Verified Document

Federalism The Tenth Amendment Of The U.S. Essay

Federalism The Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." (U.S. Constitution, Tenth Amendment) This is interpreted to mean that the states have implied powers in addition to the powers explicitly enumerated to them in the Constitution. (Gardbaum 1996, 1252) Thus, the Tenth operates as one of the only effective limits on the power of the Federal Government.

The Development of Federalism during the 20th Century.

Federal power has increased considerably during the 20th Century, in a number of areas. The Great Depression compelled aggressive action from the Federal Government in enacting public works programs to put people back to work. (Gardbaum 1996, 1252) Government funding not only created a fourth branch of government sometimes referred to as the Administrative Branch, but also gave new power to local governments through an alliance of the Federal and Local Governments against State Governments. (Gardbaum 1996, 1252)

Local control

After the New Deal, the Federal government shared power with Local governments...

(Gardbaum 1996, 1252) The Federal Government gave grants which were executed by Municipal governments instead of State governments. (Gardbaum 1996, 1252) By doing so, the Federal Government gained power within the State through its control of the granted funds. Thus, Local governments became a sort of proxy for the Federal Government.
Devolution and the Republican Party's Contract With America

Devolution describes the steady relinquishment of power from the Federal Government back to State Governments. Instead of the Federal Government granting funds to Local Governments for the execution of specific programs and projects, the Federal Government started to give "block grants" to State Governments to spend on whatever they wished. (Yi 1995, 2) These "block grants" were not only a blank check with which to address the State's Needs, they also took away a valuable pretext upon which the Federal Government interfered with State Sovereignty. (Yi 1995, 2)

The trend Reagan started with Devolution was continued by the Republican Party's Contract with America. The Contract with America was a party-wide position paper issued during the 1994 elections by the…

Sources used in this document:
Bibliography

Blumstein, J. (1994). Federalism and Civil Rights: Complementary and Competing Paradigms; 47 Vanderbilt Law Review 1251

Gardbaum, S. (1996). Rethinking Constitutional Federalism, 74 Texas Law Review 795, 798-801.

Yi, H. (1995) Fine Print: The Contract with America: Devolution, and the Administrative Realities of American Federalism. The New Bureaucrat.

(2010). "10th Amendment Resolutions -- Tenth Amendment Center" Retrieved from http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/nullification/10th-amendment-resolutions/
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Rise of Federalism in the U.S.
Words: 1569 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

As Cuccinelli and Getchell point out that, "The police power is the antithesis of limited, enumerated powers. Given the breadth of that power, it cannot be exercised by the federal government without overwhelming the limitations intended by the Constitution's scheme of enumerated powers" (2011, p. 293). Conclusion The argument can be made that the individual mandate provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are for the greater good by

U.S. Federal Policy on Abortion
Words: 661 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

While abortion is not banned, it is not encouraged either. Its lack of acknowledgment at the state and local policy level demonstrates the lack of priority or evasion of the government to acknowledge abortion as a healthcare service that must be stated specifically as a subsidized service by the federal government. Interestingly, with the approval and passage of the Affordable Care Act (or "Obamacare"), federal policy on abortion remains vague

Federalism in the US: Development
Words: 1245 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

federalism in the U.S. Federalism in the United States through Supreme Court decisions Printz v. United States and Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority One of the most obvious environments in which the issue of federalism and anti-federalism sentiment is seen is in the judicial system. There have been numerous cases and instances in which the ruling of the Supreme Court was seen as encouraging either federalism or anti-federalism. Two such

Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations Do
Words: 1060 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

However, post-Reconstruction, 'states rights' often became a code word for Jim Crow legislation. Southern states demanded the 'right' for the majority to engage in de facto segregation of schools and to institute limits upon how voting rights were exercised. Many Americans do not know that the Bill of Rights originally was only intended to govern the actions of the federal government, not the states. "The debate over whether the Fourteenth

Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations the
Words: 1133 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

This program requires the states to create their own safety standards and to implement their rail safety oversight and audit programs in measuring compliance to that program. But the diversity of legal authorities, budgets and staff levels of oversight agencies would not allow this to happen smoothly (Caruso). The proposed Public Transportation Safety Program Act of 2009 hoped to authorize the Department of Transportation to establish the minimum safety standards

Philosophy, Congress, Federalism This Is
Words: 896 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Never the twain shall meet would be an appropriate descriptive. The prime example of this form of federalism is the U.S. government during the late 1700s through the early 1900s. With "dual" federalism, both separate and shared powers are present. Marble-cake (or co-operative) federalism is "one big happy family" federalism. Co-operation between state and federal government is its signature. The two levels of government are actually one big government, interwoven

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now