent powers, and elastic clause.
In the initial years of the United States a meeting of delegates appointed by the several states met for the sole purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation. The result of this meeting was the creation of the U.S. Constitution that would soon become the ultimate directive for both Federal and State Governments. Since its birth it has been revised, amended, and ratified in order to solidify the allocation of power between the separate branches of government. Although this may be the case, distribution of the powers has been disputed ever since the formation of the Constitution. These political, legal, and quasi-legal constitutional disputes triggered civil unrest and led to explicit acts of opposition involving nullification and
To define the terminology of federalism to a simplistic way is the sharing of sovereignty between the national government and the local government. It is often described as the dual sovereignty of governments between the national and the local to exert power in the political system. In the US it is often been justified as one of the first to introduce federalism by the ‘founding fathers’ which were developed in order to escape from the overpowered central government. However, federalism in the United States is hitherto uncertain where the power lies in the contemporary political system. In this essay I will outline and explain how power relationship alternates between states and federal government. Moreover I will also discuss my
People have been arguing for years about who should have more power, either the federal government or the state. People arguing that the states should have more power than the government because they care more about the people. Then other people will say that the federal should have majority of the power since they oversee everything the states do. I believe that the federal government and the state government should have shared power, but I think the federal government should have the powers such as declaring war and things to help the people as a whole. Then the states should have the power to do what they think is the best things for the people of their state.
From 1789 to 1937, most fundamental powers were distinctive between the federal and state governments. The main problem with dual federalism was that states did most of the governing, and the federal government could only do tasks that were explicitly stated in the constitution.
Really the country over states are snaring for, and routinely winning, more significant control of how they run different other government programsStates have expanded a couple controls officially held for the administration, however a broad part of the cause behind that was that individuals all in all had turned out to be continuously confused with the national government's inability to get it done. In addition various people are putting their trust in State governments, they have to show they can meet the troubles of an extended part in managing. Government Sovereignty versus States Rights was not another issue to the United States. To begin with appearing in the midst of the piece of the Constitution and continuing through Hamilton's Bank and the Federalist Papers, this reasonable examination fumed straightforwardly into the nineteenth century, beginning with the Hartford Convention, where delegates recommended that a state had the benefit to "intercede power" for a circumstance of "unsafe and evident infractions." For any situation, this was only the first in a movement of disputes that would finally, realize basic war. The accompanying genuine step was the treatment of cases for associations. In the midst of
The Framers of the United States Constitution ultimately decided to give more power to the Federal government rather than the state governments for many reasons. There were many problems with the articles that caused instability in the government, and even a rebellion. Then there’s the Federal government who lacked powers to do anything much because the people were too scared to make the Federal government strong. Lastly, there was the State government who had either too much power or they had power that the Federal government should have. There were a lot of problems with the Articles that needed to be addressed , most of which were addressed.
Between the conclusion of the American Civil War and the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the United States entered a period of definitive dual federalism. During this period “fundamental governmental powers were shared between the federal and state governments, with the states exercising the most important powers” (Lowi & Ginsberg & Shepsle & Ansolabehere, 2010, p. 73). While the US Federal Government left a majority of the decision making up to the states, unlike before the Civil War, the supremacy of the Federal Government was no longer in question. Although the government did establish various national standards during this period, it did little to enforce compliance on the state level. For example, little was done to enforce the implementation of the 15th amendment at the state
The United States government system is very interesting and complexly designed. The state and federal government is a mirror of each other when it comes to the generics of the executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch, however, internally the state government has major differences on how the branches are conducted. Throughout this paper we will discuss the greatest difference between state and federal, which is the state cannot change or remove laws passed by the federal government but they could change how they execute the federal laws to their liking as long as it is constitutional.