13 2.4 – U.S. CONSTITUTION AND FEDERALISM
2.4.
U.S. CONSTITUTION AND FEDERALISM
The problem the framers of the Constitution faced was power, that is, the ability to get others to do something they would not otherwise do. How much political power should be given to the government, and where should it be placed? The framers had seen first-hand that too much power in the hands of a central government could lead to tyranny and the abuse of individual liberty. However, not enough political power in the central government could lead to anarchy and the tyranny of the majority, that is, when a majority controls a representative government with no protection for the liberty of minorities. The delicate balance between political power and individual liberty was the principal focus of the delegates at the constitutional convention.
The Constitution created a new relationship between federal and state public policy making responsibilities. As we shall discuss in the next section, the federal government enjoys policy making power over several specifically enumerated areas, while the states reserve all other policy making powers for themselves. Federalism represents a combination of unitary and confederate governments. The term federalism could best be described as the power sharing relationship between the U.S. federal government and the individual state governments. The Constitution established a power sharing political system in which the federal government would enjoy significant, sometimes exclusive, power in some policy areas while the state governments would maintain significant control in other policy arenas. The Constitution gave the federal government specific enumerated powers deemed necessary for ensuring the security and prosperity of the young republic. In addition, the federal court identified several implied powers of the federal government that were not specifically enumerated in the Constitution. State governments were enshrined with reserved powers, constituting all other policy making powers not given specifically to the federal government or specifically denied to the states. The federal and state governments share concurrent powers involving policy areas of interest to both governments.
