Federalism Overview and Case Study
Different Nations are organized in different fashions:
The Constitution is very clear about the distribution of power(s) between levels of government.
What kinds of issues are Delegated to the National government? What kinds are shared? What kinds of powers are reserved for the states? (How would you group the kinds of powers? What patterns do you see?)
Here is another version of division and sharing of authority:
The Constitution recognized that sometimes there might be conficts. Article 6 Clause 2 is called the Supremacy Clause. It reads:
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.
What vocabulary do you need help with? What do you think this means in practice?
Read the following news story from Coos County, Oregon. Then discuss any Constitutional issues you see with a group of one or two others.
Can an Oregon county 'void' gun laws? Voters asked to give it a shot
What the Framers said:
In Federalist No. 44, James Madison similarly defends the Supremacy Clause as vital to the functioning of the nation. He noted that state legislatures were invested with all powers not specifically defined in the constitution, but also said that having the federal government subservient to various state constitutions would be an inversion of the principles of government, concluding that if supremacy were not established "it would have seen the authority of the whole society everywhere subordinate to the authority of the parts; it would have seen a monster, in which the head was under the direction of the members".
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