POLS 1101 1st Edition Lecture 7 Outline of Last Lecture I The Confederation s Troubled Peace II Drafting a New Constitution The Economy Protests Constitutional Convention III The Virginia Plan Madison and Nationalists Blueprint Opposition IV New Jersey Plan V Stalemate VI Substantive Issues Foreign policy and trade coordination problems under articles solved Interstate Commerce Slavery VII Amending the Constitution VIII Logic Underlying the Constitution Outline of Current Lecture I Federalism II Qualifications of Federal Systems III Dual Federalism IV Federalism and the Constitution V Cases Current Lecture The framers wanted a stricter U S Constitution But not overly powerful I Federalism The Constitution solved a lot of problems but created a whole other mess o The Constitution was not clear on where federal and state lines were drawn These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute II III How much can the federal do and how much can the state do or how much should they do In 2006 Arnold passes a climate change legislation it went way past the federal reach of power due to the fact that it was global reach Violated federal law o Federal System Authority divided between two or more distinct levels of government United States consists of federal and state levels Qualifications of Federal Systems The same people and territory are included in both levels of government The nation s constitution protects units at each level of government from encroachment by the other units o Each unit or area in the government has some level of independence o At each unit there is some leverage over the other o But the boundaries are not that clear o Constant arguments over who has the authority to carry out certain government services There are some states that would prefer to do it on their own but they must go by the federal system Some states don t want a certain law but other states want the law States argue over which federal solution they want The Constitution does not address the problem of where the line is drawn between federal and state law Dual Federalism Clear boundary between what the federal can do and what the states can do Nationalization o Authority shifted to the national side and away from state governments o Today the national government has a hand in almost all policies that concern the lives of the citizens o We don t really have this today Shared Federalism o Recognizes that the national and state governments jointly supply services to the citizens o Outcome of progressive nationalization has moved American federalism from mostly dual to mostly shared One policy is the best o Sometime the federal government is the only resource that can handle it because they are so much larger IV V o So if there was a hurricane and 5 states were involved then it would be easier if the federal system handled it instead of the 5 states merging their 5 different state constitutions together when they can just all go under the federal laws Federalism and the Constitution Transformation of the Senate transferred power from state to federal o Victory for states righters o Senate members were to be selected by the state legislatures Being in the national government was not important to the politicians back then due to the fact that each senator was beholden and owed the state legislator back home The state legislatures would threaten the senator to vote for a bill or they wouldn t elect them again So they looked out for what their state legislature wanted and not the people When this was found out it was changed Now the senator must look out for all the people that voted from them So now it is the people that elect a senator o Constitutional provisions governing federalism Supremacy Clause Article 1 Section 8 Powers of Congress Elastic Clause Congress shall do everything that is necessary and proper to enforce laws Interpreting the Constitution s Provisions o Courts resolved conflict between federal and state government Cases McCulloch v Maryland 1819 o Congress established a national bank that was unpopular in some of the states o MD levies a heavy tax on all nonstate chartered banks Tries to sue the national bank and they go to court Court rules that Congress had a right to establish the bank and that the government is excluded from state taxes Gibbons v Ogden 1824 o NJ and NY feuded over monopoly rights for shipping on the Hudson River They sue each other and it goes to supreme court The court rules that since the shipping involves going across state boarders so the federal law has control due to the interstate commerce clause
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