Government: principles of the Constitution (grade 12)
The Constitution rests on a few big principles that divide and limit power. Spotting which principle an example shows is how you read the news like a citizen.
Federalism
💡 Federalism divides power between the national government and the states, and valid federal law wins when the two clash.
The Constitution delegates some powers to the national government, such as coining money and declaring war. These are powers that make little sense for each state to handle alone. States handle many other things, like driver's licenses, marriage licenses, and running public schools.
The 10th Amendment says powers not delegated to the national government, and not denied to the states, are reserved to the states or the people. If the Constitution doesn't give a power to the nation, the states keep it.
But the Constitution also says federal law is 'the supreme Law of the Land.' In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), Maryland taxed a bank Congress had created. The Supreme Court ruled that Congress had the implied power to create the bank and that a state may not tax it.
- First ask: was this power given to the nation?
- federalism
- dividing power between the national and state governments
- reserved powers
- powers kept by the states
- supremacy
- federal law ranking above state law