4.3: Federalism in America

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention faced the challenge of avoiding both the oppressiveness of the British monarchy and the fecklessness of the Articles of Confederation. Most delegates recognized the need for a more powerful national government to maintain the fractious union. They also understood the danger of a too-powerful government falling into the hands of a tyrant.

At the time of the Constitutional Convention, it was not obvious that the United States could be governed democratically. Most prior democratic governments, Greece and Rome among them, had either devolved to nondemocracy under the strain of administering a large territory or collapsed when they refused to do so. A few long-term, stable democracies existed, such as the merchant republics of Florence and Venice, but these were generally very small. Even with just 13 states, America was already much larger than every successful democracy that had preceded it, and its descent into either tyranny or anarchy seemed a very real possibility. (In the words of John Adams, “There never was a Democracy yet, that did not commit suicide.”)

Federalism was the Founders’ way to prevent history from repeating itself. The Constitution would empower the national government to act when nationwide consistency was necessary, such as in matters of diplomacy and monetary policy, but the states would handle everything else. Ideally, the states would emulate the successful small republics of the past in managing themselves while the national government held them together without completely dominating them.

Under America’s federal system, the national government has certain enumerated powers which the state governments do not. These powers are listed (enumerated) in the Constitution and deal with national concerns, like raising armies, coining money, and declaring war. The state governments have reserved powers which the national government lacks, like conducting elections, issuing licenses, and providing public education. Most of these powers are not mentioned in the Constitution and are thus reserved for the states according to the Tenth Amendment. The remaining concurrent powers can be exercised by both the national government and the state governments. These include the powers to establish courts, make laws, and impose taxes on their citizens, although national and state governments exercise them in different jurisdictions. (See Figure 4.1 below for a summary of which powers fall into each category.)

Figure 4.1: Enumerated, reserved, and concurrent powers in the United States

The relationship between the national and state governments in the United States is similar in some ways to the relationships between state and local governments. However, local governments lack the sovereign status of state governments. States have much more power over localities – including the power to create, abolish, divide, or merge them – than the national government has over states.