POLS - Ch.3

• Federal: system of government in whichseveral states form a unity but remain independent in internal affairs
• Federalism - the federal principle or system of government
• • Some responsibilities, such as international relations, clearly lie with the federal government
  • Others, such as divorce laws, are controlled by state governments
  • Most of the rules and regulations that Americans face in their daily lives are set by state and local governments
• unitary system: lower levels of government have little independent power and primarily just implement decisions made by the central government.
• U.S is the first to use federalism

  True or False?

  True
• The Constitution shapes American life through federalism, the division of powers and functions between a national government and lower levels of government, such as regions or states
• Nations with diverse ethnic, linguistic, or sectional groupings are likely to have federalism

  True or False?

  True
• unitary systems of government are much more common that federal system

  True or False?

  True
• State constitutions define local government structures and responsibilities, thus, local governments are subject to ultimate control by the state
• Federalism has determined which level of government does what and, through that, the politicaldevelopment of the countr
• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), which involved the question of whether Congress could charter a national bank
• Any state law conflicting with a federal law is invalid since the Constitution states that the Laws of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land.
• By 1932, 25 percent of the workforce was unemployed, and many people had lost their homes

  Elected in 1928, the year before the depression hit, President Herbert Hoover steadfastly maintained that the federal government could do little to alleviate the misery caused by the depression
• When Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in 1933, he energetically threw the federal government into the fight against the depression through a number of proposals known collectively as the New Deal.
• Franklin D Roosevelt

  He proposed a variety of temporary relief and work programs, most of them to be financed by the federal government but administered by the states.

  
  

  In addition, Roosevelt presided over the creation of several important federal programs designed to provide future economic security for Americans. The New Deal signaled the rise of a more active national government
• Who took office in 1933?

  Franklin D Roosevelt
• Grants-in-aid: Money provided on the condition that it be spent for a particular purpose defined by Congress
• Providing grants to the states for financial assistance to poor children would classify as grants in aid
• These types of federal grants-in-aid are called categorical grants, because the national government determines the purposes, or categories, for which the money can be used.
• Medicaid would classify as a categorical grant
• Medicaid program: which provides grants to pay for medical care for the poor, the disabled, and many nursing home residents
• Regulated federalism:which the national government began to set standards of conduct for the state
• Tenth Amendment: The Federal Government only has those powers delegated in the Constitution. If it isn't listed, it belongs to the states or to the people.
• The Supreme Court used the Tenth amendment to strike down the Civil Rights Act passed in 1875, which would have eliminated discrimination against African Americans in public accommodations and transportation.
• Devolution: transferring responsibility for policy from the federal government to states and localities
• New Federalism Deal began in the early 1970s job training, community development, and social services were consolidated into three large block grants
• Minnesota adopted an incentive-based approach that offers extra assistance to families that take low-wage jobs, while six other states imposed very strict time limits on receiving benefits, allowing welfare recipients less than the five-year benefits limit in the federal legislation
• After the passage of the 1996 law, welfare rolls declined dramatically—on average, by more than half from their peak in 1994.

  In 12 states the decline was 70 percent or higher
• Expressed powers: specific powers in the constitution that are granted to Congress and to the
• Implied powers: are not specifically expressed but are implied through expansive interpretation of delegated powers
• Reserved powers: powers not specifically delegated to the national government or denied to thestates