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Federalism


            According to most public opinion polls, many Americans believe that the federal .
             government is too big, both in the number of agencies it directs and in the scope of its .
             powers. Some people also think that the daily business of Capitol Hill has no effect on .
             their lives, in part because they believe that politicians "who live and work "inside the .
             beltway" "don't understand their problems. This dissatisfaction with Washington, D.C., .
             in recent years has renewed debate over the division of power between federal and state .
             and local governments. (CQ Researcher 92).
             Federalism, the sharing of power between the states and the national government .
             has been a major issue throughout U.S. history. When the federal government was .
             established by the U.S. Constitution in 1787, it only exercised limited or enumerated .
             powers, such as making treaties and printing money. The Tenth Amendment of the Bill of .
             Rights, ratified in 1791, clarified that all other powers belonged to the states: "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." Over the years, in .
             response to national crises, many of the government's powers "particularly those over .
             social programs " were centralized to the federal level. However, in recent years, an .
             increasing number of people on Capitol Hill and across the country want to "devolve," or .
             transfer, power from Washington, D.C., to state and local governments.
             Federalism has played a large role in our government since the time that the .
             Constitution was ratified. It originally gave the majority of the power to the states. As .
             time went on, the national government gained more and more power. It used the .
             "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution to validate its acts, and the Supreme .
             Court made decisions that strengthened the national government creating a more unified .


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