Federalism in the United States: Difference between revisions

{{US Constitution article series}}

{{United States constitutional law}}

 

== Early federalism ==

 

The movement for federalism was greatly strengthened by the reaction to [[Shays' Rebellion]] of 1786–1787, which was an armed uprising of [[Yeoman#United States|yeoman farmers]] in western [[Massachusetts]]. The rebellion was fueled by a poor economy that was created, in part, by the inability of the confederal government to deal effectively with the debt from the [[American Revolutionary War]]. Moreover, the confederal government had proven incapable of raising an army to quell the rebellion, so that Massachusetts had been forced to raise its own.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Shays' Rebellion|url=https://www.history.com/topics/early-us/shays-rebellion|access-date=2021-02-06|website=HISTORY|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Franklin|first1=Benjamin|last2=Jefferson|first2=Thomas|last3=Jay|first3=John|last4=Adams|first4=Abigail|last5=Madison|first5=James|last6=Smith|first6=John Rubens|last7=Washington|first7=George|last8=Birch|first8=William|last9=Monroe|first9=James|date=2008-04-12|title=Road to the Constitution - Creating the United States {{!}} Exhibitions - Library of Congress|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/road-to-the-constitution.html|access-date=2021-02-06|website=www.loc.gov}}</ref>

As early as 1913, there was talk of regulating stock exchanges, and the Capital Issues Committee formed to control access to credit during World War I recommended federal regulation of all stock issues and exchanges shortly before it ceased operating in 1921. With the [[Morrill Land-Grant Acts]] Congress used land sale revenues to make grants to the states for colleges during the Civil War on the theory that land sale revenues could be devoted to subjects beyond those listed in [[Article One of the United States Constitution#Section 8: Powers of Congress|Article I, Section 8]] of the Constitution. On several occasions during the 1880s, one house of Congress or the other passed bills providing land sale revenues to the states for the purpose of aiding primary schools. During the first years of the twentieth century, the endeavors funded with federal grants multiplied, and Congress began using general revenues to fund them—thus utilizing the [[general welfare clause]]'s broad spending power, even though it had been discredited for almost a century (Hamilton's view that a broad spending power could be derived from the clause had been all but abandoned by 1840).

 

 

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The national government was forced to cooperate with all levels of government to implement the New Deal policies; local government earned an equal standing with the other layers, as the federal government relied on [[political machine]]s at a city level to bypass [[State legislature (United States)|state legislatures]]. The formerly distinct division of responsibilities between state and national government had been described as a "layer cake," but, with the lines of duty blurred, cooperative federalism was likened to a "marble cake" or a "picket fence." In cooperative federalism, federal funds are distributed through [[grants in aid]] or [[categorical grant]]s which gave the federal government more control over the use of the money.

 

{{main|New Federalism}}

Another movement calling itself "New Federalism" appeared in the late 20th century and early 21st century. Many of the ideas of New Federalism originated with [[Richard Nixon]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Katz|first=Bruce|date=2014-08-11|title=Nixon's New Federalism 45 Years Later|url=https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2014/08/11/nixons-new-federalism-45-years-later/|access-date=2021-08-29|website=Brookings|language=en-US}}</ref> New Federalism, which is characterized by a gradual return of power to the states, was initiated by President [[Ronald Reagan]] (1981–89) with his "devolution revolution" in the early 1980s and lasted until 2001. Previously, the federal government had granted money to the states categorically, limiting the states to use this funding for specific programs. Reagan's administration, however, introduced a practice of giving block grants, freeing state governments to spend the money at their own discretion. An example and the first case of this was ''[[Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority]]'' (SAMTA) (1985). Garcia was a worker for SAMTA and appealed that because SAMTA received federal money, that they had to abide by federal labor regulations. SAMTA argued that they did not because the money received was to be used at their own discretion and did not need to abide by federal statutes because they are locally operated and make decisions about the transit system. This gave more autonomy and power to the states by allowing them to use more discretion, not having to abide by federal regulations.

 

* {{Citation |last=Taylor |first=Jeff |author-link=Jeff Taylor (politician) |title=Politics on a Human Scale: The American Tradition of Decentralism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uVwrAQAAQBAJ |year=2013 |place=Lanham, Maryland |publisher=[[Lexington Books]] |isbn=978-0-7391-8674-9 }}

* [[U.S. Constitution]]

* {{Citation |last=Phelps |first=Richard P. |title=The Malfunction of US Education Policy: Elite Misinformation, Disinformation, and Selfishness |url=https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781475869941/The-Malfunction-of-US-Education-Policy-Elite-Misinformation-Disinformation-and-Selfishness |year=2023 |place=Lanham, Maryland |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4758-6994-1 }}