From its early beginning in the minds of the Framers of the Constitution to its state today. The United States system of federalism has changed greatly through landmark court decisions, congressional decisions, and strong presidential influence. The next few paragraphs will go through the history of federalism in the United States.
The Federal System began when the Framers wrote the Constitution. The Constitution set up the basic outline of the federal system. This system divided the powers between the national government and the state governments. Also, it bound the individual states together under one national government. There were two very important court cases in early federalism. One was McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819. This case upheld the powers of the federal government. It also denied the states the right to tax the bank. This allowed later cases to uphold the expansive powers of the federal government. The other case was Gibbons v. Ogden in 1824, this ruling upheld broad congressional power over interstate commerce.
Soon after we moved into the era of dual federalism. Dual federalism is the belief that having separate and equally powerful levels of government is the best arrangement. One major leader during this era was Roger B. Tanney, who was the head of the Supreme Court. During this era, there was heated political debate on the issue of slavery. The Dred Scott v. Sanford decision in 1857, this was the first decision to take powers away from the national government. During this era, the Civil War occurred. Dual federalism lasted until the 1930s. .
After dual federalism came the era of cooperative federalism. Much of this came to be because of the Great Depression. The New Deal, proposed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1933, proposed a variety of new programs. The New Deal made up a period from 1933 to 1939 and was characterized by intense government activity on the national level. Through the New Deal, FDR, started the Federal Housing Association, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, and the National Recovery Administration.
