Framers of the Constitution
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From its early beginning in the minds of the Framers of the Constitution to its state today. The United States system of federalism has changed greatly through
landmark court decisions, congressional decisions, and strong presidential
influence. The next few paragraphs will go through the history of federalism in
the United States.
The Federal System began when the Framers wrote the Constitution. The
Constitution set up the basic outline of the federal system. This system divided
the powers between the national government and the state governments. Also, it
bound the individual states together under one national government. There were
two very important court cases in early federalism. One was McCulloch v.
Maryland in 1819. This case upheld the powers of the federal government. It also
denied the states the right to tax the bank. This allowed later cases to uphold
the expansive powers of the federal government. The other case was Gibbons v.
Ogden in 1824, this ruling upheld broad congressional power over interstate
commerce.
Soon after we moved into the era of dual federalism. Dual federalism is the
belief that having separate and equally powerful levels of government is the
best arrangement. One major leader during this era was Roger B. Tanney, who was
the head of the Supreme Court. During this era, there was heated political
debate on the issue of slavery. The Dred Scott v. Sanford decision in 1857, this
was the first decision to take powers away from the national government. During
this era, the Civil War occurred. Dual federalism lasted until the 1930s.
After dual federalism came the era of cooperative federalism. Much of this came
to be because of the Great Depression. The New Deal, proposed by Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, in 1933, proposed a variety of new programs. The New Deal made up a
period from 1933 to 1939 and was characterized by intense government activity on
the national level. Through the New Deal, FDR, started the Federal Housing
Association, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Agricultural Adjustment
Administration, and the National Recovery Administration. During this period
much of the power went back to the national government. In the mid-1930s, the
Supreme Court decided that parts of the New Deal went beyond the authority of
Congress to regulate commerce. Another
part of the era of Cooperative Federalism was Marble Cake Federalism. Marble
Cake Federalism was when