What Is The Commerce Clause And The Commerce Clause

Federalism is two governments working together and sharing power. This means that the national government does not have all the power since the states have some and the states have some power so the national government have all the power. They share power so one doesn’t grow too powerful and become a tyrant. An example is driving laws. The states can make their own driving laws and there is no national power over it. But the national government does have the power to override the states if they think the states are becoming too loose in their

Federalism is defined in our book as: “the relationship between the centralized national government and the individual state governments” (Berman and Murphy 92). Federalism is a very important government system that is frequently discussed and argued, even today. The topic of federalism has become a topic of argument because many people believe the federal government should have more power, and yet some other people believe the states should have most of the power. One of the ways that federalism is in our government is in our Congress, and indirectly through Congress to the difference in laws between the states. We can look at all the different speed limits in all of the individual states; they are not all the same. This is because the residents of any certain state and the representatives of that state can choose whatever they deem fit to set as limits. Another

In the Unites States of America Federalism is the basic structure of the American government; it is the distribution and balance of powers between the National government and the States government. In order to obtain a compromise between those who wanted stronger state government and those who preferred a stronger national government the founding fathers arranged and settled for a federal system rather than the alternatives of a unitary or confederal system. While both National and State governments each have specific powers and authority, they also share certain powers and must be able to cooperate effectively with each other.

The Necessary and Proper Clause was an important addition to our federal government’s expansion. In fact, the Necessary and Proper clause was vital to our current government setting. With the expansion of the federal government we see that you can take ideas from different people, and compromise to come to a meeting point on important issues, like the expansion of ideas that needed to be readdressed, and changed.

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

Federalism is the division of power between national and state government. Federalism was supported by Doc A, an excerpt of The Federalist Papers; A series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay in support of the Constitution. The following quote is an excerpt from Federalist Paper #51, written in 1778 by James Madison. “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivided among districts and separate departments.” In the aforementioned quote, James Madison is referring to the national state governments. Due to federalism, power is split between local and federal governments, preventing all power being controlled by one group. As a result, the two governments each have their own powers, which prevents total rule from a national or state government. Additionally, the power in these branches are split into three more branches. This prevents any one branch of government from having total power, which guards against

Some might think that it gives Congress the power to do whatever it wants to do, but that is not so. Congress should only use this clause to create legislation directly relating to an expressed power in the Constitution. The laws should only be what is necessary and proper. If legislation does not meet either of these requirements, it is not in Congress’s power to enact it. The necessary and proper clause, though sometimes used correctly, has often been misused. One example can be found in a court case that took place in 1896 (United States v. Gettysburg Electric Rail Co.). The case decided whether Congress had the power to condemn a railroad’s land. The necessary and proper clause, wrongly used, justified that Congress had the power to condemn that land and create a park. Congress argued that this decision fell under Congress’s expressed power to raise and equip armies. This is just one example of many. When the national bank was created many people thought that this stretched the necessary and proper clause. The necessary and proper clause had been stretched many times. The clause is sometimes called the “elastic clause” because of its

Federalism is a compound way of governing, with a central government, also known as a federal government, and a local government. Each government had their own powers, but to accomplish the bigger goals the key was to have cooperation and teamwork to solve the issue. The federal government’s powers were solely focused on war, money and relations with other countries and states outside of the United States. In accordance, the local government took care of the more specific things going on in that certain state. For example, they took care of things such as elections, constructing schools, and passing laws for marriage and divorce. This helps to guard against having a government ruled over by a tyrant by having the more sizable powers given to the higher-up individuals in the government, and the locals governments dealt with the laws that pertained to their specific state. “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments” (Document A). The governments are ruled this way because if one government had all the power, they would surely use it unfairly, as all that power would get to their head. “Hence a double security rises to the rights of the people” (Document A). This would in fact raise the rights that the people had because they would have a

The Elastic Clause is a statement in the first article of the Constitution. Also known as the “Necessary and Proper Clause,” it says that Congress has the power to “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper.” This means that Congress has implied powers to carry out laws that have been expressed in the constitution. One example of a time that the elastic clause has been used was when the federal government created a national bank. This shifted more of the power from the states to the federal government by giving it implied powers. With the elastic clause, the federal government creates more of its own laws.

The Necessary and Proper clause gave congress to make all the laws that should be necessary and proper to carry into execution. (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 18). The Necessary and Proper Clause was also called the elastic clause that gave powers to Congress that were implied in the Constitution. Necessary means required or essential to. Necessary required congress to execute the powers that were granted in the constitution. John Marshall the Chief Justice wrote his opinion to the court stated that the constitution gave congress all the power to make all the laws.

Federalism has played a large role in our government since the time that the Constitution was ratified. It originally gave the majority of the power to the states. As time went on, the national government gained more and more power. It used the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution to validate its acts, and the Supreme Court made decisions that strengthened the national government creating a more unified United States. Finally, the recent course of federalism has been to give powers back to the states.

The Necessary and Proper Clause and its role in modern federal law, along with the questions that come from applying the clause.

The Necessary and Proper clause goes by many names and known for causing many disputes throughout the United States in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. What the clause states is that "The Congress shall have Power …To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof" (Document A). This means that the United States Congress possesses the abilities to create any and all laws that are essential for the Congress's power to be demonstrated. This goes for other powers stated in the constitution. However, some individuals find flaws in this clause,

The Constitution guarded against tyranny by giving the states individual freedom. To become a new nation the colonists needed some form of government, so they formed the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was the first plan of government for the United States beginning during the Revolutionary War, but it had many weaknesses and just wasn't working for the people. One weakness the Articles of Confederation had was that there was no court system.   Another weakness was that the central government could not force a state to pay taxes.

One of the many powers given to Congress by the Constitution is the Commerce Clause. This clause allows Congress to regulate commerce between foreign nations, states, and Indian tribes. The authority laid out authorizes Congress to pass laws that ultimately regulate activities of states and citizens and free the restraints of states who feel otherwise. Throughout the history of the United States, the Commerce Clause has caused controversy over the extent that Congress can justify the use of this clause to pass laws. The Supreme Court has been relied on to determine the constitutionality of the laws and settle the controversies. One of these controversies lies within the Supreme Court case of United States v. Lopez.