1

Department of Letters and English Language

Master 1
American Civilization

Lecturer: Dr. Toulgui L.

2014-2015

The US Federal System

Essentially, the power of government must be equal to its responsibilities. The Constitution was needed
because the nations preceding system (under the Articles of Confederation) was considered too weak to
accomplish its expected goals, particularly those of a strong defense and an integrated economy.

Defining Federalism: Its Nature and Origins

A way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels of government have formal authority over the
same area and people. It is a system of shared power between units of government. In the United States, it
is the division of governing authority (sovereignty) between the national government and the state
governments. Federalism is NOT a fixed principle for allocating power between units of government. It is
a principle that has changed over the course of time in response to political needs.
There are two other types of government besides federalism we need to know about: unitary,
confederacy.
Unitary: most of the worlds governments. All power resides in a central government.
Confederacy: a union of states in which the states retain all sovereignty.
The federal system of government in the United States decentralizes politics. For example, in
November, there are actually 51 separate presidential elections, one for each state and D.C. It offers more
layers of government, which allow for more opportunities for political participation. With more people
wielding power, there are more points of access in government, and more opportunities for interests to
have their demands for public policies satisfied. With more decisions made in the states, there are fewer
sources of conflict at the national level. However, the federal system not only decentralizes our politics
but also decentralizes our policies too. The history of the federal system demonstrates the tension between
the states and the national government about policies: who controls it and what it should be.
The word federalism does not appear in the Constitution. In the late 1700s the people of the country
thought of themselves as citizens of their respective states, not necessarily as Americans. The authors of
the Constitution were very aware that the people of the country were sensitive to the issues of governing
authority, and were very suspicious of a strong national government. Thus they carefully spelled out the
powers of the state and national governments.
A federal system is a system in which both the national and state governments share power. The
framers of the U.S. Constitution believed that the concentration of power in one governing body could
lead to despotism.
In 1788, James Madison expressed this concern as he described the need to divide power among
branches of government: The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the
same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary,or elective, may justly be
pronounced the very definition of tyranny (The Federalist Papers, No. 47, February 1, 1788, Library of
Congress, http://thomas.loc.gov/home/histdox/fedpapers.html).
The Constitutions framers chose federalism to further divide powerbetween the national and state
governmentsand preserve the ability of citizens to choose representatives who would govern closer to
home. They believed that local and state elected officials would be more familiar with the needs of their
own communities and be responsive and accountable to their constituents.
In the modern era, one of the key questions in a federal system is which government has power over
which policy issues. In a nation as large as the United States, the issues faced by regions can be quite

2
different. The national government and the states often handle different issues and sometimes their efforts
overlap. However, the federal government may take a policy stance that may or may not be mirrored by
individual states. This often opens the door for controversy to exist.
States are not powerless and can be policy innovators when they are the first to identify solutions to
key issues and problems. Other states can examine, adapt, or modify these policies to meet the needs and
challenges of their particular locations. For example, Virginia may take a very different approach to an
issue than Nebraska or Kansas because of differences in regional needs, concerns, and beliefs.
While states are able to create their own policy and laws on certain issues, there are instances when
states have obligations toward each other. The U.S. Constitution describes three areas in which states have
obligations toward each other. Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution requires that each state recognize
the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of all other states; for example, marriage licenses,
drivers licenses, and birth certificates are generally valid in all states. This is known as full faith and
credit. The Constitution in Article IV, Section II also requires extradition. A state must surrender a person
charged with a crime to the state in which the crime is alleged to have been committed. The final
obligation that states have to each other also can be found in Article IV, Section II, which requires states
to give citizens of other states the same privileges they afford the citizens of their own state, with the goal
of prohibiting states from discriminating against citizens of other states. For example, if you visit another
state, you will have to pay the sales tax of that state, and you will also be guaranteed the same police
protection as the residents of the state you are visiting. Federalism is clearly a complex and dynamic
concept.
The Supremacy Clause and the Hierarchy of Laws
While states clearly have many powers and responsibilities, it is worth remembering that the U.S.
Constitution and federal laws trump state legislation. This is a result of the Supremacy Clause in Article
VI of the U.S. Constitution, which states: This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which
shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of
the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound
thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. The
following chart illustrates the hierarchy of laws in the USA, with the U.S. Constitution being the Supreme
Law of the Land.
Hierarchy of Laws

3
The issue of negotiating the balance of power between the federal government and state governments has
existed since the founding of the United States. The complexity of the issue was not lost on the founding
fathers, including many prominent Virginians, who struggled to find a compromise between those who
wanted a strong national government and those who wanted to protect the power of the states.
Taking a brief detour to look back at the origins and arguments surrounding federalism provides a
context to appreciate the ongoing challenges and struggles of the experiment that is Americas democracy.
Virginias Role in the Development of the U.S. Constitution (Federal System)
The British colony of Virginia and subsequently the Commonwealth of Virginia played an important
role in developing the structure of Americas federal system. Many of the actions that led to independence
and the formation of the United States government had a start in Virginia or were the ideas of such
Virginians as Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and James Madison.
Thomas Jefferson was the major author of the Declaration of Independence and largely responsible for
the description of natural rights (or human rights that are inherent and universal) found in the Declaration.
His Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom states that all people should be free to worship as they please;
it was the basis for the First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances to
the Constitution of the United States.
George Mason worked to create the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the first draft of the
Constitution of Virginia. The Virginia Declaration of Rights makes clear that all Virginians should have
certain rights, including freedom of religion and the press. It is a basis for the Bill of Rights to the U.S.
Constitution. His steadfast refusal to support Virginias ratification of the U.S. Constitution without a Bill
of Rights helped ensure such a listing of rights was soon adopted in the early American republic.
James Madison is often referred to as the Father of the Constitution of the United States because he
kept detailed notes during the Constitutional Convention and engineered compromises on the most
important issues facing the delegates. He authored the Virginia Plan, which proposed a federal
government of three separate branches (legislative, executive, and judicial) and became the foundation for
the structure of the government described in the U.S. Constitution. Madison also authored much of the Bill
of Rights.
Today, one of the key questions about the U.S. federal system remains: Which level of government has
the power to regulate particular and specific policy issues to meet the needs of citizens? As previously
stated, the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land and specifies the powers that are delegated to
the national government.
As the Venn diagram below shows, American citizens are served by both their federal government and
their state government. Examples of areas where the national government has sole power include the
ability to raise an army, declare war, coin money, establish a postal service, protect copyrights and patents,
and make foreign treaties. Other policy areas such as education are left to the states. In the American
nations federal system, the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited
by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. This is guaranteed by the
Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Additionally, as the Venn diagram shows, states and the national government share certain powers
(concurrent powers). These include, but are not limited to, the power to tax, the power to borrow money,
to build roads, and to pass criminal justice laws. Conflicts between the state and national authority are
often found in these concurrently held powers.

4
Examples of National Government Powers, State Government Powers, and Shared Powers

The Dynamic Nature of Federalism

Since the inception of the U.S. Constitution, power has shifted back and forth between state
governments and the federal government. The federal courts, specifically the U.S. Supreme Court, have
stepped in at times to rule in favor of federal power. The Courts have ruled that the U.S. Congress has
implied powers in addition to powers enumerated in the Constitution.
The U.S. Supreme Court gave more power to the national government in 1954 with Brown v. Board of
Education. The courts ruled that states must racially integrate public schools and could not create policies
that would allow for separate public schools.
The nature of federalism has changed over US history, prompting different ways to think about
federalism. For example, there are two main and competing concepts: dual federalism and cooperative
federalism. Dual federalism has been likened to a layer cake. In this type of federalism, each level of
government is responsible for some policy, and each government remains supreme within its own sphere
or layer.

5
Beginning in the 1930s, there was a trend to move from dual federalism to cooperative federalism.
With cooperative federalism the roles of government are not as clearly defined as they are with dual
federalism. Cooperative federalism is defined as the national and state governments sharing policy
responsibilities. This type of federalism may result in both levels of government working together
simultaneously, in the states carrying out mandates passed by the federal government, or in duplicating the
efforts of one another on a policy area. This second form of federalism has sometimes been likened to a
marble cake.

As a result there has been a trend in the federal system to transfer additional policy responsibility from
the national government to the state and local governments. This shift in responsibility is known as
devolution. One example of devolution is the federal governments decision to relinquish distribution
responsibilities for welfare services to state agencies. Each state now is responsible for making its own
policy and guidelines for how federal money will be distributed.
When there are 50 ways to address policy issues as opposed to one national policy, Americans can
distinguish differences in how policies can be interpreted and how privileges are afforded to different
citizens in different states within the same nation. In this way, federalism can provide flexibility to the
states, which can pass laws that reflect the policy priorities of their own residents, instead of a one-sizefits-all approach.
Protections from government abuses of civil liberties are found in the Bill of Rights to the U.S.
Constitution, but these protections were originally only guaranteed against the actions of the national
government. However, over time, the Supreme Court has used the due process clause and the privileges
and immunities clause found in the Fourteenth Amendment 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 to rule that some protections found in the Bill of Rights
are applicable to state government action as well. This process is known as selective incorporation.
Conversely, while the Bill of Rights protects citizens against national and most state actions, federal
and state laws also regulate citizens lives. Clearly, federalism remains a dynamic, complex, and evolving
experiment in democratic governance.
From a global perspective, the important thing to remember about federalism is that the relationship
between our national government and the state governments has changed and evolved over time, and will
continue to do so.
(More details will be given in the lecture).
Reference: Civics Education (Adapted)