Federalism 3 - The Stages of Federalism

- Click here for the wiki.

The loose language which conditions the powers of the state and national governments has led to occasional reinterpretations of the relationship between the two. This gets into scholarly approaches to the material - and these approaches vary - but looking at them can help us understand the nature of the power struggle between the two, especially how they change over time. The simplest way to think about the change over time is that after a brief period when the forces in favor of a strong national government solidified its powers, there was a relatively long period where a clear distinction between national and state power was maintained. This was roughly from 1828 - the election of Andrew Jackson - to 1932 - the election of Franklin Roosevelt. The major intervening event during this period was the Civil War which led to the addition of three key amendments - the 13th, 14th and 15th - which each expanded national power over the states. The twin crises of the Great Depression and World War Two led to the establishment of national governing institutions which further expanded national power in two key areas, individual welfare and military power. Since then there has been an increase in efforts to pull back the power of the national government, but these have been relatively ineffective. Debates about the proper relationship between national and state powers are common aspects of political debate.

For past blog posts:

- The New Deal.