Federalism Test

The “Federal” in Federalism

federalism: the division of power

between states and a central

government.

federal: a word that refers to the

central government

Who is in charge? States or

the federal government?

© 2023 iCivics, Inc. 2

Name __________________________

Federal Power: Expressed Powers

The Constitution gives Congress two types of powers. The most obvious type is

expressed powers. When you express yourself, you state how you feel. Similarly,

expressed powers are actually stated, or “expressed,” in the Constitution. All three

branches have their own expressed powers, but you mostly hear this term in reference

to Congress. That’s because the Constitution gives a long list of the powers of Congress.

For example, Congress has the power to coin money, declare war, and establish

immigration laws. Some of the president’s expressed powers include negotiating treaties

with other countries, nominating justices to the Supreme Court, and pardoning people

who have committed federal crimes.

Federal Power: Implied Powers

Implied powers are not expressly stated in the Constitution. When you imply

something, your intention is clear even though you don’t actually say it. For

example, if you have permission to go to the mall, you probably also have

permission to go into specific stores in the mall. Permission to go into the

stores is implied.

In the Constitution, the implied powers of Congress come from the Necessary and Proper Clause. This is a

part of the Constitution that says Congress may make any law that is “necessary and proper” for carrying out

its expressed powers. Let’s look at an example. The Constitution doesn’t say Congress has the power to create

a Postal Service website, but it does say Congress can establish post offices. Permission to create the website is

implied because it is “necessary and proper” to have a website to run the post office in modern times.

Federal Power in Action

Congress can use its implied powers to make positive change. The Civil Rights Act of

1964 is a good example. Congress wanted to prohibit racial discrimination in the United

States... but that’s not on the list of powers Congress has. So how could they do it?

They found a link between racial discrimination and “interstate commerce” ( trade

or transportation across state lines). The power to regulate interstate commerce is

one of the expressed powers of Congress. So how could they stretch that power? The

Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits racial discrimination by any facility that does business

across state lines. Even a small restaurant, for example, may buy hamburger meat

packed in a different state. Finding these links is how Congress takes many actions that,

at first, appear to be beyond its power.

Today’s Federalism Debate

But it’s not just people in the past that debated the power needed by the federal

government. Many people today think about federalism. They want to make

sure there is a balance in decision-making. They understand that some decisions

should be made by local governments. And they also know that some issues affect people across the country

and need one decision that applies to everyone. They see that some states do more or less to address an issue

and they wonder what should change. If you follow the news, you’ll see the federalism debate everywhere: Does

the federal government have the power to pass gun laws? Healthcare? Schools? The variety of opinions on these

questions is all part of the more than 200-year-old struggle between federal and state power.

The “Federal” in Federalism National Archives

Can you guess why the Necessary and Proper

Clause is also called the Elastic Clause?

During the long period of

legal discrimination known

as “Jim Crow,” people of color

often faced discrimination

from businesses.

Library of Congress

If Not Federalism, Then What?

When the Framers wrote the Constitution, they could have chosen any type of government. What if

they had chosen something else? Would it have lessened the power struggle between the states and

the central government? There are benefits and drawbacks to any type of government, so what were

they considering? The following activity compares federalism with two other forms of government.

Read about each type and mark each characteristic A if it’s an advantage and D if it’s a disadvantage.

Federal: Set of Chairs

A federal form of government, the type of government we have, splits power between independent states and a

central government. The power rests in both places, and each gets its authority

from the people through a governing document, like the U.S. Constitution.

Independent branches inside the central government may also share power.

_____ There is national unity, but local governments can act as well

_____ Disputes occur between national power and states’ rights

_____ People have more opportunities to be heard

_____ Services can be duplicated by different levels of government

Confederal: Many Different Chairs

The confederal form of government is an association of independent states.

The central government gets its authority from the people of the independent

states. Power rests in each individual state, whose representatives meet to

address the needs of the group. The U.S. tried a confederal system before

the Constitution. It didn’t work because the states did not give the central

government enough power to do its job on behalf of the states. (To do things

like pay soldiers to fight the Revolutionary War, for example!)

_____ Central government may be too weak to be effective

_____ Laws may differ from state to state; no uniformity

_____ Keeps the power of government at the local level

_____ States cooperate without losing their independence

Unitary: One Big Chair

In a unitary form of government, all the power rests in a central government. The country may be divided

into states or other sub-units, but they have no power of their own. For example, England depends on its

Parliament, a legislative body, to create and enforce the laws in the country.

The leader of the nation, the Prime Minister, is a member of the Parliament

and does not have any more power than its members.

United States

The United States is one country—but it’s also a bunch of states. You could almost

say it’s a group of states that are... well... united. When our country was born,

thirteen states already existed. Each one had been a British colony before gaining

independence after the Revolutionary War. These new states wanted to come

together as one nation, but they also wanted to keep some independent power.

After all, they’d just won their freedom from a powerful government. They needed a

central government that would share power with the states, and that’s exactly what

they created when they wrote the Constitution.

Let’s Get Together

Each state already had its own government and court system. But if these new

United States were going to be able to trade with Native American and foreign

nations, they needed one government that would speak for the entire country.

It also needed one central government to do things like declare war on other

countries, keep a military, and negotiate treaties. They also needed federal courts

where citizens from different states could resolve their disputes.

Government on Two Levels

So, the United States Constitution created a central government known as

the federal government. The federal government deals with issues that

affect the entire country. Each state also has its own local government that

only handles the affairs of that state. This division of power between a central

government and state governments is called federalism.

The federal government gets all of its power from the Constitution. In order

to keep the federal government from becoming too powerful, Amendments

9 and 10 of the Constitution say that any power not given to the federal

government is a power that the states or the people keep for themselves.

These powers are said to be reserved (kept) to the states and spelling this out

was crucial to ratifying the Constitution. There are also a few powers that both

the states and the federal government share. These are called concurrent

powers because concurrent means happening at the same time.

The Supremacy Clause

Before the Constitution outlined the government, the colonists were ruled by the Articles of

Confederation, which was much weaker. In fact, under the Articles, Congress wasn’t able to get

much done. This was because states could just ignore all the laws it passed—and they did! The

Constitution has some very important language to prevent this:

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in

pursuance thereof... shall be the supreme law of the land.

This means that federal laws passed by Congress are supreme, or

superior, to state laws and if the two contradict each other, the federal

law wins.