Learn: Constitutional Amendments & Selective Incorporation

Thirteenth Amendment

Constitutional amendment that outlaws slavery.

Fourteenth Amendment

Constitutional amendment that provides birthright citizenship and prohibits states from denying due process or equal protection.

Fifteenth Amendment

Constitutional amendment that prohibits the denial of voting rights on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Selective incorporation

The process through which the Supreme Court applies fundamental rights in the Bill of Rights to the states on a case-by-case basis.

Cooperative Federalism

A system of government in which powers and policy assignments are shared between states and the national government. They may also share costs, administration, and even blame for programs that work poorly.

Dual Federalism

A system of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres, each responsible for some policies.

McCulloch v. Maryland

Supreme Court ruling (1819) confirming the supremacy of national over state government, Maryland tried to tax the banker McCulloch and this raised questions about whether or not the federal gov had the right to create national bank and if the states could tax the branches of bank. The necessary and proper clause gives Congress implied powers, including the power to charter a bank. Because of the supremacy clause, states do not have the right to tax constitutionally created federal entities, because "the power to tax is the power to destroy."

Gibbons v. Ogden

This case involved New York trying to grant a monopoly on waterborne trade between New York and New Jersey. Judge Marshal, of the Supreme Court, sternly reminded the state of New York that the Constitution gives Congress alone the control of interstate commerce. Marshal's decision, in 1824, was a major blow on states' rights.