Exam 1 Study Guide Lectures 1 10 POLS 207 Lecture 1 Outline of Lecture Centralization of American Government I Government Centralization at the national level A Loss of state and local powers B Congressional action II Sources of reasons for this centralization A Federal government has more money than state local B Nationalist interpretation of US Constitution The Big Idea A nationalist interpretation of the Constitution combined with the power of the purse allows the national government to constantly expand its powers at the expense of state and local authority We call this Centralization In the tug of war battle for power the national government definitely has the upper hand With vastly more resources at its disposal than any of the states have the Federal government has more power Article 1 Section 8 Simply denoted by 1 8 of the Constitution is the source of much of this authority Congress shall have the power to followed by a laundry list of powers Congress is authorized to exercise One of these is the power of the purse i e the authority to levy and collect taxes Another is the power to regulate interstate commerce VERY IMPORTANT In general since the 1930s SCOTUS Supreme Court of the United States has embraced an expansive interpretation of Congress 1 8 powers a Nationalist interpretation of the Constitution BUT starting in 1995 there have been more than a dozen major decisions that limit national power over state and local governments Note In the 1920s state local governments had 67 of the power while national government had 33 Today the balance is more like 40 60 with the national government holding the lion s share of power Lecture 2 Outline of Lecture Congressional power limits and modern centralization cont I SCOTUS dual track strategy A Narrowing Congress commerce power B Reviving sovereign immunity II Sources of modern centralization cont A Political participation system B Shifting ideological center The Big Idea The Supreme Court is currently following a dual track plan to limit Congress power Their first goal is to narrow the scope of Congress 1 8 powers especially the commerce clause Their second method is reviving the notion of sovereign immunity In United States v Lopez 1995 SCOTUS recognized a limit to Congress power for the first time in sixty years Sovereign immunity is the idea that the government can t sue itself More about centralization Now that women and ethnic minorities can vote the electorate has obviously been greatly expanded and diversified This changes the political landscape and makes it easier for the government to follow an activist strategy since women and minorities are more supportive of it It s also important to note that from the 1930s to the 1970s there was a fairly constant consensus about the role of the national government But in 1964 Barry Goldwater challenged the premise of this consensus and since the eighties there s been a major conservative movement that challenged the status quo interpretation about the government s role in national affairs Lecture 3 Outline of Lecture Surges in Centralization I Centralization varies by historical period A 1780s B 1860s C 1930s D 1960s II Centralization varies by policy area The Big Idea Centralizing efforts surge in response to a national crisis and although they subside after the crisis is passed things never return to the old degree of centralization afterwards inevitably some government programs stay in place indefinitely Four periods in American history had notably high levels of centralization 1780s 1860s 1930s and 1960s 1780s ratification of Constitution It s pretty clear that the ratification of the Constitution gave the national government more power than it had possessed before because it didn t have much power at all before ratification not even the power to tax which we consider a very basic power of the Federal government now 1860s Civil War and Reconstruction Many consider the Civil War to have been fought over states rights in addition to slavery When the South lost the Federal government proved itself to be superior to the states in terms of power Every state had to submit to its ruling on slavery although the division of authority between national and state local governments was never settled 13th 14th and 15th Amendments passed 14th was especially important because it defined state AND national citizenship 1930s Depression New Deal During the Depression the government stepped in to help the states The New Deal ushered in HUGE changes in terms of concentrating power in the Federal government at the expense of state power Nobody argues with this 1960s Civil Rights Movement More on this later Lecture 4 Outline of Lecture Alternate Reasons for the 14th Amendment I Reasons for the 14th Amendment A To constitutionalize the Civil Rights Act B To constitutionalize the spirit of the Declaration of Independence The Big Idea Explanations for 14th Amendment Narrower and broader purpose The narrower purpose was to constitutionalize the Civil Rights Act of 1966 and the broader purpose was to constitutionalize the independent spirit of the Declaration of Independence all men are created equal The Civil Rights Act of 1866 defined US citizenship but was silent about state citizenship In some ways the Fourteenth Amendment was a revamping of the CRA It elaborated on the citizenship question defining state as well as national citizens Lecture 5 Outline of Lecture Alternate Reasons for the 14th Amendment Part 2 I Was the 14th Amendment meant to correct a counter revolutionary Constitution A Powerful central government B Short term majorities have their hands tied C No word on fundamental rights D Allows slavery E Moral deficiencies II Judicial perspectives on interpretation A Narrower interpretation Race B Broader interpretation Everyone The Big Idea Why do some consider the Constitution to have been counter revolutionary What does this even mean Some thought it was meant to tamp down some of the revolutionary independent feelings left over from the Revolutionary war once they weren t needed to overthrow the British government anymore It did this by creating a strong national government at the expense of the states limiting the impact of short term majorities accommodating human slavery and not addressing fundamental rights the Bill of Rights wasn t passed until two years after ratification So the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments the Bill of Rights could have been meant to correct the Constitution s