...Federalism was brought into the United States during the 1787 Philadelphia Convention. Some of the states wanted to keep a looser structure like the Articles of Confederation whereas others wanted to have an amalgamation of all of the states into one unitary government. A compromise was reached; the enumerated powers such as to fix the standard of weights and measures. These are found in Article 1, Section 8 and are powers given to Congress. The principle of federalism is shown through the powers. The inherent or implied powers which are not stated in the Constitution, but are expressed. For example, the elastic clause (“necessary and proper”). Other powers are the denied powers to the federal government, such as the power to deny any citizens the right to vote based on race, colour or previous imprisonment (15th amendment). Lastly are the concurrent powers; these are shared between the federal and the state government. As federal law takes precedence, there are two types; those not subject to pre-empt conflict of the law (such as the power to tax private citizens) and other concurrent powers. This shows the principle of the way in which America is governed. The practice of federalism in the USA has differed over time. Between the 1780’s and 1920’s, various state governments all had independent sections of authority and were therefore equal. This system worked well as the federal government was smaller and not interventionist; mainly conservative leaning. This was called...
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...Economics and the Future of Federalism The trends in the current political climate in America tend to be more Americans wanting a less centralized government and to give more power back to the states. In the era of President Bush who ran an administration that seemed to give a lot of power to the states, and over the last 7 years we have had an administration that formed a strong central government this has really seemed to divide our country as to what the people actually want. This can be evidenced through the midterm elections in November 2014 with a sweeping number of states going red, and the Republicans taking control of both houses of Congress (ABC News, 2014). It is still early to know who and how our next President will run their administration, but it will be interesting to watch how the future of federalism in our country unfolds. The purpose of this paper is to determine how special interest groups can affect the future of federalism. Special Interest Groups and Federalism Special interest groups are very important in the political realm as they are formed by individuals coming together with a shared common goal: to lobby their views to change public opinion and pass policies. The passing of these policies is where special interest groups and federalism intersect. Special interest groups can be dangerous to federalism as they can exert much influence over politicians and an issue. An example of this is the National Rifle Association which yields over 4 million...
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...wide spread of power in our democratic government, these factions are capable of causing change only through the influence of a branch of the government, or through the people. Through the lens of the elitist theory, it could be viewed that certain factions have more pull because of their...
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...instituted among Men, deriving their just Power from the Consent of the Governed.” Since the second continental congress declared America’s independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776 the United States government has sought to realize the fundamental principle on which our nation was founded. This was the start of the government we now know and still honor today. As our school children say every morning in class, as our founding fathers wished for us, that all people have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This paper will answer a handful of questions such as; what were the reasons our forefathers divided the government into the legislative, judicial, and executive branches? How are the three branches of the U.S. government supposed to interact? Is the system successful? Why or why not? Are the branches balanced in power? How was the conflict between supporters of a strong federal government and champions of states’ rights characterized then as opposed to now? How could things have been designed more efficiently, if at all? Our founding fathers divided the government into three separate branches was because they planned to implement a democratic government that would work to serve the citizens and not regulate them. In other words, the founding fathers wanted to devise an organization where no single individual or assembly would have too much authority. Basically they didn’t want one person to have too much power. The founding fathers saw how having...
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...republic to prevent faction but with equality to maintain unity among the states. Madison addresses that a large faction will provide better representatives, since the cause of faction has been the unequal distribution of property. Those who have property versus those who don’t, have ever had different interest in society. He saw direct democracy as a danger to individual rights and addressed for a representative democracy to protect individual liberty from majority rule. In federalist No 10 Madison discusses to guard against factions, or groups of citizens, how the passion and interest of one group could mean a danger to the government. In article No 51 the purpose is for four aspects: Layered representation which is the people that are elected directly or indirectly to represent other people, Separation of powers are the three branches that make, and enforce the law; judicial, executive, and legislative branches, Checks and balancing is the ability of each branch to check the powers of the others so the power is balance in all three branches, and Federalism which is the existence of two governments, state and federal and both governments have dominance over different policies and functions. According to Madison article No 51 is, “to form a more correct judgment of the principles and structure of the government planned by the constitutional convention”. I think Madison did not want the citizens to have power to decide, the fear of their decisions made him create a representative...
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... American Government ASB 118 Wednesday Oct 03, 2012 The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. The first three Articles of the Constitution establish the rules and separate powers of the three branches of the federal government: a legislature, the bicameral Congress; an executive branch led by the President; and a federal judiciary headed by the Supreme Court. The last four Articles frame the principle of federalism. The Tenth Amendment confirms its federal characteristics. The Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and ratified by conventions in eleven states. It went into effect on March 4, 1789. The first ten constitutional amendments ratified by three-fourths of the states in 1791 are known as the Bill of Rights. The Constitution has been amended seventeen additional times (for a total of 27 amendments) and its principles are applied in courts of law by judicial review. The Constitution guides American society in law and political culture. It is the oldest written national constitution in continuous use, and it influenced later international figures establishing national constitutions. It centers on concerns for extending democracy and balancing the federal...
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...M- 9:30A.M Mon/Wed 09/20/2015 Chapter 1: The More Things Change…The More They Stay the Same 1. Analyze current problems and issues in American Government by applying Historical perspectives: -History Repeats Itself +A new Communication medium paves the way to Electoral Victory- Meaning the internet and social media have revolutionized American politics. Campaign advertising is the use of an advertising campaign through the media to influence political debate and ultimately voters. Political advertising has changed drastically over the last several decades. Harry S. Truman was proud of his accomplishment of shaking approximately 500,000 hands but his accomplishment was soon pale compared to the next presidential election with the advent of television, war hero and presidential candidate D.W Eisenhower created commercials to get votes and so on and it different with different elections and different decades. +The Power of Incumbency- It is usually used in reference to elections where races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbents. Incumbents have easier access to campaign finance and government resources that can be indirectly used to boost a campaign. Incumbency is any elected official who is already in office and seeking re-election. 2. Explain the Philosophical underpinnings of American Political System through the Exploration of important theories such as the “Social Contract” theory and the concept of the “Natural Law”: -Forms...
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...The American government was founded on the opposition to tyranny. After all, the process began when the American people, tired of oppression from the British government declared themselves free and then fought to retain that freedom. And, when it came time to construct a government, the principles of freedom and liberty remained essential. But, building anything, especially something as complicated as a government, requires a delicate balance. In the case of the American government, the opposing principles of governmental power and the power of the people had to peacefully coexist without one becoming more powerful than the other one. When constructing the new nation, the Founders’ primary focus was limiting the power of the government. Clear...
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...An Essay on Fiscal Federalism Wallace E. Oates Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 37, No. 3. (Sep., 1999), pp. 1120-1149. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0515%28199909%2937%3A3%3C1120%3AAEOFF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A Journal of Economic Literature is currently published by American Economic Association. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/aea.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. http://www.jstor.org Tue Apr 24 17:00:09 2007 Journal of Economic Literature Vol. XXXVZZ (September 1999) pp. 1120-1 149 An Essay on Fiscal Federalism 1. Introduction ISCAL DECENTRALIZATION is in vogue. Both in the industrialized and in the...
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...Indigenous Policy Journal Vol. XX, No. 3 (Fall 2009) Book Review Essay Reviewed texts: The Politics of Minor Concerns: American Indian Policy and Congressional Dynamics, by Charles Turner. University Press of America, 2005. Taking Charge: Native American Self-Determination and Federal Indian Policy, 1975-1993. George Pierre Castile. University of Arizona Press, 2006. Why has there been so little social science research trying to explain recent changes in Federal Indian policy, particularly given the dramatic shifts of the last 40 years? Since 1970 the previous policy of termination gave way to an evolving selfdetermination policy, a dramatically expanded role for tribal governments, and the emergence of large scale Indian gaming. Even with these striking changes - and the expansion of Indian affairs as a policy area – there have been only a handful of social science analyses of the Indian policy domain (most notably Gross 1989). Much recent scholarship in the area has been primarily descriptive or interpretive (Castile 1992, Bee 1992), with research commonly driven by area expertise rather than guided by policy related theory. In his nuanced and theoretically-driven account, Charles Turner argues that Indian policy, like many other areas, is a "minor concern" to both policymakers and policy analysts. As such, Indian policy often doesn't fit the conditions or provide the variables featured by main theoretical approaches to explaining policy outcomes more generally. Unlike...
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...will have 35 minutes to complete the exam. Federalism: The Basic elements of a Federal system of government (i.e. how is it structured/how power is shared) • Layers of gov • Equal power • Distinct powers Powers of the federal government: delegated powers, implied powers (necessary and proper clause), and concurrent powers. • Delegated Powers: (expressed/enumerated powers) powers given to the federal government directly by the constitution. Some most important delegated powers are: the authority to tax, regulated interstate commerce, authority to declare war, and grants the president role of commander and chief of the military • Implied Powers: Powers not expressed in the constitution, but that can be inferred. “Necessary and proper clause” • Concurrent powers: powers shared by both levels of government. Ex: Taxes, roads, elections, commerce, establishing courts and a judicial system • Reserved powers: powers not assigned by the constitution to the national government but left to the states or the people. Guaranteed by the 10th amendment. Include “police power”-health and public welfare, intra-state commerce. Example of police powers: Gonzales vs Raich (2005) and California Medical Marijuana. The parts and relevance of the "Triad of Powers" • Interstate commerce clause • General welfare • 10th amendment – non-delegated powers go to the states Federalism between states (i.e. full faith and credit and privileges and immunities...
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...The tenth and fourteenth amendments were both established to limit the government and upgrade the lives of all citizens. The due process clause incorporated in the 14th amendment focuses on the rights of the citizens and the government. Its purpose was to protect economic freedoms; it was probably one of the more controversial amendments in the constitution. However, the tenth amendment confines what powers the federal government can give. The division between both amendments come on he views of federalism. The first section of the fourteenth amendment consists of the citizenship, due process, equal protection, and the immunities clauses. The fifth section of the fourteenth amendment bequeaths the authority of the Congress to legislatively...
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... This is not an introductory course. You are all lawyers; I shall assume a good deal of professional expertise, and that many of you already have a body of knowledge about American law. The task: prepare you for the coming year, give you the basic grounding that you will need for the courses you are going to start taking in September. For this, you need two things: ♥ A great deal of basic factual information about how the courts and the legal system function, and about basic legal concepts (and legal vocabulary); ♥ But more importantly: background information about some of the critical ways in which the American legal system is unique, and differs from legal systems elsewhere in the world. This is hard: often you will find that your professors or fellow‐students will make assumptions or presuppose certain ways of doing things that aren’t explained in class. A large goal of this course is to explain those assumptions, and make them explicit. >> UNIQUENESS OF AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEMS Briefly, there are four aspects of the American legal system that set it apart: 1) Inherited common law, existing out of three components: (a) judicial power; (b) civil jury trial; (c) law‐equity ; 2) Written Constitution and Bill of Rights; judicial...
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...implemented, and enforced by some government institution. Government institutions give public policy three distinctive characteristics. •First, government lends legitimacy to policies. Government policies are generally regarded as legal obligations that command the loyalty of citizens. •Second government policies involve universality. Only government policies extend to all people in a society; the policies of other groups or organizations reach only a part of the society. •Finally, government monopolizes coercion in society, only government can legitimately imprison violators of its policies. The impact of institutional arrangements on public policy is an empirical question that deserves investigation. Federalism recognizes that both the national government and the state governments derive independent legal authority from their own citizens. PROCESS: POLICY AS POLITICAL ACTIVITY Today political processes and behaviors are a central focus of political science. Political scientists with an interest in policy have grouped various activities according to their relationship with public policy. The result is a Policy process, which outlines •Problem Identification:The identification of policy problems through demands for government action. •The development of policy proposals by interest groups, White House staff, congressional committees, and think tanks. •Policy Legitimation: The selection and endorsement of policies through political actions by Congress,...
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...CHAPTER 5 The American Revolution, 1763-1783 Chapter Study Outline I. The crisis begins A. Pre-1763 consolidation of imperial authority B. Emerging split over British-colonial relations 1. British perspective a. Subordinate position of colonies b. Obligation of colonies to share in cost of empire c. "Virtual representation" 2. American perspective a. Equality of colonies and mother country b. No taxation without representation C. Initial skirmishes 1. Writs of assistance against smuggling 2. Proclamation of 1763 3. Sugar Act 4. Revenue Act 5. Currency Act D. Stamp Act crisis 1. Provisions of Stamp Act 2. Indignation in colonies 3. Taxation and representation; increasing opposition a. Virginia resolutions b. Stamp Act Congress c. Boycott of British goods d. Public demonstrations e. Committees of Correspondence f. Sons of Liberty g. Crowd actions 4. Breadth of opposition a. Colonial elites b. Middling ranks c. Laboring classes 5. Repeal of Stamp Act; passage of Declaratory Act E. Internal colonial disputes 1. Tenant uprising in Hudson Valley 2. Tenant uprising in Green Mountains 3. Regulators in South Carolina 4. Regulators in North Carolina II. The road to revolution A. Townshend crisis 1. Provisions of Townshend duties 2. Colonial response, home-spun virtue a. Revival of boycott on British goods b. American-made goods as symbol of resistance c. Reawakening of popular protest B. Boston Massacre 1. Stationing of troops in Boston 2...
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