Before the Constitution was introduced, the federal government did not have any power over the states or the country. After Constitution was ratified, the power of the federal government has increased respectively to the power of the states. In the Constitution, there are several clauses and acts that helped expand the federal power over time. One of the clauses that helped the government was the Taxing and Spending Clause, located in Article I, Section 8. The clause allows the federal government to tax citizens of the United States. Under the Articles of Confederation, the government had no power to lay and collect taxes, and had to rely on the demands of the governments of the states. Seeing that Congress had no power to independently raise its revenues, they proposed the Taxing and Spending Clause. Even if the government had the power tax citizens, they did not use it to only raise revenue, but they also taxed to regulate the commerce, taxed to discourage or suppress the commerce, or set tariffs to protect domestic markets from foreign control. On the case of United States v. Butler, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress did not have the power to impose tax due to the Agricultural Adjustment Act and deemed it unconstitutional because it attempted to regulate state activity, thus violating the Tenth Amendment. Regardless of its ruling, the case declared that the government did, in fact, have a wider power to tax, but there were limitations. In another court case, South Dakota v. Dole, the Supreme Court declared that it was constitutional due to the fact that the states' highway funds were withheld if they did not raise their legal drinking age to 21 years old. This would bring more power to the federal government due to forc... ... middle of paper ... ...n, reserving them the right to shut down a facility or issue a fine if the company refuses to adhere to the regulations of the act. By the 1990s, the act was amended to ensure legal procedures to reduce the chances of acid rain. When Congress first started the Clean Air Act, it was what began the environmental movement, and is now considered one of the landmark pieces of legislation. As a result of these clauses and acts in the Constitution, the federal government has been able to expand and widen its power over the United States over time. When under the Article, government did not have the power to impose taxes or carry out federal law, whereas compared to when the Constitution was ratified, bringing a federal government that had power over its people, but with restrictions. Without these clauses and acts, the federal government would not become what it is today.
The states attempted to limit the power of the national government because they feared that it would become a monarchy. In an effort to limit the power of the national government, Congress created one without enough power to govern effectively, which led to serious national and international problems. One of the main weaknesses under the Articles of Confederation was its incapability to regulate trade and levy taxes. The states controlled all of their “cash flows.” Sometimes, the states were in debt because of tariff wars that they would engage in with one another.
The power to tax is key to a successful government. If a government is to act it needs the means to do so. The Articles withheld the power of taxation from Congress and gave it to the local governments. Congress could only appeal to the states for money. Unsurprisingly, the states did not respond with any of the requested money. This was a serious problem because the U.S. was in an incredible amount of debt as a result of the Revolutionary War. If money cannot be collected, how are debts to be paid? Some in Congress believed the problem could be solved by printing more money. However, this strategy only led to inflation, which weakened the economy furthe...
Under the Articles of Confederation each state had its own sovereignty. And the central government was to provide thing such as national security, treaties, courts, and currency. However the government could not tax. If the states didn't pay their bills to the government there was nothing the government could do about it. This is just one of many reasons why the Articles didn't work. In 1786 Virginia tried to get the Articles modified by holding a meeting known as the Annapolis Conference. This meeting failed because only five states sent delegates. A few months later another meeting was held in Philadelphia.
The United States Constitution and the Articles have several ever present difference that some considered to be too radical. In terms of levying taxes, the Articles Congress could request states to pay taxes while with the Constitution; the Congress has the right to levy taxes on individuals. The Articles government had no court system while the Constitution created a court system to deal with issues between citizens and states. The lack of provisions to regulate interstate trade the Articles possessed created large economic problems, leading into a depression in the mid 1780's. The Constitutional Congress has the right to regulate trade between states. The Constitution has a strong executive branch headed by our president who chooses cabinet and has checks on power of the other two branches; the Articles had no executive with power. The president merely presided over Congress. The Articles took almost 5 years to ratify due to the fact that 13/13 colonies needed to amend the Articles before it could go into affect, with the Constitution, 2/3 of both houses of Congress plus ¾ of the states legislatures or national convention had to approve. During the years under the Articles, foreign soldiers occupied US forts during our early years, we were unable to force them out due to the fact that Congress could not draft troops, and they depended on the states to contribute to the forces. Under the Constitution we have the ability to raise an army to deal with any sort of military situations. In terms of passing laws, under the Articles 9/13 states needed to approve legislation while under the Constitution, 50% plus 1 of both houses plus the signature of the president is needed to pass a law. The Articles had a huge problem when it came to state representation. Under the Articles every state only received one vote, regardless of its size, this hindered the power of the larger states. With the Constitution, the upper house (Senate) has 2 votes and the lower house (House of Representatives) is based on population. When two states had disputes the Articles had a complicated system of arbitration to go through before any resolution was reached, under the Constitution, the federal Court system handles disputes between states.
The Articles of Confederation was the United States first attempt at creating a democratic government. Instead of giving power to the central government they divided it up among the states (Kelly). This fact left the Articles with many weaknesses that ultimately led it to fail. The lack of a strong central government led to economic disorganization, no central leadership and an ineffective legislative, all which led to its downfall (Brackemyre). Leaving power to the states left the nation in a state of economic disorganization. Without the national government having the power to levy taxes, it was left with the states (Murphy). The legislature only had the right to request taxes, and it was left up to the states how they wanted to raise them, but they oftentimes weren't (Brackemyre). There was also no uniform system of currency which made trade between states difficult. The fact that states instead of Congress regulated trade led to a lack...
In my opinion, the relationship between the Federal government and the States is unclear whether which institution has the authority to implement legislations. The vagueness of the American constitution particularly in the 10th Amendment of the Constitution that quote ” The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The ambiguous of the American Constitution may be the main cause of the over power of Federal government.
Contrary to what I believed in the past, the United States federal government retained and expanded their power and authority during the years of the Civil war along with the period of Reconstruction. Through drafts and monitored elections, they exercised this power during the Civil War. Then, as Reconstruction began, they initiated other methods of increasing their authority over the citizens. Military was placed in Southern states, by the federal government, in order to keep control over the rebellious people. Not only that, but, the idea of putting the federal government in charge of Reconstruction and rebuilding an entire nation gave them an enormous amount of power. Finally, the creation of the 14th and 15th Amendment were two more big achievements on the part of the government.
The Constitution is important because it was expressly designed to limit powers into three co-ordinate branches, the legislative, executive, and judiciary branch; none of which was to have supremacy over the others. This separation of powers with the checks and balances which each branch was given over the others was designed to prevent any branch, from infringing individual liberties safeguarded by the Constitution. I think the U.S. Constitution was a way for the U.S. to establish government which was a negotiation between the two former governments, a monarchy and total state power. I think by creating the checks and balances, people’s rights would be safer and they would feel more secure not having one branch of government with absolute power. What I found most interesting about the Constitution was how complex and detailed the framers made it, to effectively explain and limit the individual branches of power in government. In the words of Thomas Paine, "a government without a constitution is power without right". Meaning that for power to be granted, it is necessary to establish a constitution.
Before the adoption of the United States Constitution, the U.S. was governed by the Articles of Confederation. These articles stated that almost every function of the government was chartered by the legislature known as Congress. There was no distinction between legislative or executive powers. This was a major shortcoming in how the United States was governed as many leaders became dissatisfied with how the government was structured by the Articles of Confederation. They felt that the government was too weak to effectively deal with the upcoming challenges. In 1787, an agreement was made by delegates at the Constitutional Convention that a national judiciary needed to be established. This agreement became known as The Constitution of the United States, which explicitly granted certain powers to each of the three branches of the federal government, while reserving other powers exclusively to the states or to the people as individuals. It is, in its own words, “the supreme Law of the Land” (Shmoop Editorial Team).
The Constitution that was created had a strong central government and weaker state governments. Under the Constitution, Congress was given the power to levy taxes, regulate trade between the states, raise an army, control interstate commerce, and more. A three-branch government was established in which a judicial branch handled disputes in a federal court system, a President headed an executive branch, and a legislative branch. Conversely, the anti-federalists believed in weak central and strong state governments, as the way it was in The Articles of Confederation and believed in strict adherence to the writings of the constitution.
The Articles left it in the states hands to tax it’s people and very few states complied with the agreement. Therefore, Congress had to fund a war and help run a nation without the necessary funding. It caused the central government to print “constitutional dollars” without the necessary backing of gold or silver. Matters were only made worse by not having a unilateral money system. Each state seemed to use its own type of currency which made trade between states and other countries extremely difficult. This caused an economic depression in America along with the lack of power to regulate trade. The new “Constitution” allowed the national government to tax and control trade between states and other nations which provided more balance in the nation’s
The American Revolution stirred political unity and motivated the need for change in the nation. Because many Americans fought for a more balanced government in the Revolutionary War, they initially created a weak national government that hampered the country's growth and expansion. In the Letter from Abigail Adams to Thomas Jefferson, Mrs. Adams complained about the inadequacy of power that the American government had to regulate domestic affairs. The Articles of Confederation was created to be weak because many had feared a similar governing experience that they had just eliminated with Britain. The alliance of states united the 13 local governments but lacked power to deal with important issues or to regulate diplomatic affairs. Congress did not have the power to tax, regulate trade, or draft people for war. This put the American citizens at stake because States had the power to refuse requests for taxes and troops (Document G). The weakened national government could not do anything about uprisings or small-scale protests because it did not have the power to put together an army. The deficiencies of the confederation government inspired the drafting of the American Constitution. The document itself embodied the principle of a national government prepared to deal with the nation's problems. In James Madison's Federalist Paper, he persuades the American public to adopt the Constitution so that the government can protect humans from their nature and keep them out of conflicts.
The EPA also monitors numerous other toxic pollutants in order to improve the health of United States citizens and ensure them that they live in a safe country. After the establishment of The EPA and Clean Air Act in 1990, the EPA has greatly helped in the amendment of The Clean Air Act in 1977. The 1977 amendment was created to further enforce NAAQSs and make them more easily attainable. (EPA, 2017) The act was amended again in 1990 once the EPA began to understand the dangers related to industrial pollution. The amendment set a goal of protecting the ozone layer, reducing acid rain as well as other related toxic pollutants, and improving air quality and visibility. In order to enforce the regulations created by congress, the EPA commonly becomes involved in law cases stating the regulations and punishments for businesses and individuals not following rules set forth by the Clean Air Act. (EPA,
The creators of the articles wanted states to be powerful and keep the federal government weak however it was too powerless and nothing would get done on the federal level. Another readily found problem was it required all states to amend the articles which was physically impossible when almost always there were not even delicates from all the states there to vote on an amendment. Which meant that when they found problems with the Articles of Confederation that they wanted to address they were unable to do so. Thirdly, the federal government was in extremely large debt from the war but they were not allowed to tax the citizens so they could not escape the debt. Without taxation their federal income was insubstantial. Strangely, all the states had their own money and currency. This meant you could be rich in one state but in another be in poverty with the same amount of one state’s cash. Lastly, there wasn’t any branch like today’s executive branch to enforce any federal laws so you could easily disobey their laws due to the fact you could not be prosecuted. This meant the little work the legislation was achieving was
Federalism is a legal concept that is centered around the concept that law is best handled as a two layered responsibility. Federalism is also built on a belief that sharing power with the local government is key to a successful governance. According to the text book, “the United States was the first nation to adopt federalism as its governing framework” (pg83). The following are a few examples of some advantages, as well as disadvantages of Federalism.