Competing definitions:
- Wikipedia: Federalism is a combined and compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments (provincial, state, cantonal, territorial, or other sub-unit governments) in a single political system, dividing the powers between the two.
- Cornell: Federalism is a system of government in which the same territory is controlled by two levels of government. Generally, an overarching national government is responsible for broader governance of larger territorial areas, while the smaller subdivisions, states, and cities govern the issues of local concern. Both the national government and the smaller political subdivisions have the power to make laws and both have a certain level of autonomy from each other.
- Britannica: mode of political organization that unites separate states or other polities within an overarching political system in a way that allows each to maintain its own integrity. Federal systems do this by requiring that basic policies be made and implemented through negotiation in some form, so that all the members can share in making and executing decisions. The political principles that animate federal systems emphasize the primacy of bargaining and negotiated coordination among several power centres; they stress the virtues of dispersed power centres as a means for safeguarding individual and local liberties.
- Congress.gov: the division and sharing of power between the national and state governments.1 By allocating power among state and federal governments, the Framers sought to establish a unified national government of limited powers while maintaining a distinct sphere of autonomy in which state governments could exercise a general police power.2 Although the Framers’ sought to preserve liberty by diffusing power,3 Justices and scholars have noted that federalism has other advantages,4 including that it allows individual states to experiment with novel government programs as laboratories of democracy5 and increases the accountability of elected government officials to citizens.6
The three levels in American government:
- National
- State
- Local
What authorizes each level?
- National: The People of the U.S. (The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution)
- State: The People of Texas (The Preamble to the Texas Constitution)
- Local: The State of Texas. (Articles 9 and 11 of the Texas Constitution)
What does each level do?
- National
- - limited to what is allowed, directly or indirectly, in the U.S. Constitution.
- - internal and external security
- - promote and develop interstate and international commerce
- - coordinating state activities
- - enhance equal protection of the law and secure voting rights
- - delegated powers
- - implied powers
- - inherent powers
- - concurrent powers
- - prohibited powers
- State
- - Elections - the one power clearly delegated to the states
- - anything that is not forbidden by the U.S. Constitution
- - police powers: the power to secure the health, safety, welfare, and morals of the community.
- - promote commerce within the state
- - the creation of local governments
- - reserved powers
- - concurrent powers
- - prohibited powers
- Local
- - powers defined by the state
- - Dillon's Rule
- - actual enforcement of most state laws
- - basic infrastructure
- - resolve local disputes
Where can we see the specific powers laid out in legal documents?
- National:
- - U.S. Constitution: Article 1, Section 8.
- - U.S. Constitution: Article 2, Section 2.
- - U.S. Constitution: Article 3, Section 2.
- - U.S. Amendments 1 - 10 (limitations)
- - U.S. Amendments 11 - 27.
- - U.S. Code.
- - Code of Federal Regulations.
- - Case Law: Supreme Court Cases By Topic.
- - U.S. Executive Agencies
- - House Committees
- - Senate Committees
- State Powers:
- - U.S. Constitution: Article 1, Sections 2, 3, and 4.
- - U.S. Constitution: Article 1, Section 10. (prohibited powers)
- - Texas Constitution
- - Texas Statutory Code
- - Texas Fiscal Size-Up
- - Texas Sunset Review Commission
- - Texas House Committees
- - Texas Senate Committees
- Local Powers:
- - Texas Constitution Articles 9 and 11
- - Texas Local Government Code
- - Texas Constitution Article 3, Section 56 (limits on states)
- - Codes of Ordinances
- - City Departments
Terminology:
federalism
nationalism
three levels of government
- national
- state
- local
concurrent powers
inherent powers
reserved powers
granted powers
enumerated powers
expressed powers
prohibited powers
implied powers
- examples of each
democracy
- direct
- indirect
unitary
confederal
federal
Civil War
civil war amendments
- 13
- 14
- 15
progressive movement
Great Depression
matching grants
categorical grants
block grants
civic voluntarism
necessary and proper clause
full faith and credit clause
supremacy clause
- preemption
commerce clause
equal protection clause
dual federalism
cooperative federalism
- the New Deal / Great Society
- fiscal federalism
new federalism
- devolution
- privatization
- diffusion
- - regulatory policies
grants-in-aid
- categorical
- block
state republican government
expansion of the executive
judicial interpretation
Terminology:
federalism
nationalism
three levels of government
- national
- state
- local
concurrent powers
inherent powers
reserved powers
granted powers
enumerated powers
expressed powers
prohibited powers
implied powers
- examples of each
democracy
- direct
- indirect
unitary
confederal
federal
Civil War
civil war amendments
- 13
- 14
- 15
progressive movement
Great Depression
matching grants
categorical grants
block grants
civic voluntarism
necessary and proper clause
full faith and credit clause
supremacy clause
- preemption
commerce clause
equal protection clause
dual federalism
cooperative federalism
- the New Deal / Great Society
- fiscal federalism
new federalism
- devolution
- privatization
- diffusion
- - regulatory policies
grants-in-aid
- categorical
- block
state republican government
expansion of the executive
judicial interpretation
