Federalism the Tenth Amendment of the U.S.

Federalism

The Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides that "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." (U.S. Constitution, Tenth Amendment) This is interpreted to mean that the states have implied powers in addition to the powers explicitly enumerated to them in the Constitution. (Gardbaum 1996, 1252) Thus, the Tenth operates as one of the only effective limits on the power of the Federal Government.

The Development of Federalism during the 20th Century.

Federal power has increased considerably during the 20th Century, in a number of areas. The Great Depression compelled aggressive action from the Federal Government in enacting public works programs to put people back to work. (Gardbaum 1996, 1252) Government funding not only created a fourth branch of government sometimes referred to as the Administrative Branch, but also gave new power to local governments through an alliance of the Federal and Local Governments against State Governments. (Gardbaum 1996, 1252)

Local control

After the New Deal, the Federal government shared power with Local governments in the implementation of New Deal programs. (Gardbaum 1996, 1252) The Federal Government gave grants which were executed by Municipal governments instead of State governments. (Gardbaum 1996, 1252) By doing so, the Federal Government gained power within the State through its control of the granted funds. Thus, Local governments became a sort of proxy for the Federal Government.

Devolution and the Republican Party's Contract With America

Devolution describes the steady relinquishment of power from the Federal Government back to State Governments. Instead of the Federal Government granting funds to Local Governments for the execution of specific programs and projects, the Federal Government started to give "block grants" to State Governments to spend on whatever they wished. (Yi 1995, 2) These "block grants" were not only a blank check with which to address the State's Needs, they also took away a valuable pretext upon which the Federal Government interfered with State Sovereignty. (Yi 1995, 2)

The trend Reagan started with Devolution was continued by the Republican Party's Contract with America. The Contract with America was a party-wide position paper issued during the 1994 elections by the GOP which promised the proposal of certain legislation if the GOP was elected to a majority. (Yi 1995, 4) The Contract with America paper was successful and the GOP achieved a majority in Congress, where they passed legislation giving block grants to states for law enforcement and welfare programs. (Yi 1995, 4-5) The Contract with America was important in reducing the power the Federal Government exerted through grants and put policymaking power back with the states. (Yi 1995, 5)

Federalism and Civil Rights