American Federalism Flashcards
1
Q
What way is the federal government spelled out in the constitution divides power between two levels of gov
A
the states and the federal government
2
Q
What does federalism do?
A
federalism both safeguards state interests and creates a strong union led by a capable central government.
3
Q
American federalism also seeks to…
A
…balance the forces of decentralization and centralization.
4
Q
When do we see decentralization of gov?
A
When we cross state borders and see how their governments differ
5
Q
Centralization is apparent in the fact…
A
…that the federal government is the only entity permitted to print money, to challenge the legality of state laws, or to employ money grants and mandates to shape state actions.
6
Q
2 ways that modern democracies divide gov
A
- The first and more common mechanism shares power among three branches of government—the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary.
- The second, federalism, apportions power between two levels of government: national and subnational. In
7
Q
How does America divide it’s government out of the two common ways that modern democracies usually divide their gov
A
It implements both ways
8
Q
What does the therm “federal gov” mean in the US?
A
to the government at the national level, while the term states means governments at the subnational level.
9
Q
Federalism
A
an institutional arrangement that creates two relatively autonomous levels of government, each possessing the capacity to act directly on behalf of the people with the authority granted to it by the national constitution.
10
Q
What is the national gov responsible for?
A
The national government is responsible for handling matters that affect the country as a whole,
11
Q
What are subnational or state gov reponsible for?
A
Subnational, or state governments, are responsible for matters that lie within their regions
12
Q
Who heads subnational issues
A
each state’s elected governor and legislature.
13
Q
Characteristic common to federal government
A
a written national constitution that cannot be changed without the substantial consent of subnational governments.
14
Q
The main advantages of the super majority requirement concerning changing the constitution:
A
that no changes to the Constitution can occur unless there is broad support within Congress and among states.
15
Q
The main disadvantages of the super majority requirement concerning changing the constitution:
A
The potential drawback is that numerous national amendment initiatives—such as the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which aims to guarantee equal rights regardless of sex—have failed because they cannot garner sufficient consent among members of Congress or, in the case of the ERA, the states.
16
Q
who assumes executive power
A
the president
17
Q
who assumes judicial power
A
federal courts
18
Q
who assumes legislative power
A
executive authority
19
Q
why do national and subnational gov interact?
A
the ability of the federal and state governments to achieve their objectives often depends on the cooperation of the other level of government.
20
Q
unitary system
A
makes subnational governments dependent on the national government, where significant authority is concentrated.
21
Q
Authority in a confederation
A
decentralized
22
Q
What form of gov does the constitution protect
A
federalism
23
Q
History of the powers of the state governments
A
- not listed in the original consitution
- identification of the powers of the statesadded durring the ratification
24
Q
writ of habeas corpus
A
enables someone in custody to petition a judge to determine whether that person’s detention is legal;
25
bill of attainder
a legislative action declaring someone guilty without a trial;
26
ex post facto law
criminalizes an act retroactively.
27
full faith and credit clause or the comity clause
, requires the states to accept court decisions, public acts, and contracts of other states.
28
The privileges and immunities clause
out-of-staters by denying them such guarantees as access to courts, legal protection, property rights, and travel rights.
29
Developments when it comes to the distribution of finances:
First, the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913 authorized Congress to impose income taxes without apportioning it among the states on the basis of population,
The second development regulates federal grants, that is, transfers of federal money to state and local governments.
30
Intergovernmental grants: when economic times are good, such grants help:
states, cities, municipalities, and townships carry out their regular functions.
31
What does the federal framework of the Constitution strive to do?
aims to balance the forces of decentralized and centralized governance in general terms;
32
Who championed legislative efforts to create a publicly chartered bank.
Alexander Hamilton
33
Who staunchly opposed Hamilton’s plan on the constitutional grounds that the national government had no authority to create a publicly charted bank
Thomas Jefferson
34
What happened when the first publicly charted bank's charter expired in 1811?
Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans prevailed in blocking its renewal.
35
What happened after the Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans prevailed in blocking the publicly charted's renewal.
The fiscal hardships that plagued the government during the War of 1812, coupled with the fragility of the country’s financial system, convinced Congress and then-president James Madison to create the Second Bank of the United States in 1816.
36
Why did many states reject the second publicly charted bank?
Many states rejected the Second Bank, arguing that the national government was infringing upon the states’ constitutional jurisdiction.
37
How didthe political showdown between Maryland and the national gov arise?
A political showdown between Maryland and the national government emerged when James McCulloch, an agent for the Baltimore branch of the Second Bank, refused to pay a tax that Maryland had imposed on all out-of-state chartered banks.
38
McCulloch's standoff raised two constitutional questions:
Did Congress have the authority to charter a national bank? Were states allowed to tax federal property?
39
What did Various states railed against the nationalization of power result in?
nullification
40
How did A nullification crisis emerge?
A nullification crisis emerged in the 1830s over President Andrew Jackson’s tariff acts of 1828 and 1832.
41
What did nullfiers argue?
nullifiers argued that high tariffs on imported goods benefited northern manufacturing interests while disadvantaging economies in the South.
42
Ordinance of Nullification
passed by South Carolina declared that the 1829 and 1832 Tariffs were unconstitutional and thus null and void. They threatened to leave the union.
43
When was the ultimate showdown between national gov and state gov
Civil War
44
Dred Scott v. Sandford
the Supreme Court ruled that the national government lacked the authority to ban slavery in the territories.
45
Why did the election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1860 led eleven southern states to secede from the United States
because they believed the new president would challenge the institution of slavery.
46
What did the conflict to preserve the union become
a conflict to end slavery
47
Emancipation Proclamation
freed all enslaved people in the rebellious states.
48
Who issued the Emancipation proclomation
Abraham lincon
49
What did the defeat of the south have a huge impact on?
the balance of power between the states and the national government
50
In what 2 ways did the defeat of the south disrupt the balance of power between the states and national gov?
First, the Union victory put an end to the right of states to secede and to challenge legitimate national laws. Second, Congress imposed several conditions for readmitting former Confederate states into the Union; among them was ratification of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.
51
after the Civil War the power balance shifted toward the national government, a movement that had begun several decades before with....
... McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) and Gibbons v. Ogden (1824).
52
With the exception of the Civil War, the __________ settled the power struggles between the states and national government.
supreme court
53
What happens under dual federalism
, the states and national government exercise exclusive authority in distinctly delineated spheres of jurisdiction.
54
what changed the socioeconomic landscape of the United States.
industrialization
55
Why did collusive behavior among powerful firms emerged in several industries.
Because there was no national regulatory supervision to ensure fairness in market practices,
56
What did congress do to curtail widespread anticompetitive practices in the railroad industry,
Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887, which created the Interstate Commerce Commission.
57
what happened 3 years after congress passed the interstate commerce act
national regulatory capacity was broadened by the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which made it illegal to monopolize or attempt to monopolize and conspire in restraining commerce
58
How was The new federal regulatory regime was dealt a legal blow early in its existence.
In 1895, in United States v. E. C. Knight, the Supreme Court ruled that the national government lacked the authority to regulate manufacturing.29
59
Why did, In 1895, in United States v. E. C. Knight, the Supreme Court rule that the national government lacked the authority to regulate manufacturing.29?
The case came about when the government, using its regulatory power under the Sherman Act, attempted to override American Sugar’s purchase of four sugar refineries, which would give the company a commanding share of the industry.
60
Why did the Supreme Court rule that the national government lacked the authority to regulate manufacturing.
goods, the court argued that the national government’s regulatory authority applied only to commercial activities. If manufacturing activities fell within the purview of the commerce clause of the Constitution, then “comparatively little of business operations would be left for state control,” the court argued.
61
Why did the court argue that the states couldn't monitor
the right to sell and buy labor is a “liberty of the individual” safeguarded by the Constitution, the court asserted. The
62
How did american economy suffer durring the great depression
Between 1929 and 1933, the national unemployment rate reached 25 percent, industrial output dropped by half, stock market assets lost more than half their value, thousands of banks went out of business, and the gross domestic product shrunk by one-quarter.32
63
Cooperative federalism
Under this model, both levels of government coordinated their actions to solve national problems
64
Who proposed what to tackle the great depression
The New Deal programs (President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed)
65
how did the supreme court react to ' The New Deal"
the supreme court struck down the pillars of the New Deal programs?
66
How did roosevelt react to the rejection of "the new deal?"
The court’s obstructionist position infuriated Roosevelt, leading him in 1937 to propose a court-packing plan that would add one new justice for each one over the age of seventy, thus allowing the president to make a maximum of six new appointments.
67
How did the new acts get put into play
Before Congress took action on the proposal, the Supreme Court began leaning in support of the New Deal as Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Justice Owen Roberts changed their view on federalism.
68
What did the New Deal Change?
The New Deal changed the relationship Americans had with the national government.
69
b4 &after the new deal
Before the Great Depression, the government offered little in terms of financial aid, social benefits, and economic rights. After the New Deal, it provided old-age pensions (Social Security), unemployment insurance, agricultural subsidies, protections for organizing in the workplace,
70
President Lyndon Johnson’s administration did what?
...expanded the national government’s role in society even more.
71
The Social Security Act of 1935,
created federal subsidies for state-administered programs for the elderly; people with disabilities; dependent mothers; and children,
72
the era of cooperative federalism left two lasting attributes on federalism:
First, a nationalization of politics emerged as a result of federal legislative activism aimed at addressing national problems such as marketplace inefficiencies, social and political inequality, and poverty.
The second lasting attribute is the flexibility that states and local authorities were given in the implementation of federal social welfare programs.
73
New federalism
premised on the idea that the decentralization of policies enhances administrative efficiency, reduces overall public spending, and improves policy outcomes.
74
general revenue sharing
programs were created that distributed funds to the state and local governments with minimal restrictions on how the money was spent.
75
What was going on During the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon (1969–1974) and Ronald Reagan (1981–1989),
attempts were made to reverse the process of nationalization—that is, to restore states’ prominence in policy areas into which the federal government had moved in the past.
76
What did the The election of Ronald Reagan predict?
the advent of a “devolution revolution” in U.S. federalism, in which the president pledged to return authority to the states according to the Constitution.
77
what did pres Ronald Reagan do with the congressional leaders?
consolidated numerous federal grant programs related to social welfare and reformulated them in order to give state and local administrators greater discretion in using federal funds.38
78
How was Reagan’s track record in promoting new federalism was inconsistent.
This was partly due to the fact that the president’s devolution agenda met some opposition from Democrats in Congress, moderate Republicans, and interest groups, preventing him from making further advances on that front.
79
How did Several Supreme Court rulings also promoted new federalism
by hemming in the scope of the national government’s power, especially under the commerce clause.
80
What has the national gov used grants for?
to influence state actions as far back as the Articles of Confederation when it provided states with land grants.
81
What was the primary way that the Articles of Confederation Supported the states in the first half of the1800s
Land grants
82
Strings attached with federal cash grants
the national government has an interest in seeing that public monies are used for policy activities that advance national objectives.
83
Categorical grants
are federal transfers formulated to limit recipients’ discretion in the use of funds and subject them to strict administrative criteria that guide project selection, performance, and financial oversight, among other things.
84
Block grants
come with less stringent federal administrative conditions and provide recipients more flexibility over how to spend grant funds.
85
Does the national government prefer categorical grants or transfer funds?
categorical grants
86
Why does the national government prefer categorical grants to transfer funds?
- because this type of grant gives them more control and discretion in how the money is spent.
- One reason is that elected officials who sponsor these grants can take credit for their positive outcomes
87
common criticism leveled against block grants:
they lack mechanisms to hold state and local administrators accountable for outcomes,
88
What have block grants been championed for?
Block grants have been championed for their cost-cutting effects.
89
What can the gov do by eliminating uncapped federal funding,
illustrates, the national government can reverse the escalating costs of federal grant programs.
90
Why is the flexibility of block grants been undermined over time?
it's a result of creeping categorization
91
what's creeping categorization
a process in which the national government places new administrative requirements on state and local governments or supplants block grants with new categorical grants.
92
Unfunded mandates
are federal laws and regulations that impose obligations on state and local governments without fully compensating them for the administrative costs they incur.
93
crosscutting mandates.
threatens civil and criminal penalties for state and local authorities that fail to comply with them across the board in all programs, while another provides for the suspension of federal grant money if the mandate is not followed.
94
What does Failure to fully comply with crosscutting mandates result in?
punishments that normally include reduction of or suspension of federal grants, prosecution of officials, fines, or some combination of these penalties.
95
Result from: The widespread use of federal mandates in the 1970s and 1980s
provoked a backlash among state and local authorities, which culminated in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) in 1995. The
96
What was the (UMRA)
The UMRA’s main objective has been to restrain the national government’s use of mandates by subjecting rules that impose unfunded requirements on state and local governments to greater procedural scrutiny.
97
coercive federalism
a view that the national government may impose its policy preferences on the states through regulations in the form of mandates and restraints. UNFUNDED MANDATES.
98
Immigration federalism
describes the gradual movement of states into the immigration policy domain.
99
Arizona v. United States
the Supreme Court affirmed federal supremacy on immigration.
100
Prob the biggest CONTENDING ISSUES in the usa
- immigration
-same sex marriage
101
venue shopping
refers to a strategy in which interest groups select the level and branch of government (legislature, judiciary, or executive) they calculate will be most advantageous for them.
102
THE BENEFITS OF FEDERALISM
-it promotes policy innovation and political participation and accommodates diversity of opinion.
-our federal system creates two levels of government with the capacity to take action, failure to attain a desired policy goal at one level can be offset by successfully securing the support of elected representatives at another level.
103
THE DRAWBACKS OF FEDERALISM
- economic disparities across states, race-to-the-bottom dynamics (i.e., states compete to attract business by lowering taxes and regulations), and the difficulty of taking action on issues of national importance.
- Stark economic differences across states have a profound effect on the well-being of citizens.
- The economic strategy of using race-to-the-bottom tactics in order to compete with other states in attracting new business growth also carries a social cost.
104
bill of attainder
a legislative action declaring someone guilty without a trial; prohibited under the Constitution
105
block grant
a type of grant that comes with less stringent federal administrative conditions and provide recipients more latitude over how to spend grant funds
106
categorical grant
a federal transfer formulated to limit recipients’ discretion in the use of funds and subject them to strict administrative criteria
107
concurrent powers
shared state and federal powers that range from taxing, borrowing, and making and enforcing laws to establishing court systems
108
cooperative federalism
a style of federalism in which both levels of government coordinate their actions to solve national problems, leading to the blending of layers as in a marble cake
109
creeping categorization
a process in which the national government attaches new administrative requirements to block grants or supplants them with new categorical grants
110
devolution
a process in which powers from the central government in a unitary system are delegated to subnational units
111
dual federalism
a style of federalism in which the states and national government exercise exclusive authority in distinctly delineated spheres of jurisdiction, creating a layer-cake view of federalism
112
elastic clause
the last clause of Article I, Section 8, which enables the national government “to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying” out all its constitutional responsibilities
113
ex post facto law
a law that criminalizes an act retroactively; prohibited under the Constitution
114
federalism
an institutional arrangement that creates two relatively autonomous levels of government, each possessing the capacity to act directly on the people with authority granted by the national constitution
115
full faith and credit clause
found in Article IV, Section 1, of the Constitution, this clause requires states to accept court decisions, public acts, and contracts of other states; also referred to as the comity provision
116
general revenue sharing
a type of federal grant that places minimal restrictions on how state and local governments spend the money
117
immigration federalism
the gradual movement of states into the immigration policy domain traditionally handled by the federal government
118
new federalism
a style of federalism premised on the idea that the decentralization of policies enhances administrative efficiency, reduces overall public spending, and improves outcomes
119
nullification
a doctrine promoted by John Calhoun of South Carolina in the 1830s, asserting that if a state deems a federal law unconstitutional, it can nullify it within its borders
120
privileges and immunities clause
found in Article IV, Section 2, of the Constitution, this clause prohibits states from discriminating against out-of-staters by denying such guarantees as access to courts, legal protection, and property and travel rights
121
race-to-the-bottom
a dynamic in which states compete to attract business by lowering taxes and regulations, often to workers’ detriment
122
unfunded mandates
federal laws and regulations that impose obligations on state and local governments without fully compensating them for the costs of implementation
123
unitary system
a centralized system of government in which the subnational government is dependent on the central government, where substantial authority is concentrated
124
venue shopping
a strategy in which interest groups select the level and branch of government they calculate will be most receptive to their policy goals
125
writ of habeas corpus
a petition that enables someone in custody to petition a judge to determine whether that person’s detention is legal
126
Evolution of American Federalism
In the era of dual federalism, both levels of government stayed within their own jurisdictional spheres. During the era of cooperative federalism, the federal government became active in policy areas previously handled by the states. The 1970s ushered in an era of new federalism and attempts to decentralize policy management.
127
Intergovernmental Relations
To accomplish its policy priorities, the federal government often needs to elicit the cooperation of states and local governments, using various strategies. Block and categorical grants provide money to lower government levels to subsidize the cost of implementing policy programs fashioned in part by the federal government. This strategy gives state and local authorities some degree of flexibility and discretion as they coordinate with the federal government. On the other hand, mandate compels state and local governments to abide by federal laws and regulations or face penalties.
128
Competitive Federalism Today
Some policy areas have been redefined as a result of changes in the roles that states and the federal government play in them. The constitutional disputes these changes often trigger have had to be sorted out by the Supreme Court. Contemporary federalism has also witnessed interest groups engaging in venue shopping. Aware of the multiple access points to our political system, such groups seek to access the level of government they deem will be most receptive to their policy views.
129
Advantages and Disadvantages of Federalism
The benefits of federalism are that it can encourage political participation, give states an incentive to engage in policy innovation, and accommodate diverse viewpoints across the country. The disadvantages are that it can set off a race to the bottom among states, cause cross-state economic and social disparities, and obstruct federal efforts to address national problems.
130
In a(n) __________ system, local and regional governments derive authority from the national government.
unitary
131
Federalism is a way of organizing government so that _____________________________.
both national and state levels of government have their own sources of power; neither one is completely controlled by the other
132
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to "punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas." What sort of power is the authority to punish pirates?
enumerated
133
Which of the following is an implied power of the federal government?
creating banks
134
The "elastic clause" of the U.S. Constitution has been incredibly important for _____________________________.
allowing the federal government to exercise powers not explicitly listed in the Constitution
135
The process of selective incorporation has resulted in the __________ of federal power.
expansion
136
In Gibbons v. Ogden, the Supreme Court ______________________________.
broadly interpreted the national government’s power to regulate interstate commerce
137
__________ grants typically allocate federal dollars for a broad purpose, such as community development.
Block
138
In the 2012 case of Arizona v. United States, the Supreme Court affirmed the supremacy of the federal government over the states on which issue?
Immigration
139
One major element of the Medicaid program is that it allows states flexibility to chose who is eligible and what medical services are covered. True or false
True
