Federalism

one well used definition of politics is "who gets what, when, and where." That briefly describes the development of federalism as well. In this case, the "what" is power, the "where" is every where, and the "who" is the question that has been answered by years of development. The single most important factor in determining what exactly "who" means for modern American federalism was (and is) the Supreme Court.

The seeds of federalism were sown by King George VI in England. The Colonists were being oppressed by their government, so naturally when they seceded from Britain, they were sure to put a government that could not restrict their rights as Englishmen. This came in the form of the Articles of Confederation. The differences in the colonies created some dichotomizing differences in government and policies, so the Federal Government was limited, but this was the first step towards a unity that wasn’t unnecessarily oppressive. In 1787, The constitution was signed and implemented. If there is a single most important event for federali

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

11 attacks, the Supreme Court ruled that some aspects of the privacy acts are not always valid. In 1803 the Supreme Court case of Maybury vs. Maryland, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Government had supremacy over the states. The legislative branch legislates new laws in a careful, and just way, but it doesn’t make decisions on conflicts. During the civil right movement, Federal supremacy was questioned by the states. The principle that arose from this is called the elastic clause. Even today the Supreme Court is faced with revolutionary decisions. Many states opposed desegregation, but the National government did eventually win.

Another logical point is that the Congressional Legislative branch has had the most influence on the development of democracy.

Almost all of these monumental decisions were made by the Supreme court.

The writers of the constitution were worried that their beliefs and actions would be discriminated against by the new government, that’s why the constitution is so explicit in the way of what rights we do and do not have. The Government was given the right to implement what was necessary to exercise it’s other rights.

Approximate Word count = 720
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.