Federalism is part of the U.S. Constitution

Source: Bill of Rights Institute

• Like separation of powers generally, federalism is a way to prevent abuse of power by government.
• Federalism is the division of power between the national government and the states.

Federalism is part of the U.S. Constitution

The Constitution was devised with an ingenious and intricate built-in system of checks and balances to guard the people’s liberty against combinations of government power.

National Center for Constitutional Studies: https://nccs.net/

Federalism is the result of history

That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States;

• Declaration of Indendepence

Federalism is the result of history

That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States;

• Declaration of Indendepence
• 13 free and independent states, plural
• Not one free and independent state, singular

Federalism is the result of history

• The Constitution combined 13 independent states into one nation.
• Every state had to agree.
• The Constitution gave specific powers to the national government and reserved all other powers to the states.

National Powers

• Constitution gave explicit powers to the federal government

Source: https://www.youtube.com/@CareyLaManna

Bill of Rights

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.

• 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution

Bill of Rights

State Powers

• States kept all powers not expressly given to the federal government
  
• Police powers were reserved by states to regulat most major issues like:

State Powers

• Assault, battery, kidnapping, almost all crimes of violence

State Powers

• fraud, robbery, trespassing, almost all crimes against property

State Powers

State Powers

Most laws relating to contracts, types of businesses, liability, and more

State Powers

State Powers

State Powers

Intrastate is within a single state’s borders

Authorship and License

• Author: Tom Hanna

• Website: tomhanna.me

• License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.