Understanding Federalism in American Governance

Hi everyone. I hope you're all well. I am sending you a highly detailed lecture on federalism. And so your job will be to view it. And to take very, very careful notes as if I were teaching you in person. And to really know the material and also read your textbook. Okay, great. The last time we met, we began to look at why the federal government needed to emerge. As you know, the United States started with a form of government called Confederation or the Confederal System. Let me give you a definition of the Confederal System. It is a system consisting of a league of independent states, which in the central government created by the league has only very itsy-bitsy limited power over the states. And we extensively spent time learning about that this government was created because many of the founding fathers feared that a new government could be an additional source of tyranny. The system collapses, inflation and other problems set in, and we learned less. last week about the Constitutional Convention, the environment of it, the different competing groups and ideologies. We learned about the Virginia Plan, the New Jersey Plan, and lastly, we learned about the Connecticut Compromise, which legitimizes slavery and that amendment to the Constitution. is called the Three-Fifths Amendment. So now we turn to federalism. And as you know, the federal system is the government we presently have. And rather than looking like 13 munchkin balls, this is a brilliantly conceived system that has a top layer and a bottom layer, and they're glued together into one cake. And let's see how much we could learn about the federal system. The federal system is a very important addition to American government. And in this system, the central government and the states act directly on the American people through the laws and through the actions of elected and appointed government officials. And the question becomes, why did America choose federalism? And let's take that first. Why did the United States develop in a federal direction? As we learned over the last several weeks, the historical basis of our federal system was established in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention. And what we now know is that advocates of a strong national government opposed states'rights. The federal system was a compromise between those that wanted states'rights and those that wanted a strong... central government. The supporters of the new constitution were what we call political pragmatists. The opposite of pragmatism is something called idealism or building a utopia in which that government may be a dream that we just know is not going to happen in reality. And so, we are a pragmatic country. That means, again, we cut deals, we make deals, we compromise. And while a policy can emerge, inequality absolutely, the needle on it doesn't move. And the issues of discrimination and prejudice don't necessarily get done either. So what we know so far is that the federal system is a pragmatic system. It aims to get the job done based on... on compromise that those who favor and those that oppose can both live with. And the founding fathers realized that without a federal arrangement, the new constitution would not be ratified by the 13 states. The appeal of the federation of federalism was that it retained many of the state traditions and local power while establishing a very strong national government, that's our government in Washington, D.C., which is capable of handling common problems that all the states will have to approve. First of all, When we're looking at the question of wild federalism, we turn to the issue of geographical areas. Even if the founders had agreed on the desirability of a confederation, the size and the regional isolation would have made this system very difficult in reality. At the time of the Constitution of the United States, the 13 states taken together were much larger geographically. In the late 1780s, those 13 states mushed together was larger than England or France. Slow travel and slow communication Combined with geographic huge areas of land, contributed to many regions of the country being isolated. That means that they did not have necessarily a river near them, and consequently commerce was not going to take place. They did not have the correct communications. They weren't as wealthy in this isolation. And so many of the regions were looking for a solution that their entire state could receive policies and programs that helped everyone as well as people in their own state. It could take several weeks at the time of the Constitution for all the states to be informed about any. political decision. Even with modern transportation and modern communication systems, the large area of population of some nations make it impractical to locate all political authority in one place. Federalism brings government closer to the people. It allows more direct access to and influence on the government of the United States and its agencies. And if you have access to communicate with the government, you can increase your influence on the government and its policies, rather than leaving the population very unhappy and dissatisfied and They're stuck in an area of the country without access to political power or easy access to receive the programs that the government is going to develop. So the first reason we chose federalism is we are a large geographical area. We're one of the largest countries in the world, not in terms of population, but that geographical area. yield to people who wanted state government and or national government making pragmatic decisions. A second reason that our system went with the federal system is that it benefits the United States. In the United States, federalism historically has yielded additional benefits. State government long have been a training ground for future national leaders. For example, Governor Pritzker, the governor of our state, wants to run for president in 2028. And he's doing a solid job. And not only that, He is making a national reputation for himself. The states themselves have been also testing grounds for new government policies. As United States Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once observed, it is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, to serve as a laboratory and to try novel, new social and economic experiments without risking the entire country of getting upset. Examples of programs pioneered at the state level included unemployment compensation that began in one state that is the state of wisconsin air pollution control that was initiated in only one state when it began and that was california same-sex marriage was first adopted in one state and that was massachusetts and Recently, states have also tried new ways to manage the issue of marijuana. And we're going to look closer at these developments in time. But first, our job is to understand how this system works. So the first reason that we turn to federalism is because We have large geographical areas that turned out to be remote and not getting what they needed. The second is that the combining of the bottom layer, state government, and the top layer, the national government, it merged together many different cultures in the United States, southern culture. Northern culture, agrarian culture, industrial culture. And that's beginning when you could merge many different kinds of values into one country. That is a very good sign that this country may stay alive. But there were arguments against federalism. Let's take a look at that. Not everyone. thinks federalism is such a good idea. Some see it as a way for powerful state and local governments to block progress and impede national plans. Smaller political units are more likely to be dominated by a single political group. And this was essentially the argument put by James Madison in his Federalist No. 10, which you can read in its entirety in many, many textbooks. In fact, the dominant groups in some cities and states resisted the implementation of equal rights for minority groups. Also, members of various occupations and professions obtained state laws that limit competition through licensing requirements. Some states wanted this and some states didn't. So some argue that the dominant factions, a faction is a self-interested group. An example of a faction is the NRA, the National Rifle Association, the PTA, the parents, teachers. Association. So members of several factions argued that the dominant factions in states have been more progressive than the national government in many areas, and this is particularly the case with environmental solutions. The solutions are not coming from our federal government. They are... regularly coming from the state government. So critics of federalism also argued that too many Americans suffer as a result of the inequalities across the states. Individual states differ markedly in educational spending and in reading and writing and math scores. Crime and crime prevention differs. from state to state, and even the safety of buildings is determined by state governments. Not surprisingly, these people who were critics argue for increased federal legislation and federal regulation, and this might involve creating national standards for education and building codes. National Expenditure Minimums for Crime Control and similar measures. What we mean by National Expenditure Minimums, it means that every state would be required to deal with crime and crime control as that state votes. However, the important thing is that it would require... require every state to spend at least a defined minimum cost, and that would be legal. To skimp and not provide the money that was allocated as a minimum is against the law. Others see dangers in the expansion of national powers at the expense of the states. One of the most famous presidents is President Ronald Reagan. He was president from 1981 through 1989. The founding fathers saw the Federalist system as a construction, like a building. It was like a wall, and the states are the bricks. The national government is the mortar, and unfortunately, over the years, many people have increasingly come to believe that Washington is an entire wall in which gets less and less done every few years. So a lot of people, they vote for decisions that will give the state's more authority. What is our next point? What is the constitutional basis of American federalism? The term federal system can never be found in the Constitution. It's not there, nor is it possible to find a system. of government authority between the national and state governments in the Constitution. However, the Constitution sets out different types of power. These powers are divided into three main categories. Category 1 are powers given to the national government. Category 2, The Powers Given. to the states. Category three, power that is prohibited for any level of government, and that is extremely important because we try to protect the citizens from the tyranny of government, and so we have power that also prohibits certain things to legally occur. The Constitution also makes it clear that if a state or local government has a conflict with the government in Washington, D.C., no matter what, the national government wins. That is called the Supremacy Clause. Supremacy clause says when there is a conflict between the bottom layer of the cake, called state government, and the top level, right? The top level, according to our Constitution, is the winner all of the time. That means that the national government is the supreme law of the land. Now, we're going to look first. At Category 1, what are the powers given to the national government in our Constitution? The powers delegated to the national government include some new terms that you're going to have to know and understand. One term is, the national government receives... expressed powers. And secondly, the national government receives implied powers, expressed powers and implied powers. And there's also going to be a third category of power in the American Constitution, and we call that inherent power. Powers. So, we're now going to learn about what is these words. What do these words mean? Again, we're looking at the powers of the national government. Some of these powers we call expressed powers. We're going to see what that means in a second. Others are called implied powers. And the third is called inherent powers. So now we are going to turn to and learn about first the powers of the national government. Then we're going to look at what are the powers of state government. Let's take a look. The powers delegated to the National government, the first thing is called enumerated powers. Let me spell enumerated for you. E-N-U-M-E-R-A-T-E-D. Enumerated powers. This refers to most of the powers. clearly stated or expressed. Most of the powers that are clearly stated and delegated to the national government in the first 17 clauses of Article 1, Section 8 of the American Constitution. These are called enumerated powers. Let's take a look. at what that means enumerated powers is powers that are clearly expressed we call them enumerated powers because they are listed clearly in the american constitution we find it in article one section eight and it includes only the national government can print money and to make coins Only the national government can settle on the standards for weights and measures. Now, what's that? Okay, let's say you're going on the freeway and you get to the toll booth. Far on the right of every toll booth in the United States, trucks have to be weighed. If they're too heavy, they're not going to be permitted to ride on that road. It will harm the road. And so, the United States national government is the only level of government that gets to set the standards of how much things need to weigh in order for them to be legal. That process is called weights and measures. Another national power is making uniform naturalization laws. Well, what does naturalization laws mean? Naturalization laws refers to the laws of becoming a citizen in this country. And if the only way that applies to you is if you are coming into America following the laws of the land and you were born and raised in another country. And so only the national government can define the criteria that all states must follow. No state can have... different immigration laws, then it will all become chaotic again. Also, another expressed power in the Constitution is the power of admitting states. Only a few years ago, there was no state in the Union There was no country that included Hawaii, for example, and Alaska, for example. And only the national government can admit new states. In addition, in our neck of the woods, where we live in Illinois, we touch two more than two other states, but we touch Michigan, we touch Wisconsin, we touch Indiana, and we touch their states as well. Those are called boundary lines. They're very, very important because each state government can issue a state tax. They can issue it on anything that is approved by the state government, but it only is limited in application to the people that reside in that state. We call that boundaries. But the United States wasn't the 13 states for very long. We went westward. We went over the Appalachian Mountains and we expanded the number of states. in the Union, and only the national government can admit new states into the United States. The next form of national power, after we now know what enumerated, also called expressed powers, are. One more thing. In terms of expressed powers, the government of the United States regulates commerce, all forms of commerce, only between the states. Each state regulates its own commerce. But what happens if buying a car in this state, as opposed to this state, They have two different taxes. Well, one of the things is that when you buy a car, you have to show residency. And you are going to be taxed on the purchase of that car based on the law of the state that you live in. There's no getting around it. So commerce between the states. That means here I am. I'm going to ride, ride, ride. And eventually I hit Racine, Wisconsin. Then I'm going to ride back to Illinois. I'm going to go the other way. and I'm going to eventually get to cities in Indiana. Only, the only commerce that the national government can regulate is the commerce between states. So now, we now know what expressed powers are, and they're the same words as enumerated powers. And the second category, that we now turn to is implied powers. I-M-P-L-I-E-D. Implied powers. The implied powers of the national government are also based on Article 1, Section 8. Article 1, Section 8. states that the Congress shall have the power to make laws which are necessary and proper. Well, what does necessary and proper mean? That's a good question, right? The legal notion of necessary and proper, for example, will include that when we become the United States, there wasn't roads and there wasn't paved middle of the street and people had horse and buggies and the horse and buggy, the horse would go to the bathroom on the road where people were working and walking. And this created a major public health problem, okay? And consequently, there was nothing in the Constitution that said the Congress has a role in public health to prevent epidemics. So what necessary and proper means is our government is so smart that it... built-in flexibility. So flexibility is a very important concept in American national government. So let's say you are getting ready for a holiday dinner with the entire family, and you say to yourself, maybe I'm going to take two of this and three of this and Then you realize, you know, I better wear some loose stretch pants. And when you start eating, you'll be able to see that the stretch pants allow you to feel comfortable. The necessary and proper clause is the stretching of the national government's role in a manner that was never stated in the Constitution. But as we became modern, it becomes a necessary aspect of American life. The space program, right? That would be an example that the founding fathers had not a clue that we were going to go into space. Maybe Benjamin Franklin would have considered it because he was very, very bright in... astronomy, and in a lot of science things. So what do we have? Section 1, Article 1, Section 8 says that the Congress, that's the government in D.C., to make all laws which are necessary and proper for carrying into action the foregoing powers. And all of the powers vested by this Constitution In the government or any department thereof will have this flexibility. So other countries are not as bright as our founding fathers, and they failed to bring in flexibility. Now, why is that important? Well, currently, we are debating as a country, should we require that everyone be in the next five years utilizing an electric car? Well, we didn't even conceive. of cars. So not using gasoline and natural gas, that is a big jump. That would be implied. Why? Because pollution and the carbon footprint is something that is causing people to get sick, increased cancer, because of what's in the air. And we're trying to be responsible. So On the one hand, right, it never says the national government can build electric cars or develop highways in which every few inches there's going to be another way that you could plug in your car to go long distances without needing gas. It's implied. It's implied with modernization. It's implied. that we need to be flexible and have the national government grow in terms of things that we never dreamed that we needed. The necessary and proper clause also goes by another name, and that is what we call a synonym, something that is an entirely different word that has the same meaning of another word. So what other word refers to the necessary and proper clause? That happens to be what we call in American national government the elastic clause. The elastic clause. Because it provides flexibility to our Constitution and it gives the Congress The power to do whatever is necessary to execute specific delegated powers. Now, the last three words of that sentence are really important. The Congress can't just create powers. It has to be able to say, for example, that if we are the people who are coining money and, uh, also manufacturing paper money. What do we call stocks? And things related to banking and to money go to the Congress. Okay, let's take the third example of the national government's power before we turn to the state government. And the third category of national power is the state government. is what we call inherent powers. This is a very special category of national power that is not always covered under the necessary and proper clause, and it consists of what we label the inherent powers of being the national government. These powers that we call inherent, they derive from the fact that the United States is a sovereign power among nations, and so its national government must be the only government that deals with other nations. Under international law, it is assumed that all nation states, regardless of their size, or power have an inherent right to ensure their own survival as a state and a country. To do this, each nation must have the ability to act in its own national interest among and with many other nation states because Our national government decides whether we are going to war. Our national government... decides whether we're going to allow another state to join the United States. Only the national government can make treaties, okay? So note that no specific clause in the Constitution says anything about the acquisition of additional land. Nonetheless, the federal government's inherent powers allowed it to make the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. And then we went on, we acquired Florida. From there, Oregon, Texas, California, Alaska, and Hawaii. Some constitutional scholars categorize inherent powers as a third type of power, completely distinct from delegated powers. Others point out that some, but not all, inherent powers are spelled out or hinted in Section 8, Article 1. For example, it gives Congress the power to declare war, to raise and support armies, and to maintain a navy. But that is a very, very complex situation because our state's governments are able to develop state guards systems, such as many of our soldiers do in order to serve the country. Okay, I'm going to take a minute break to have some water, and then I will be back with you in a moment. Now we're ready to turn to what are the powers of the state government. First, we looked at the top layer, national government. Now we're looking at the lower level, and your state and every state has enormous powers that go to state government. And let's begin. The Tenth Amendment states that the powers not given to the national government by the Constitution, and they are not prohibited by the states, are reserved for the states and the people who live in that state. This is called The reserved powers of the United States government. It states, we now know what the national government does. We're going to give the states everything else that we call reserved. One, it can't be a national power. And two, it is not illegal. and not prohibited, and we can give them to the states because the states represent the people of this country. We are the, in the United States, we call it the sovereign, S-O-V-E-R-I-G-N, and that means if you start up with the American people, you're in for a real big problem because we are. the last big source of power in this country, and it's very serious. And don't let anybody tell you different. And that's another reason that makes it really quite an extraordinary form of government. And that again is called reserved powers. These are defined as powers that the national government cannot deny to the states. Because these powers are not listed in the Constitution, there is sometimes a question as to whether a certain power is delegated to the national government or is it a reserved power for the states. Let's look at this closely. State Powers have been held to include each state. It's right to regulate the commerce inside that state and to provide as well a state militia, which today we call the state guard in every state. So right now we're trying to assist the people who suffered so horrendously from the hurricane. Hurricane Helen and we brought in every kind of power that you could think of and now what we're calling on is governors to send their state militias to help do the heavy cleanups as well so that the citizens of individual states can get their life back together again a little bit more easier than if no help was there. States also have the reserve power to make laws on all matters that are not prohibited to the states by the United States Constitution or a state constitution. Furthermore, the states have what we call police power. Police power is defined as the authority. to legislate for the protection of the health of your state, the morality of your state, the safety of your state, and the welfare of your state. Their police power enables states to pass laws governing such activities as the regulation of crime, marriage, education, transportation, and how land is used. Please note that while the United States as a whole uses a federal system of government, each state has its own form of government. It is said that county, municipal, and other local governments, those are regulated by the states in which they reside. In principle, a state can alter or abolish local governments, though that might require an amendment to the state constitution. Such radical measures are very, very rare. A more A common exercise of state power is to prohibit local government, such as a government that has a mayor, from passing various laws. For example, Colorado and Ohio do not let local government to engage in fracking, which is a method. of extracting oil and natural gas. The ambiguity of the Tenth Amendment allows the reserved powers of the states to be defined differently at different times in our history. When there is widespread support for increased regulation by the national government, the Tenth Amendment tends to recede into the background. And when the tie turns the other way in favor of the state's rights, the 10th Amendment is brought up again to justify arguments giving the states the support that they need. So now we know what are the powers of the state government, and we call those powers Reserved powers. They are nowhere listed in the Constitution, but if it doesn't belong to the federal government and it is not illegal, then it's reserved for the state government. Our state government, we're in the state of Illinois, our legislature is down in Springfield, Illinois. Our mayor is the mayor of Chicago. He is controlled by the governor of our state. And again, there are city charters which enable Mayor Johnson to do a variety of things, but as law, it cannot emerge unless the state legislature passes a law on that. Let's turn to the second kind of law within states, and that is called prohibited powers. Prohibited powers refers to denying a number of powers to the national government. For example, the national government is expressly denied the power to impose taxes on goods sold to other countries. We call that exports. Moreover, any power not granted expressly or implicitly to the federal government by the Constitution is prohibited by the Constitution. For example, many legal experts believe that despite proposals by several Democratic presidential candidates, the national government cannot tax various forms of wealth without a constitutional amendment. The states are also denied certain powers, and one that is an example is no state is allowed to ever enter into a treaty with another country. The last thing that we will look at in our discussion today refers to concurrent powers. Let me spell concurrent for you. C-O-N-C-U-R-R-E-N-T. Concurrent powers. In certain areas, the states share concurrent powers with the national government. Most concurrent powers are not listed in the Constitution. However, they are implied in the Constitution. An example is the power to tax. The types of taxation are divided between the levels of government. So, for example, states may not levy a tax. on imported goods. Only the national government is allowed to do this, and many observers of today's United States Supreme Court believe that it would find a national real estate tax to be unconstitutional, and both levels of government can and do collect taxes on the income, but that this would not be legal. Neither government may tax the facilities of another government. If the state government did not have the power to tax, they would not be able to function independently of the national government. Additional concurrent powers include the power to borrow funds. Both levels of government can do that. Both levels of government can establish courts. Both levels of government can establish corporations. So what we mean by concurrent powers is powers that the same can be in the state and it will give it to both levels, but the United States Congress can only pass all tax laws and your state legislature is the only government that can pass tax laws in our state. Additional concurrent powers, again, include the courts and corporations. One concurrent power that has been the subject of recent controversy is the power to establish a minimum wage for all workers in the United States. Many states. have recently raised the minimum wages. And again, for many businesses, the business could no longer afford paying the higher wages to the personnel unless they ended up firing a good number of people that earned a living from that increased. wages at that restaurant. So we are going to again conclude the next time that I see you, but please know that now you know what federalism is. You now know why we became a federal country. You now know as well on the difference between national government and state government. You now know what the doctrine of expressed powers is, implied powers is, and inherent powers are, and prohibited powers. I wish you all a wonderful rest of the day, and I so look forward to being in the class with you. Bye-bye and be well.

Hi everyone. I hope you're all well. I am sending you a highly detailed lecture on federalism.

And so your job will be to view it. And to take very, very careful notes as if I were teaching you in person. And to really know the material and also read your textbook. Okay, great.

The last time we met, we began to look at why the federal government needed to emerge. As you know, the United States started with a form of government called Confederation or the Confederal System. Let me give you a definition of the Confederal System.

It is a system consisting of a league of independent states, which in the central government created by the league has only very itsy-bitsy limited power over the states. And we extensively spent time learning about that this government was created because many of the founding fathers feared that a new government could be an additional source of tyranny. The system collapses, inflation and other problems set in, and we learned less. last week about the Constitutional Convention, the environment of it, the different competing groups and ideologies. We learned about the Virginia Plan, the New Jersey Plan, and lastly, we learned about the Connecticut Compromise, which legitimizes slavery and that amendment to the Constitution.

is called the Three-Fifths Amendment. So now we turn to federalism. And as you know, the federal system is the government we presently have. And rather than looking like 13 munchkin balls, this is a brilliantly conceived system that has a top layer and a bottom layer, and they're glued together into one cake.

And let's see how much we could learn about the federal system. The federal system is a very important addition to American government. And in this system, the central government and the states act directly on the American people through the laws and through the actions of elected and appointed government officials.

And the question becomes, why did America choose federalism? And let's take that first. Why did the United States develop in a federal direction? As we learned over the last several weeks, the historical basis of our federal system was established in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention.

And what we now know is that advocates of a strong national government opposed states'rights. The federal system was a compromise between those that wanted states'rights and those that wanted a strong... central government.

The supporters of the new constitution were what we call political pragmatists. The opposite of pragmatism is something called idealism or building a utopia in which that government may be a dream that we just know is not going to happen in reality. And so, we are a pragmatic country. That means, again, we cut deals, we make deals, we compromise. And while a policy can emerge, inequality absolutely, the needle on it doesn't move.

And the issues of discrimination and prejudice don't necessarily get done either. So what we know so far is that the federal system is a pragmatic system. It aims to get the job done based on...

on compromise that those who favor and those that oppose can both live with. And the founding fathers realized that without a federal arrangement, the new constitution would not be ratified by the 13 states. The appeal of the federation of federalism was that it retained many of the state traditions and local power while establishing a very strong national government, that's our government in Washington, D.C., which is capable of handling common problems that all the states will have to approve. First of all, When we're looking at the question of wild federalism, we turn to the issue of geographical areas. Even if the founders had agreed on the desirability of a confederation, the size and the regional isolation would have made this system very difficult in reality.

At the time of the Constitution of the United States, the 13 states taken together were much larger geographically. In the late 1780s, those 13 states mushed together was larger than England or France. Slow travel and slow communication Combined with geographic huge areas of land, contributed to many regions of the country being isolated. That means that they did not have necessarily a river near them, and consequently commerce was not going to take place. They did not have the correct communications.

They weren't as wealthy in this isolation. And so many of the regions were looking for a solution that their entire state could receive policies and programs that helped everyone as well as people in their own state. It could take several weeks at the time of the Constitution for all the states to be informed about any. political decision. Even with modern transportation and modern communication systems, the large area of population of some nations make it impractical to locate all political authority in one place.

Federalism brings government closer to the people. It allows more direct access to and influence on the government of the United States and its agencies. And if you have access to communicate with the government, you can increase your influence on the government and its policies, rather than leaving the population very unhappy and dissatisfied and They're stuck in an area of the country without access to political power or easy access to receive the programs that the government is going to develop.

So the first reason we chose federalism is we are a large geographical area. We're one of the largest countries in the world, not in terms of population, but that geographical area. yield to people who wanted state government and or national government making pragmatic decisions.

A second reason that our system went with the federal system is that it benefits the United States. In the United States, federalism historically has yielded additional benefits. State government long have been a training ground for future national leaders.

For example, Governor Pritzker, the governor of our state, wants to run for president in 2028. And he's doing a solid job. And not only that, He is making a national reputation for himself. The states themselves have been also testing grounds for new government policies.

As United States Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once observed, it is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, to serve as a laboratory and to try novel, new social and economic experiments without risking the entire country of getting upset. Examples of programs pioneered at the state level included unemployment compensation that began in one state that is the state of wisconsin air pollution control that was initiated in only one state when it began and that was california same-sex marriage was first adopted in one state and that was massachusetts and Recently, states have also tried new ways to manage the issue of marijuana. And we're going to look closer at these developments in time.

But first, our job is to understand how this system works. So the first reason that we turn to federalism is because We have large geographical areas that turned out to be remote and not getting what they needed. The second is that the combining of the bottom layer, state government, and the top layer, the national government, it merged together many different cultures in the United States, southern culture.

Northern culture, agrarian culture, industrial culture. And that's beginning when you could merge many different kinds of values into one country. That is a very good sign that this country may stay alive. But there were arguments against federalism.

Let's take a look at that. Not everyone. thinks federalism is such a good idea. Some see it as a way for powerful state and local governments to block progress and impede national plans.

Smaller political units are more likely to be dominated by a single political group. And this was essentially the argument put by James Madison in his Federalist No. 10, which you can read in its entirety in many, many textbooks. In fact, the dominant groups in some cities and states resisted the implementation of equal rights for minority groups. Also, members of various occupations and professions obtained state laws that limit competition through licensing requirements. Some states wanted this and some states didn't.

So some argue that the dominant factions, a faction is a self-interested group. An example of a faction is the NRA, the National Rifle Association, the PTA, the parents, teachers. Association.

So members of several factions argued that the dominant factions in states have been more progressive than the national government in many areas, and this is particularly the case with environmental solutions. The solutions are not coming from our federal government. They are...

regularly coming from the state government. So critics of federalism also argued that too many Americans suffer as a result of the inequalities across the states. Individual states differ markedly in educational spending and in reading and writing and math scores.

Crime and crime prevention differs. from state to state, and even the safety of buildings is determined by state governments. Not surprisingly, these people who were critics argue for increased federal legislation and federal regulation, and this might involve creating national standards for education and building codes. National Expenditure Minimums for Crime Control and similar measures.

What we mean by National Expenditure Minimums, it means that every state would be required to deal with crime and crime control as that state votes. However, the important thing is that it would require... require every state to spend at least a defined minimum cost, and that would be legal.

To skimp and not provide the money that was allocated as a minimum is against the law. Others see dangers in the expansion of national powers at the expense of the states. One of the most famous presidents is President Ronald Reagan. He was president from 1981 through 1989. The founding fathers saw the Federalist system as a construction, like a building.

It was like a wall, and the states are the bricks. The national government is the mortar, and unfortunately, over the years, many people have increasingly come to believe that Washington is an entire wall in which gets less and less done every few years. So a lot of people, they vote for decisions that will give the state's more authority. What is our next point? What is the constitutional basis of American federalism?

The term federal system can never be found in the Constitution. It's not there, nor is it possible to find a system. of government authority between the national and state governments in the Constitution.

However, the Constitution sets out different types of power. These powers are divided into three main categories. Category 1 are powers given to the national government. Category 2, The Powers Given. to the states.

Category three, power that is prohibited for any level of government, and that is extremely important because we try to protect the citizens from the tyranny of government, and so we have power that also prohibits certain things to legally occur. The Constitution also makes it clear that if a state or local government has a conflict with the government in Washington, D.C., no matter what, the national government wins. That is called the Supremacy Clause. Supremacy clause says when there is a conflict between the bottom layer of the cake, called state government, and the top level, right? The top level, according to our Constitution, is the winner all of the time.

That means that the national government is the supreme law of the land. Now, we're going to look first. At Category 1, what are the powers given to the national government in our Constitution?

The powers delegated to the national government include some new terms that you're going to have to know and understand. One term is, the national government receives... expressed powers. And secondly, the national government receives implied powers, expressed powers and implied powers.

And there's also going to be a third category of power in the American Constitution, and we call that inherent power. Powers. So, we're now going to learn about what is these words. What do these words mean?

Again, we're looking at the powers of the national government. Some of these powers we call expressed powers. We're going to see what that means in a second.

Others are called implied powers. And the third is called inherent powers. So now we are going to turn to and learn about first the powers of the national government.

Then we're going to look at what are the powers of state government. Let's take a look. The powers delegated to the National government, the first thing is called enumerated powers. Let me spell enumerated for you.

E-N-U-M-E-R-A-T-E-D. Enumerated powers. This refers to most of the powers.

clearly stated or expressed. Most of the powers that are clearly stated and delegated to the national government in the first 17 clauses of Article 1, Section 8 of the American Constitution. These are called enumerated powers.

Let's take a look. at what that means enumerated powers is powers that are clearly expressed we call them enumerated powers because they are listed clearly in the american constitution we find it in article one section eight and it includes only the national government can print money and to make coins Only the national government can settle on the standards for weights and measures. Now, what's that? Okay, let's say you're going on the freeway and you get to the toll booth. Far on the right of every toll booth in the United States, trucks have to be weighed.

If they're too heavy, they're not going to be permitted to ride on that road. It will harm the road. And so, the United States national government is the only level of government that gets to set the standards of how much things need to weigh in order for them to be legal. That process is called weights and measures. Another national power is making uniform naturalization laws.

Well, what does naturalization laws mean? Naturalization laws refers to the laws of becoming a citizen in this country. And if the only way that applies to you is if you are coming into America following the laws of the land and you were born and raised in another country.

And so only the national government can define the criteria that all states must follow. No state can have... different immigration laws, then it will all become chaotic again. Also, another expressed power in the Constitution is the power of admitting states. Only a few years ago, there was no state in the Union There was no country that included Hawaii, for example, and Alaska, for example.

And only the national government can admit new states. In addition, in our neck of the woods, where we live in Illinois, we touch two more than two other states, but we touch Michigan, we touch Wisconsin, we touch Indiana, and we touch their states as well. Those are called boundary lines.

They're very, very important because each state government can issue a state tax. They can issue it on anything that is approved by the state government, but it only is limited in application to the people that reside in that state. We call that boundaries. But the United States wasn't the 13 states for very long.

We went westward. We went over the Appalachian Mountains and we expanded the number of states. in the Union, and only the national government can admit new states into the United States.

The next form of national power, after we now know what enumerated, also called expressed powers, are. One more thing. In terms of expressed powers, the government of the United States regulates commerce, all forms of commerce, only between the states. Each state regulates its own commerce. But what happens if buying a car in this state, as opposed to this state, They have two different taxes.

Well, one of the things is that when you buy a car, you have to show residency. And you are going to be taxed on the purchase of that car based on the law of the state that you live in. There's no getting around it. So commerce between the states.

That means here I am. I'm going to ride, ride, ride. And eventually I hit Racine, Wisconsin.

Then I'm going to ride back to Illinois. I'm going to go the other way. and I'm going to eventually get to cities in Indiana. Only, the only commerce that the national government can regulate is the commerce between states. So now, we now know what expressed powers are, and they're the same words as enumerated powers.

And the second category, that we now turn to is implied powers. I-M-P-L-I-E-D. Implied powers. The implied powers of the national government are also based on Article 1, Section 8. Article 1, Section 8. states that the Congress shall have the power to make laws which are necessary and proper.

Well, what does necessary and proper mean? That's a good question, right? The legal notion of necessary and proper, for example, will include that when we become the United States, there wasn't roads and there wasn't paved middle of the street and people had horse and buggies and the horse and buggy, the horse would go to the bathroom on the road where people were working and walking. And this created a major public health problem, okay?

And consequently, there was nothing in the Constitution that said the Congress has a role in public health to prevent epidemics. So what necessary and proper means is our government is so smart that it... built-in flexibility. So flexibility is a very important concept in American national government. So let's say you are getting ready for a holiday dinner with the entire family, and you say to yourself, maybe I'm going to take two of this and three of this and Then you realize, you know, I better wear some loose stretch pants.

And when you start eating, you'll be able to see that the stretch pants allow you to feel comfortable. The necessary and proper clause is the stretching of the national government's role in a manner that was never stated in the Constitution. But as we became modern, it becomes a necessary aspect of American life. The space program, right?

That would be an example that the founding fathers had not a clue that we were going to go into space. Maybe Benjamin Franklin would have considered it because he was very, very bright in... astronomy, and in a lot of science things. So what do we have?

Section 1, Article 1, Section 8 says that the Congress, that's the government in D.C., to make all laws which are necessary and proper for carrying into action the foregoing powers. And all of the powers vested by this Constitution In the government or any department thereof will have this flexibility. So other countries are not as bright as our founding fathers, and they failed to bring in flexibility. Now, why is that important?

Well, currently, we are debating as a country, should we require that everyone be in the next five years utilizing an electric car? Well, we didn't even conceive. of cars. So not using gasoline and natural gas, that is a big jump.

That would be implied. Why? Because pollution and the carbon footprint is something that is causing people to get sick, increased cancer, because of what's in the air. And we're trying to be responsible. So On the one hand, right, it never says the national government can build electric cars or develop highways in which every few inches there's going to be another way that you could plug in your car to go long distances without needing gas.

It's implied. It's implied with modernization. It's implied. that we need to be flexible and have the national government grow in terms of things that we never dreamed that we needed. The necessary and proper clause also goes by another name, and that is what we call a synonym, something that is an entirely different word that has the same meaning of another word.

So what other word refers to the necessary and proper clause? That happens to be what we call in American national government the elastic clause. The elastic clause. Because it provides flexibility to our Constitution and it gives the Congress The power to do whatever is necessary to execute specific delegated powers.

Now, the last three words of that sentence are really important. The Congress can't just create powers. It has to be able to say, for example, that if we are the people who are coining money and, uh, also manufacturing paper money. What do we call stocks?

And things related to banking and to money go to the Congress. Okay, let's take the third example of the national government's power before we turn to the state government. And the third category of national power is the state government. is what we call inherent powers.

This is a very special category of national power that is not always covered under the necessary and proper clause, and it consists of what we label the inherent powers of being the national government. These powers that we call inherent, they derive from the fact that the United States is a sovereign power among nations, and so its national government must be the only government that deals with other nations. Under international law, it is assumed that all nation states, regardless of their size, or power have an inherent right to ensure their own survival as a state and a country. To do this, each nation must have the ability to act in its own national interest among and with many other nation states because Our national government decides whether we are going to war. Our national government...

decides whether we're going to allow another state to join the United States. Only the national government can make treaties, okay? So note that no specific clause in the Constitution says anything about the acquisition of additional land.

Nonetheless, the federal government's inherent powers allowed it to make the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. And then we went on, we acquired Florida. From there, Oregon, Texas, California, Alaska, and Hawaii. Some constitutional scholars categorize inherent powers as a third type of power, completely distinct from delegated powers.

Others point out that some, but not all, inherent powers are spelled out or hinted in Section 8, Article 1. For example, it gives Congress the power to declare war, to raise and support armies, and to maintain a navy. But that is a very, very complex situation because our state's governments are able to develop state guards systems, such as many of our soldiers do in order to serve the country. Okay, I'm going to take a minute break to have some water, and then I will be back with you in a moment. Now we're ready to turn to what are the powers of the state government.

First, we looked at the top layer, national government. Now we're looking at the lower level, and your state and every state has enormous powers that go to state government. And let's begin. The Tenth Amendment states that the powers not given to the national government by the Constitution, and they are not prohibited by the states, are reserved for the states and the people who live in that state.

This is called The reserved powers of the United States government. It states, we now know what the national government does. We're going to give the states everything else that we call reserved. One, it can't be a national power.

And two, it is not illegal. and not prohibited, and we can give them to the states because the states represent the people of this country. We are the, in the United States, we call it the sovereign, S-O-V-E-R-I-G-N, and that means if you start up with the American people, you're in for a real big problem because we are.

the last big source of power in this country, and it's very serious. And don't let anybody tell you different. And that's another reason that makes it really quite an extraordinary form of government.

And that again is called reserved powers. These are defined as powers that the national government cannot deny to the states. Because these powers are not listed in the Constitution, there is sometimes a question as to whether a certain power is delegated to the national government or is it a reserved power for the states.

Let's look at this closely. State Powers have been held to include each state. It's right to regulate the commerce inside that state and to provide as well a state militia, which today we call the state guard in every state.

So right now we're trying to assist the people who suffered so horrendously from the hurricane. Hurricane Helen and we brought in every kind of power that you could think of and now what we're calling on is governors to send their state militias to help do the heavy cleanups as well so that the citizens of individual states can get their life back together again a little bit more easier than if no help was there. States also have the reserve power to make laws on all matters that are not prohibited to the states by the United States Constitution or a state constitution. Furthermore, the states have what we call police power.

Police power is defined as the authority. to legislate for the protection of the health of your state, the morality of your state, the safety of your state, and the welfare of your state. Their police power enables states to pass laws governing such activities as the regulation of crime, marriage, education, transportation, and how land is used. Please note that while the United States as a whole uses a federal system of government, each state has its own form of government. It is said that county, municipal, and other local governments, those are regulated by the states in which they reside.

In principle, a state can alter or abolish local governments, though that might require an amendment to the state constitution. Such radical measures are very, very rare. A more A common exercise of state power is to prohibit local government, such as a government that has a mayor, from passing various laws.

For example, Colorado and Ohio do not let local government to engage in fracking, which is a method. of extracting oil and natural gas. The ambiguity of the Tenth Amendment allows the reserved powers of the states to be defined differently at different times in our history. When there is widespread support for increased regulation by the national government, the Tenth Amendment tends to recede into the background.

And when the tie turns the other way in favor of the state's rights, the 10th Amendment is brought up again to justify arguments giving the states the support that they need. So now we know what are the powers of the state government, and we call those powers Reserved powers. They are nowhere listed in the Constitution, but if it doesn't belong to the federal government and it is not illegal, then it's reserved for the state government. Our state government, we're in the state of Illinois, our legislature is down in Springfield, Illinois.

Our mayor is the mayor of Chicago. He is controlled by the governor of our state. And again, there are city charters which enable Mayor Johnson to do a variety of things, but as law, it cannot emerge unless the state legislature passes a law on that. Let's turn to the second kind of law within states, and that is called prohibited powers. Prohibited powers refers to denying a number of powers to the national government.

For example, the national government is expressly denied the power to impose taxes on goods sold to other countries. We call that exports. Moreover, any power not granted expressly or implicitly to the federal government by the Constitution is prohibited by the Constitution.

For example, many legal experts believe that despite proposals by several Democratic presidential candidates, the national government cannot tax various forms of wealth without a constitutional amendment. The states are also denied certain powers, and one that is an example is no state is allowed to ever enter into a treaty with another country. The last thing that we will look at in our discussion today refers to concurrent powers. Let me spell concurrent for you.

C-O-N-C-U-R-R-E-N-T. Concurrent powers. In certain areas, the states share concurrent powers with the national government.

Most concurrent powers are not listed in the Constitution. However, they are implied in the Constitution. An example is the power to tax.

The types of taxation are divided between the levels of government. So, for example, states may not levy a tax. on imported goods. Only the national government is allowed to do this, and many observers of today's United States Supreme Court believe that it would find a national real estate tax to be unconstitutional, and both levels of government can and do collect taxes on the income, but that this would not be legal.

Neither government may tax the facilities of another government. If the state government did not have the power to tax, they would not be able to function independently of the national government. Additional concurrent powers include the power to borrow funds. Both levels of government can do that.

Both levels of government can establish courts. Both levels of government can establish corporations. So what we mean by concurrent powers is powers that the same can be in the state and it will give it to both levels, but the United States Congress can only pass all tax laws and your state legislature is the only government that can pass tax laws in our state. Additional concurrent powers, again, include the courts and corporations.

One concurrent power that has been the subject of recent controversy is the power to establish a minimum wage for all workers in the United States. Many states. have recently raised the minimum wages. And again, for many businesses, the business could no longer afford paying the higher wages to the personnel unless they ended up firing a good number of people that earned a living from that increased. wages at that restaurant.

So we are going to again conclude the next time that I see you, but please know that now you know what federalism is. You now know why we became a federal country. You now know as well on the difference between national government and state government. You now know what the doctrine of expressed powers is, implied powers is, and inherent powers are, and prohibited powers.

I wish you all a wonderful rest of the day, and I so look forward to being in the class with you. Bye-bye and be well.

Transcript for:Understanding Federalism in American Governance

Transcript for:
Understanding Federalism in American Governance