american politics and foreign policy american federalism prof. jaechun kim
TRANSCRIPT
American Politics and Foreign Policy
American Federalism
Prof. Jaechun Kim
Distinct Characteristics of American Political System
Division of power – territorial and functional divisions
entrenched tradition of “(classical) lib-eralism”
Why Federalism? – Historical Backdrop
* Declaration of Independence – 1776. 7. 4.
* Article of Confederation – 1781
The US under the Article of Confederation
Confederation of 13 independent states There was the central government, but the Congress was the
only governmental institution. No executive and judicial branches!
No power to levy taxes and to regulate intrastate commerce Similar to UN? The US was not a unified country… so to speak…
Federalism
Limits of Confederation
This system, effective enough?
Foreign Relations – Defense; Intl Trade Internal Relations – Intrastate Commerce; Local Dissi-
dents (Shay’s Rebellion); Border dispute between Mary-land and Virginia…
We need a stronger central government!!
The Annapolis Convention
Virginia Plan A two-chamber legislature, elected by the people, with
wide-ranging power
A strong executive, chosen by the legislature
A national judiciary, appointed by the legislature
New Jersey Plan A single-chamber legislature, with one vote for each state
and limited powers
A weak executive
A limited national judiciary
Connecticut Compromise The legislative branch would consist of two
chamber, the lower based on population and the upper having two members from each state bicameral system
Writing of Constitution 1787
Debate as to whether to ratify the Constitu-tion…
Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists Anti-federalists and Thomas Jefferson (3rd president
of the US) opposed the Constitution The Constitution is creating a national government
that is too powerful and oppressive…
* Case of Federalists Federalist Papers - 85 newspa-per articles written by John Jay, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton first United States Secretary of the Treasury and the Federalists
The new nation would not survive w/o a national government with sufficient power
Federalist paper 15, 16, 17 It is necessary to create a national government
that can act directly upon the citizens of states to regulate the common concerns of the nation
James Madison (4th president of the US) and the Federalists
The national government should have enough power to be effective but face restrictions that stop it from becoming tyrannical
These mechanisms are: Federalism Separation of Power; Checks and Balances
Federalist paper 47, 48, 51
Key to the ratification of constitu-tion and creation of a new, stronger government?
We will have means to limit the new cen-tral government… to persuade the skep-tics…
System of Checks and Balances (or Sepa-ration of Powers) and Federalism.
What is Federalism?
A system of government in which power is divided by a constitution between a central government and re-gional governments
What is the opposite concept of Federalism?
Unitary system - all the governing power is vested in the central government
Why did the US adopt Federalism?
States already existed as former colonies and, for nearly thirteen years, as autonomous units of confederacy. No states wanted to lose their autonomy…
The new central government could not rule the entire ter-ritory w/o delegating power and authority to the local governments.
It was a practical solutions!
By creating a second layer of state government, they wanted to limit the power of the central government! – a compromise between unitary system and confederacy…
cf. Europe – strong central government!!
Evolution of American Federalism
Two Views in Regard to the Federalism : Statists vs. Nationalists (Federalists)
Statists : Federal government was granted with power ex-
pressed only in the Constitution. The rights which are not specified in the Constitution are reserved to the states. Constitution is a contract by the states! Thomas Jefferson and John Calhoun.
Nationalists (Federalists) : Constitution was created for the people! Federal gov-
ernment does not speak for the local governments. It speaks for the people. John Marshall, A Lincoln, T & F Roosevelt.
Different Phases of American Federalism
* McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) Visit : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCulloch_v._Maryland State-Centered Federalism ( -- before the Civil War 1861) Before the Civil War, the state governments had upper hands…
* American Civil War
: We usually think of the Civil War simply as the fight to free the slaves, but also at the heart of the controversy that led to the Civil War was the issue of national government supremacy ver-sus the rights of the separate states
: The ultimate defeat of the South (Confederate States of Amer-ica) in 1865 permanently ended any idea that a state within the Union can successfully claim the right to secede, or withdraw, from the Union
: The Civil War resulted in an increase in the political power of the national government.
Dual Federalism (Civil War – New Deal) : The power of federal and local governments was about
equal…
: Emphasized a distinction between federal and state spheres of government authority.
: Layer Cake!
Cooperative Federalism (1930s and 1940s) : Great Depression and FDR's "New Deal" : States and the national government cooperate in solving
complex common problems. : Strengthened the Federal government : Marble Cake!
Creative Federalism or Regulated Federalism (1960s and early 1970s)
: Greater expansion of the national government's role in domestic policy. Why?
: Civil Rights Movement and Great Society.
New Federalism (Nixon, Reagan, Clinton? Bush) : Efforts to reverse the trend of regulated federalism -
give back usurped authority to the states!
• Devolution Revolution in 1994, 1995 - N. Gingrich’s ‘Contract with Amer-ica’
• The nature of A Federalism has changed and the power of Federal Gov-ernment has increased. But from the comparative perspective, the Ameri-can central government is a weak government.
• One of the salient features of President Bush's conservatism is his belief that the states, and not the federal government, should manage large so-cial programs, such as welfare. Mitt Romney is also running on this plat-form…
• A Return to Creative Federalism? (Obama)• Health care reform bill (2010. 3. 23) • Quantitative easing (QE 1, 2)
• It will depend on who will be the next president of the US…
• The essay questions!
• It may appear that the federal gov. predominates in the US. But that might be an exaggeration, for there are 87,900 separate governmental units in the US. See the following Table 3-1.