Ch. 20 Sec. 1 Dawn of the Industrial Age
HW Review
1a. Charles Townsend
b) Jethro Tull
c) Thomas Newcomen
d) James Watt
e) Abraham Darby
Vocab. p. 498
Caption, p. 499
Biography, p. 500
Sec. 2 Britain Leads the Way
Vocabulary p. 501
Map, p. 502
Impact of the Railroad, p. 503
Geography and History, p. 504
G. Mick Smith, PhD, Senior Educational Technology Executive: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmicksmith/
Friday, October 13, 2006
AP Gov't
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Objectives
The central purpose of the chapter is to introduce the student to some of the complexities of federal government in the United States—that is, one where both the national and state governments have powers independent of one another. After reading and reviewing the material in this chapter, the student should be able to do each of the following:
1. Explain the difference between federal and centralized systems of government, and give examples of each.
2. Show how competing political interests at the Constitutional Convention led to the adoption of a federal system that was not clearly defined.
3. Outline the ways in which national and state powers have been interpreted by the courts.
4. State the reasons why federal grants-in-aid to the states have been politically popular, and cite what have proven to be their pitfalls. Distinguish between categorical grants and block grants.
5. Distinguish between mandates and conditions of aid with respect to federal grant programs to states and localities. Discuss whether or to what extent federal grants to the states have created uniform national policies comparable to those of centralized governments.
6. Evaluate the effect of devolution on relationships between the national and state governments. Assess its implications for citizens as taxpayers and as clients of government programs.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Overview
States participate actively both in determining national policy and in administering national programs. Moreover, they reserve to themselves or to localities within them important powers over such public services as schooling and law enforcement, and such important public decisions as land use. In a unitary system, these powers are exercised by the national government.
How one evaluates federalism depends in large part on the value one attaches to the competing criteria of equality and participation. Federalism means that citizens living in different parts of the country will be treated differently. This applies not only to spending programs (such as welfare), but also to legal systems (where civil rights may be differentially protected or criminal sentencing may vary). Yet federalism also means that there are more opportunities to participate in the decision making. It allows people to influence what is taught in the schools, and to decide where highways and other government projects will be built. Indeed, differences in public policy—that is, unequal treatment—are largely the result of wider participation in decision making. It is difficult, perhaps even impossible, to have more of one of these values without having less of the other.
From the 1930s to the present, United States politics and public policy became decidedly more nationalized, with the federal government, and especially the federal courts, imposing increasingly uniform standards on the states. These usually took the form of mandates and conditions of aid. Efforts begun in the 1960s and 1970s to reverse this trend by shifting to revenue sharing and block grants were only partially successful. In the mid-1990s, the Supreme Court began to review the doctrine of state sovereignty and the effort to devolve power from Washington to the states gained momentum. But whether these developments will effect significant and lasting changes in federalism remains to be seen.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Chapter Outline with Keyed-in Resources
I. Governmental structure
A. Introduction
1. Federalism: a political system with local government units, as well as a national government, that can make final decisions regarding some governmental activities and whose existence is protected
a) Local governments are able to make decisions on at least some matters without regard to the preferences of the national government
b) Examples of federal governments: United States, Canada, India, Germany, Switzerland, Australia
2. Unitary government:
a) All local governments are subservient to the national government
b) Local governments can be altered or abolished by the national government
c) Local governments have no final authority over any significant government activities
d) Examples of unitary governments: France, Britain, Italy, Sweden
3. Special protection of subnational governments in federal system due to:
a) Constitution of country
b) Habits, preferences, and dispositions of citizens
c) Distribution of political power in society
4. National government largely does not govern individuals directly, but gets states to do so in keeping with national policy
B. Federalism: Good or Bad?
1. Negative views: federalism blocks progress and protects powerful local interests
a) Laski: the states are “parasitic and poisonous”
b) Riker: federalism facilitated the perpetuation of racism
2. Positive view―Elazar: federalism contributes to governmental strength, political flexibility, and fosters individual liberty
3. Federalism has good and bad effects
a) Different political groups with different political purposes come to power in different places
b) Federalist No. 10: small political units are more likely to be dominated by single political faction―which allows all relevant interests to be heard, somewhere
C. Increased political activity
1. Most obvious effect of federalism: it facilitates political mobilization
2. Federalism decentralizes authority, lowering the cost of political organization at the local level
II. The Founding
A. A bold, new plan to protect personal liberty
1. Founders believed that neither national nor state government would have authority over the other since power comes from the people, who shift their support to keep the two in balance.
2. New plan had no historical precedent
3. Tenth Amendment was added as an afterthought to clarify the limits of the national government’s power
4. Tenth Amendment has had limited applicability, but has recently been used by the Supreme Court to give new life to state sovereignty
B. Elastic language in Article I: necessary and proper clause
1. Precise definitions of powers are politically impossible due to competing interests, e.g., commerce
2. Hamilton’s view: national supremacy since the Constitution was the supreme law of the land
3. Jefferson’s view: states’ rights with the people as ultimate sovereign; the national government was likely to be the principal threat to individuals’ liberties
III. The debate on the meaning of federalism (THEME A: WHO GOVERNS WHAT? FEDERALISM AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW)
A. The Supreme Court speaks
1. Hamiltonian position espoused by Chief Justice John Marshall
2. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) settled two questions
a) Could Congress charter a national bank? Yes, even though this power is not explicitly in the Constitution because of the “necessary and proper” (elastic) clause.
b) Could states tax such a federal bank? No, because national powers were supreme and therefore immune to state challenge.
3. Later battles related to federal taxes on state and local bond interest
B. “Nullification”: states had the right to declare null and void a federal law that they believed violated the Constitution
1. Authors: James Madison (Virginia Resolutions), Thomas Jefferson (Tennessee Resolutions), and John Calhoun
2. Question settled by the civil war: the federal union was indissoluble and states cannot nullify federal law; position was later confirmed by the Supreme Court
C. Dual federalism: both national and state governments are supreme in their own spheres, which should be kept separate
1. Example: interstate vs. intrastate commerce
a) Early product-based distinctions were unsatisfactory
b) Still, the Supreme Court does seek some distinction between what is national and what is local, though it is not entirely consistent in its support of state sovereignty
2. Doctrine of dual federalism still is argued, however―and sometimes successfully
D. State sovereignty
1. Supreme Court has strengthened states’ rights in several recent cases
a) U.S. v. Lopez (1995), guns in schools
b) U.S. v. Morrison (2000), overturned Violence Against Women Act of 1994, stating that attacks against women do not substantially affect interstate commerce
c) Printz v. U.S. (1997), background checks on gun purchasers
2. Supreme Court has also strengthened the Eleventh Amendment, protecting states from suits by citizens of other states or foreign nations
a) Alden v. Maine (1999), compliance with federal fair labor laws
b) Federal Maritime Commission v. South Carolina Ports Authority (2002), states did not agree to become mere appendages of national government
3. But not all recent decisions have supported state sovereignty
4. State can do what is not prohibited by the Constitution or preempted by federal policy, and that is consistent with its own constitution
a) Police power
b) State governments also responsible for public education, law enforcement and criminal justice, health and hospitals, roads and highways, public welfare, and use of public lands
5. States’ constitutions may provide for direct democracy
a) State constitutions more detailed about many matters, and thus view of government is more expansive
b) Initiative
c) Referendum
d) Recall
6. Protections for the states in the Constitution
a) No state can be divided without its consent.
b) Two Senators for every state
c) Every state assured of a republican form of government
d) Powers not granted to Congress are reserved to the states
7. Cities, towns, and counties have no such protections.
a) They exist at the pleasure of the state government, so there is no struggle over sovereignty (Dillon’s Rule)
b) See the Politically Speaking box, The Terms of Local Governance
IV. Federal-state relations (THEME B: WHO GOVERNS NOW? THE CONTEMPORARY POLITICS OF FEDERALISM)
A. What Washington legally may do is not the same as what politics may require
B. Grants-in-aid
1. Grants show how political realities modify legal authority
2. Began before Constitution with land and cash grants to states
3. Dramatically increased in scope in twentieth century
4. Prevailing constitutional interpretation until late 1930s was that the federal government could not spend money for purposes not authorized by the Constitution—grants were a way around this
5. Grants were attractive to state officials for various reasons.
a) Federal budget surpluses (nineteenth and early twentieth centuries)
b) Federal income tax increased revenues
c) Federal control of money supply
d) Appeared as “free” money for state officials, who did not have to be responsible for federal taxation
6. Required broad congressional coalitions with wide dispersion of funds, because every state had an incentive to seek grant money (example: post-9/11 “fair-share” security funding formulas)
C. Meeting national needs
1. 1960s shift in grants-in-aid
a) From what states demanded…
b) …To what federal officials considered important as national needs
c) Meanwhile, state and local governments had become dependent on federal funds
d) Washington’s grants to state and local governments has reached new highs since 2000
D. The intergovernmental lobby
1. Hundreds of state and local officials lobby in Washington
2. The Big 7
a) U.S. Conference of Mayors
b) National Governors Association
c) National Association of Counties
d) National League of Cities
e) Council of State Governments
f) International City/County Management Association
g) National Conference of State Legislatures
3. Purpose: to get more federal money with fewer strings
4. Since1980, their success has been more checkered
E. Categorical grants versus revenue sharing
1. Categorical grants are for specific purposes defined by federal law; they often require local matching funds
2. Block grants (sometimes called special revenue sharing or broad-based aid) were devoted to general purposes with few restrictions—states preferred block to categorical grants
3. Revenue sharing (sometimes called general revenue sharing) requires no matching funds and could be spent on almost any governmental purpose
a) Distributed by statistical formula
b) Ended in 1986, after fourteen years
4. Neither block grants nor revenue sharing achieved the goal of giving the states more freedom in spending
a) Did not grow as fast as categorical grants
b) Number of strings increased, even on these programs
5. New block grant programs were created for low-income housing, pre-school education and other programs from 2001-2003; these programs were cut or frozen by 2004 due to drops in state government revenues
6. Block grants grew more slowly than categorical grants because of the differences between the political coalitions that supported each
a) Federal officials, liberal interest groups, organized labor tend to distrust state government; categorical grants give the national government more power
b) No single interest group has a vital stake in multipurpose block grants, revenue sharing
c) Categorical grants are matters of life or death for various state agencies
d) Supervising committees in Congress favored growth of categorical grants
e) Revenue sharing was wasteful because it was so widely distributed that it did not reach those with greater need in sufficient amounts
F. Rivalry among the states
1. Intense debate regarding whether the federal government is helping some regions at the expense of others
2. Snowbelt (Frostbelt) versus Sunbelt states: debate focuses on allocation formulas written into federal laws
3. Difficulty telling where funds are actually spent and their effect, though
4. With numerous grants distributed on the basis of population, the census takes on monumental importance
V. Federal aid and federal control
A. Federal controls on state governmental activities
1. Conditions of aid: tells state governments what they must do if they wish to receive grant money; traditional control
2. Mandates: tells state governments what they must do
B. Mandates
1. Mandates: federal rules that states or localities must obey, generally have little or nothing to do with federal aid
a) Civil rights
b) Environmental protection
2. May be difficult to implement and/or be costly
3. Mandates may also make it difficult for state/local governments to raise revenues, borrow funds, and privatize public functions; some may expose them to financial liability
4. Controversial mandates may result from court decisions (example, state prisons, school desegregation plans)
C. Conditions of aid
1. Attached to grants
2. Conditions range from specific (apply to particular programs) to general (cover all or most grants)
3. Divergent views of states and federal government on costs and benefits of these conditions; each side attempts to bargain to pass on most of the cost to the other sides
4. President Reagan attempted to cut back both federal money and conditions of aid; after a bump in the early 1990s, this was continued in the mid-1990s
VI. A devolution revolution? Focus on the 104th Congress (1995–1996)
A. Devolution initiatives returned program management to the states, with some federal guidelines, but no guarantee of federal support
B. Block grants for entitlements
1. AFDC and Medicaid had operated as entitlements—federal funds a fixed proportion of state spending on these programs
2. Republicans in 104th Congress proposed making these and other programs block grants
3. AFDC did actually become a block grant
4. Devolution became part of the national political agenda
5. Some evidence that devolution in welfare programs continued from states to localities, localities to non-profit and private organizations
C. What’s driving devolution?
1. Devolution proponents harbor a deep-seated ideological mistrust of federal government and believe that state governments were more responsive to the people
2. Deficit politics encouraged devolution
a) Major cuts sought in entitlement spending
b) In return, governors were given more power and flexibility to implement program
3. Devolution supported by public opinion—though strength of support uncertain
4. See the What Would You Do? exercise, Abortion Funding.
VII. Congress and Federalism—politics remains local
1. Congress members represent conflicting constituencies—won’t always agree with governors and mayors
2. Parties once linked legislators to local groups—their erosion increases political competition.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Important Terms
*block grants
Grants of money from the national government that states can spend within broad guidelines determined by Washington.
*conditions of aid
Terms set by the national government that states must meet if they are to receive certain federal funds.
*devolution
The effort to transfer responsibility for many public programs and services from the federal government to the states.
*dual federalism
A constitutional theory that the national government and the state government each have defined areas of authority.
*grants-in-aid
Money given by the national government to the states.
*initiative
Process that permits voters to put legislative measures directly on the ballot.
*mandates
Terms set by the national government that states must meet whether or not they accept federal grants.
*necessary and proper clause
Section of the Constitution allowing Congress to pass all laws “necessary and proper” to its duties, and which has permitted Congress to exercise powers not specifically given to it (enumerated) by the Constitution.
*nullification
The doctrine that a state can declare null and void a federal law that, in the state’s opinion, violates the Constitution.
*police power
The power of a government to effect laws that promote citizens’ health, safety, and morals.
*recall
Procedure whereby voters can remove an elected official from office.
*referendum
Procedure enabling voters to reject a measure passed by the legislature.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Theme A: Who Governs what? Federalism and The Constitution
Instructor Resources
John Calhoun, A Disquisition on Government. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2003.
Frederick D. Drake and Lynn R. Nelson, eds., States’ Rights and American Federalism: A Documentary History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999.
Kermit L. Hall, A Nation of States: Federalism at the Bar of the Supreme Court. New York: Garland Publishers, 2000.
John P. Kaminski and Richard Leffler, Federalists and Antifederalists: The Debate Over the Ratification of the Constitution, Madison, WI: Madison House Publishers, 1989.
Forrest McDonald, States’ Rights and the Union: Imperium in Imperio, 1776–1876. Lawrence, KS: The University Press of Kansas, 2000.
Michael E. Solimine and James L. Walker, Respecting State Courts: The Inevitability of Judicial Federalism. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000.
Carl E. Van Horn, The State of the States, 3rd ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 1996.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Theme A: Who Governs what? Federalism and The Constitution
Summary
The Founders disagreed over the exact division of powers in a federal system. Hamilton argued for national supremacy, Jefferson for states’ rights. The Tenth Amendment spelled out what was assumed from the outset: that the federal government would have only those powers given to it by the Constitution. On the other hand the elastic language of Article I—the “necessary and proper” clause—provided a basis for arguing that the federal government had much broader powers. “The rules” about who governs what, were not clear from the start.
The Supreme Court became the arbiter of this dispute. Chief Justice John Marshall supported the Hamiltonian position, and in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) the court held not only that the Congress had the right to set up a bank, but also that such an enterprise was immune to state taxation. After the Civil War, conflict focused on the commerce clause and the power of the federal government to regulate commerce. At first the Court distinguished between interstate commerce, which the federal government could regulate, and intrastate commerce, which it could not. Practical difficulties in distinguishing one from the other led the Court, by the 1940s, to hold that the federal government could regulate virtually any economic transaction it wanted to regulate.
The Supreme Court’s struggles with defining the scope of federal power were influenced largely by economic theory. Under the laissez-faire beliefs that dominated nineteenth-century United States politics, the government was to remain neutral toward the economy and not become involved in its management. The court infused this concept into its decisions on federalism by striking down most government efforts to intervene in the economy. The Great Depression of 1929 compelled the federal government under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal to take steps to alleviate the people’s misery, but the justices consistently voided most such legislation as exceeding federal authority. An exasperated President Roosevelt, upon reelection in 1936, sought to increase the membership on the Supreme Court by “packing” it with justices who favored his perspective on federalism. While the court-packing plan failed, one justice altered his view and began to uphold an expanded federal role in the economy. This has been described as the “switch in time that saved nine.” Recently, however, the Supreme Court has placed some limitations on the ability of the federal government to legislate requirements for the states. In both U.S. v. Lopez (1995) and Printz v. U.S. (1997), the Supreme Court ruled that the Congress has over-extended the commerce clause in its regulations on gun ownership. In addition to these rulings on the tenth amendment, the Court has also protected state sovereignty through the eleventh amendment, protecting states against suits by citizens of other states or countries. These cases represent a significant development in the Court’s thinking about state sovereignty. However, their significance should not be over-stated: Though the states are protected by the Constitution, Congress can still legislate extensively and broadly on domestic policy.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Theme A: Who Governs what? Federalism and The Constitution
Discussion Questions
1. Historically, power has flowed to the central government. What reasons exist for the states to continue exercising independent power? Given the Supreme Court’s decision in McCulloch, what prevents the central government from assuming legal authority over any area of public policy?
2. Why doesn’t the federal government always intervene when states defy its authority?
3. Certain areas in Nevada permit prostitution; nine states have legalized the use of marijuana for “medical purposes”; Massachusetts has legalized same-sex marriage. Could the federal government legally intervene to forbid such practices in these states? Explain why or why not.
4. It would be possible to write a constitution that specified national, state, and even local spheres of governing much more clearly than the U.S. Constitution does. What might such a document look like? What would be its advantages? What would be its disadvantages?
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Theme B: who governs now? The contemporary Politics of Federalism
Instructor Resources
Timothy J. Conlan, From New Federalism to Devolution: Twenty-five Years of Intergovernmental Reform. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1998.
Daniel J. Elazar, American Federalism: A View from the States. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1966.
Michael S. Greve, Defining Federalism’s Future: The Role of the Courts, Congress, and the Voters. Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, 1999.
Vincent Ostrom, The Meaning of American Federalism. Institute for Contemporary Studies, 1999.
Paul E. Peterson, The Price of Federalism. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1995.
Paul L. Posner, Barry Rabe, and John Tierney, eds., The Politics of Unfunded Mandates: Whither Federalism? Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1999.
David Bradstreet Walker, The Rebirth of Federalism: Slouching Toward Washington, 2nd ed. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers, 2000.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Theme B: who governs now? The contemporary Politics of Federalism
Summary
The political dynamics of federalism have changed over the years. In the 20th century, the balance between state and federal power has clearly tipped in favor of the national government. As early as the 1960s, Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois warned that soon “the only people interested in state boundaries will be Rand-McNally.” This concern exaggerated the extent to which the federal government is capable of invading local prerogatives. The reason is that the constitutional structure forces members of Congress to remain focused on local issues—if only to achieve reelection.
The shift to national control began in the late nineteenth century, but it was not until the growth of grant-in-aid programs during the 1960s that the symmetry of authority—the key to federalism—became relatively one-sided. As state and local governmental budgets became increasingly dependent on federal resources, the intergovernmental lobby, in which local officials set up offices in Washington to compete for federal money, developed. The rivalry between states intensified when Congress began to loosen the strings of categorical grants and replace them with block grants based on distributional formulas.
The absence of federal strings and the greater leeway in spending federal funds did not produce a corresponding increase in the freedom of local officials. First, creeping categorization occurred as the federal government began to disapprove of the way block grants were utilized. Its response was to impose more restrictions on block grants. Second, categorical grants spawned state agencies and interest groups that relied on such grants for their survival. Since these groups were frequently successful in convincing congressional committees to preserve a particular grant from being merged into a larger block grant program, the result was to limit the overall number of block grants. And third, the ideological dimension of federalism became more prominent. Liberals, Democrats, and minority groups preferred to continue the practice of prescribing national standards as an antidote to the prejudices of local officials. Conservatives, Republicans, and business leaders preferred to transfer decision-making to the local level to avoid the inflexibility of national regulations. Thus in the 1980s and early 1990s stalemate developed as a Democratic Congress pushed in one direction while Republican administrations pushed in the other.
But slowly the pendulum has begun to swing back toward greater state authority. Two trends have catalyzed change. First, many states have become frustrated by federal meddling in local affairs. In 1993, for example, the state of Hawaii refused to fly the American flag for an entire weekend as a sign of protest, and an active movement on behalf of secession emerged. Second, local governments are not what they were. The level of professionalism has improved and states are again serving as experimental grounds for new programs. Policy innovation is no longer a federal monopoly. This was particularly evident in the welfare reform efforts of 1994 through 1996, when Congress effectively acted on the recommendations of state governors. In short, the politics of federalism has entered a new era, though it is not yet certain that devolution will result in more effective programs or a more responsive government.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Theme B: who governs now? The contemporary Politics of Federalism
Discussion Questions
1. Does the system of grants-in-aid upset the balance of federalism? Do grant programs enable Congress to do what it pleases by bribing states into compliance? Or do these programs merely increase the likelihood of national policy uniformity? What would be the consequence if a state refused federal grant money?
2. To what extent have interest groups produced grants-in-aid, and to what extent have grants-in-aid produced interest groups? Who constitutes the intergovernmental lobby?
3. How and why do conservatives and liberals differ over giving aid to the states without conditions?
4. Why can’t federal agencies attack complex problems by producing and implementing a coherent systematic policy? Why don’t (can’t) federal bureaucrats issue orders where necessary?
5. Does the recent push toward devolution give the states too much power?
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Multiple Choice questions
Ans: E
Page: 49-50
Type: Factual
1. Woodrow Wilson held that the question of the relationship between the national and state governments
a. was complex, but relatively unimportant.
b. was to be decided, ultimately, by Congress.
c. was decided by the Framers at the Constitutional Convention.
d. could not be decided until the War Between the States.
e. could not be answered by a single generation.
Ans: D
Page: 50
Type: Factual
2. The concept of separate, sovereign national and state governments is known as
a. nationalism.
b. democracy.
c. confederation.
d. federalism.
e. unicameralism.
Ans: B
Page: 50
Type: Factual
3. Which of the following countries does not have a federal system of government?
a. the United States
b. Great Britain
c. Canada
d. Germany
e. Australia
Ans: C
Page: 50
Type: Factual
4. Which of the following allows national governments the right to alter or even abolish local government?
a. A constitutional government
b. Federalism
c. A unitary system
d. Socialism
e. A confederation
Ans: A
Page: 50
Type: Conceptual
5. Ukraine, formerly one of the Soviet republics, had its own local unit of government, yet the Soviet Union was not considered a federal system. This is because, in the former Soviet Union,
a. local governments were not independent of the central government.
b. local government officials were not elected democratically.
c. the central government did not have a constitution.
d. central government officials were appointed by local governments.
e. local governments administered their own laws and ordinances.
Ans: C
Page: 50
Type: Factual
6. One of the reasons that our local governments are independent of the national government is
a. Article III of the U.S. Constitution.
b. the power of free elections.
c. the commitment of Americans to the ideal of local government.
d. the fact that the local tax structure requires local administration.
e. the Fourteenth Amendment.
Ans: C
Page: 49
Type: Factual
7. At a time when other Western nations were debating whether government ought to provide pensions or regulate business, the question in the United States was
a. how government could reduce its social commitments.
b. whether state or local government was better equipped for such tasks.
c. whether the national government had the right to do these things.
d. what tradeoffs would have to be made.
e. if government was capable of performing in an efficient manner while managing the economy.
Ans: E
Page: 50
Type: Conceptual
8. In the United States, programs such as the interstate highway system and services to the unemployed are most accurately considered
a. state functions that operate without any involvement on the part of the federal government.
b. federal functions, although state governments pay some of the costs.
c. state functions which are designated under the Tenth Amendment.
d. federal functions that operate without any involvement on the part of state governments.
e. state functions, although the federal government seeks to regulate them.
Ans: D
Page: 50
Type: Conceptual
9. Which of the following systems of government would be most likely to appeal to those in the United States who wish to implement liberal policies in the nation but who encounter resistance from conservative state legislatures?
a. Confederal
b. Federal
c. Republican
d. Unitary
e. Provincial
Ans: C
Page: 51
Type: Conceptual
10. An interest group with a strong following in only one region of the country would have the best chance to achieve its goals under what type of system?
a. Democratic
b. Republican
c. Federal
d. Unitary
e. Provincial
Ans: A
Page: 50
Type: Conceptual
11. A unitary form of government is most likely to appear preferable in the view of
a. liberal U.S. senators facing conservative state legislatures.
b. governors wishing for more control over their states’ budgets.
c. mayors seeking funding for urban problems.
d. taxpayers seeking relief from federal income taxes.
e. school officials who oppose Supreme Court rulings.
Ans: C
Page: 51
Type: Conceptual
12. Under a unitary system of government, which of the following political outcomes would be highly unlikely?
a. A group of farmers staging a massive demonstration by parking their trucks at the capitol
b. Terrorists holding a city hostage with the threat of a nuclear detonation
c. Senators from a particular region of the country blocking the passage of major civil rights legislation
d. The national government sending troops into a region of the country that is threatening to secede
e. The national government raising taxes
Ans: A
Page: 51
Type: Conceptual
13. The cost of political participation to the average U.S. citizen is less than that to the average French citizen because, in the United States,
a. more small, political constituencies are found than in France.
b. the media give greater coverage to political protest than in France.
c. fewer citizens become involved in political causes than in France.
d. political participation is both protected and encouraged by the U.S. Constitution.
e. political debates are given more media attention in the United States.
Ans: E
Page: 52
Type: Factual
14. Perhaps the most obvious effect of federalism in the United States has been to
a. centralize the government.
b. prevent states from blocking national interests.
c. increase conflict among elites.
d. raise the cost of organized political activity.
e. mobilize political activity.
Ans: A
Page: 52
Type: Factual
15. For the Founders, federalism was a device to
a. protect liberty.
b. provide efficient local administration.
c. encourage citizen participation.
d. guarantee equality.
e. protect against foreign invasion.
Ans: A
Page: 52
Type: Conceptual
16. The government in the South during the Civil War was called a confederacy. A true confederacy differs from the federalist system of the United States in that it
a. grants more sovereignty to the individual states.
b. permits state governments to do only what the central government allows.
c. is legally and politically independent of any other government.
d. gives local units of government a specially protected existence.
e. places states in a subservient manner in relation to matters of interstate commerce.
Ans: D
Page: 52
Type: Factual
17. Madison’s description of federalism in Federalist 46 suggests there should be little concern over conflicts between the federal and state governments because
a. the federal government would clearly be the winner in such conflicts.
b. the state government would clearly be the winner in such conflicts.
c. such conflicts would occur only on minor issues of importance.
d. they are different agents with different powers.
e. the judicial branch would settle such disputes.
Ans: C
Page: 53
Type: Conceptual
18. Which of the following statements about the federal system adopted at the Constitutional Convention is most accurate?
a. It had been tried without success in other countries.
b. It was adopted as an alternative to a confederate system, in which local governments are granted a specially protected existence.
c. It granted supreme authority to neither national nor state government.
d. It specifically reserved powers not delegated to the United States by the U.S. Constitution to the states.
e. It guaranteed the dominance of the states for several hundred years.
Ans: C
Page: 53
Type: Factual
19. The Founders did not include in the U.S. Constitution an explicit statement of state powers but added it later in the
a. Second Amendment.
b. Seventh Amendment.
c. Tenth Amendment.
d. Fourteenth Amendment.
e. None of the above.
Ans: E
Page: 53
Type: Factual
20. The reason a statement specific to state powers was not part of the original U.S. Constitution was that
a. no such consensus existed at the Constitutional Convention.
b. it was deleted under the Virginia Plan.
c. New York delegates refused to allow discussion on the matter.
d. the U.S. Constitution would not have been ratified.
e. it was assumed to be obvious.
Ans: A
Page: 53-54
Type: Factual
21. Just what sort of commerce Congress could regulate between the states was not spelled out in the U.S. Constitution because
a. no consensus existed.
b. of an oversight.
c. commerce was a new phenomenon.
d. slavery was involved.
e. New York delegates refused to allow discussion on the matter.
Ans: B
Page: 54
Type: Factual
22. In Federalist 45, Madison describes the powers of state governments as
a. broad but limited.
b. numerous and indefinite.
c. narrow but critical.
d. limited and subject to review.
e. without substance.
Ans: C
Page: 54
Type: Conceptual
23. Which statement best summarizes Madison’s view of federalism?
a. He was a consistent supporter of the notion of a supreme national government.
b. He was a consistent supporter of the notion of the supremacy of state governments.
c. He was first an ardent supporter of national supremacy, then of state’s rights.
d. He was first an ardent supporter of state’s rights, then of national supremacy.
e. He assumed the national government would be supreme except in times of war.
Ans: A
Page: 54
Type: Conceptual
24. Applying the principles of Thomas Jefferson to current political issues would probably dispose one to
a. favor the decentralization of government power.
b. oppose the decentralization of government power.
c. favor seven-year terms for presidents.
d. oppose seven-year terms for presidents.
e. favor a more powerful bureaucracy.
Ans: C
Page: 54
Type: Conceptual
25. The Civil War settled one part of the issue of national supremacy versus states’ rights, namely, that
a. state governments are supreme over the national government.
b. the national government derives its sovereignty from the states.
c. the national government derives its sovereignty from the people.
d. the national government derives its sovereignty from both the people and the states.
e. state governments derived their power from each other.
Ans: C
Page: 55
Type: Factual
26. The early chief justice whose decisions generally gave the broadest possible sweep to federal powers was
a. Roger Taney.
b. Frederick Vinson.
c. John Marshall.
d. Alexander Hamilton.
e. John Harlan.
Ans: C
Page: 56
Type: Factual
27. The McCulloch v. Maryland decision established
a. judicial review by the Supreme Court.
b. state sovereignty in interstate commerce.
c. national government supremacy over the states.
d. the legality of the slave trade.
e. All of the above.
Ans: B
Page: 55-56
Type: Conceptual
28. In McCulloch v. Maryland, if the Supreme Court reached the opposite conclusion on the right of Congress to charter a bank, the bank would have been
a. taken over by the state of Maryland.
b. declared unconstitutional.
c. taken over by the federal government.
d. taken over by the federal judiciary.
e. established in each of the states.
Ans: B
Page: 56
Type: Conceptual
29. The basic assumption of Marshall’s opinion in the McCulloch case was that the Constitution
a. was established by the states.
b. was established by the people.
c. was established by Congress.
d. clearly established state superiority.
e. did not allow Congress to create a national bank.
Ans: E
Page: 56
Type: Conceptual
30. An important outcome of Marshall’s ruling in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) was to
a. place limits on the constitutional powers granted to Congress by refusing McCulloch's appeal.
b. give greater power to the states in taxing agents of the federal government, including banks.
c. protect newspaper editors who publish stories critical of the federal government.
d. restrict the power of the Court in cases involving conflicts between states and the federal government.
e. confirm the supremacy of the federal government in the exercise of the constitutional powers granted to Congress.
Ans: D
Page: 56
Type: Factual
31. During the battle over slavery, the case for nullification was forcefully presented by
a. William Jennings Randolph.
b. Robert E. Lee.
c. William Graham Sumner.
d. John C. Calhoun.
e. J.E.B. Stuart.
Ans: B
Page: 56
Type: Factual
32. The doctrine of nullification refers to
a. the power of Congress to veto state laws that violate the U.S. Constitution.
b. the claimed authority of the states to declare a federal law void for violating the U.S. Constitution.
c. the power of the president to veto state laws for violating the U.S. Constitution.
d. the authority of the president to dissolve Congress and to call for new elections.
e. the power of the federal government to invalidate state laws on matters of commerce.
Ans: A
Page: 57
Type: Factual
33. The doctrine of dual federalism grew out of a protracted debate on the subject of
a. commerce.
b. banking.
c. manufacturing.
d. welfare.
e. licensing of commercial fishermen.
Ans: B
Page: 57
Type: Factual
34. Most forms of economic activity are now included under
a. First Amendment freedoms.
b. interstate commerce.
c. the doctrine of implied powers.
d. the reserved powers of the states.
e. compact theory.
Ans: A
Page: 58
Type: Factual
35. According to the text, the Supreme Court has generally excluded ________ from many of the restrictions addressed in commerce clause cases.
a. baseball players
b. lawyers
c. janitors
d. window washers
e. farmers
Ans: A
Page: 58
Type: Factual
36. The interstate commerce that the federal government can regulate is now interpreted to include
a. almost any kind of economic activity.
b. only the movement of goods between states.
c. almost any commerce in goods, but not labor transactions.
d. commerce between states and a handful of transactions within states.
e. shipping and handling, but not production.
Ans: A
Page: 58
Type: Factual
37. The text concludes that it would be a mistake to conclude that the doctrine of dual federalism is
a. entirely dead.
b. alive and well.
c. much changed.
d. no longer a threat.
e. an empirical reality.
Ans: C
Page: 58
Type: Factual
38. By ruling that the government cannot require local police to conduct background checks on all gun purchases, the Court held that to do so would be a violation of the __________ Amendment.
a. Fifth
b. Sixth
c. Tenth
d. Fourteenth
e. None of the above.
Ans: E
Page: 59
Type: Factual
39. Under their police powers, states can enact and enforce all of the following except:
a. Criminal codes
b. Laws requiring children to attend school
c. Restrictions on the availability of pornographic materials
d. Standards for DUI convictions
e. The regulation of interstate commerce
Ans: B
Page: 59
Type: Factual
40. This is a procedure that enables voters to reject a measure adopted by the legislature.
a. Initiative
b. Referendum
c. Recall
d. Logrolling
e. Rrollback
Ans: C
Page: 59
Type: Factual
41. This procedure in effect in about one-third of the states permits voters to remove an elected official from office.
a. Initiative
b. Referendum
c. Recall
d. Logrolling
e. Rollback
Ans: C
Page: 60
Type: Factual
42. The Tidelands oil reserves case was an example of the national government’s deciding that
a. state governments were asserting too much independence.
b. local governments needed help that state governments could not provide.
c. it was better to cede to the states a power that legally belonged to Washington.
d. too many conditions had been attached to a well-meant program of aid.
e. the federal government was no longer in the business of regulating interstate commerce.
Ans: A
Page: 60
Type: Conceptual
43. According to the text, the grant-in-aid system grew rapidly because it helped state and local officials resolve what dilemma?
a. How to get federal money into state hands without violating the U.S. Constitution
b. How to limit federal taxation power without reducing aid to states
c. How to increase federal taxation power without violating the U.S. Constitution
d. How to shift financial control of state programs to the federal government without violating states’ rights
e. How to gradually bring critical state functions under federal control
Ans: B
Page: 61
Type: Factual
44. Which of the following was not one of the reasons federal grants were attractive to state officials?
a. Federal government budget surpluses
b. Passage of the Fifteenth Amendment
c. The potency of the federal income tax
d. The appearance of “free money” for the states
e. The ability of the federal government to print money
Ans: E
Page: 60
Type: Factual
45. The first form of grant-in-aid to the states made by the federal government to the state governments was that of
a. cash grants-in-aid.
b. block grants.
c. revenue sharing.
d. categorical grants.
e. land grants.
Ans: B
Page: 61
Type: Conceptual
46. When North Dakota received over one million dollars to purchase biomedical suits and other equipment to deal with weapons of mass destruction, it highlighted the fact that
a. money from Washington is rarely distributed in an intelligent fashion.
b. when Washington wants to send money to one state or congressional district, it must send money to many states and districts.
c. having key Senators on powerful committees can make a big difference when money is distributed.
d. most officials in large cities are not even aware of the financial assistance available to them.
e. very few members of Congress are active in the budget process.
Ans: E
Page: 61-62
Type: Factual
47. Federal officials’ perceptions of national needs came to dominate the allocation of federal grants in the
a. Reagan administration.
b. Great Depression.
c. World War II era.
d. post-Civil War era.
e. 1960s and 1970s.
Ans: A
Page: 61-62
Type: Conceptual
48. While gleefully accepting federal grants with no apparent strings, state governors were disregarding which fundamental axiom of politics?
a. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
b. Politics makes strange bedfellows.
c. Nice guys finish last.
d. Those who respect laws should avoid being present when they are made.
e. You can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
Ans: D
Page: 61
Type: Factual
49. In the 1960s and 1970s, federal grants to states were increasingly based on
a. the demands of the individual states.
b. what state officials perceived to be important state needs.
c. the power of organized interest groups.
d. what federal officials perceived to be national needs.
e. the demands of coalitions of states.
Ans: D
Page: 62
Type: Factual
50. Between 1960 and 2001, the category of federal grant that decreased most as a percentage of all grants was
a. income authority.
b. health.
c. education and training.
d. transportation and highways.
e. social welfare.
Ans: A
Page: 62
Type: Factual
51. The term intergovernmental lobby is used in the text to refer to lobbying activities by
a. state and local officials at the national government.
b. one branch of the national government at another branch.
c. foreign governments in Washington, D.C.
d. federal agencies at statehouses and city halls.
e. governmental units with ties to interest groups.
Ans: A
Page: 62
Type: Conceptual
52. An example of an intergovernmental lobby would be a lobby comprising
a. local police chiefs.
b. local gas station owners.
c. gun enthusiasts.
d. oil company executives.
e. society of card players.
Ans: E
Page: 63
Type: Factual
53. A categorical grant is a transfer of federal funds designed for
a. the private sector.
b. discretionary use by a state.
c. the accomplishment of broad goals.
d. programs with matching grants.
e. specific purposes.
Ans: B
Page: 63-64
Type: Factual
54. A block grant is essentially a
a. grant that benefits a single, local unit (or block).
b. group of categorical or project grants.
c. reverse grant-in-aid money flows from states back to the federal government.
d. project grant with tighter restrictions.
e. a project grant with less federal support.
Ans: C
Page: 63
Type: Conceptual
55. Block grants were designed to remedy a common criticism of categorical grants, namely,
a. their lack of specificity.
b. the lack of conditions under which such grants were made.
c. the difficulty of adapting categorical grants to local needs.
d. their discriminatory nature―decisions are too often based on politics.
e. their lack of relevance to problems that were perceived to be “national” in nature.
Ans: D
Page: 64
Type: Factual
56. Federal grants over which local officials have wide discretion are called
a. categorical grants.
b. land grants.
c. matching grants.
d. revenue-sharing funds.
e. categorical choice programs.
Ans: A
Page: 64
Type: Conceptual
57. According to the text, both revenue sharing and block grants have enjoyed only marginal success, in part because
a. the federal government steadily increased the number of strings attached to such grants.
b. money from categorical grants shrank so low as to make these other grants essential.
c. these grants were based on local priorities rather than on the needs of the nation as a whole.
d. these grants discouraged federal control over how the money was to be used.
e. these grants were not attractive to members of Congress.
Ans: E
Page: 64
Type: Factual
58. Between 1993 and 1995, the entire growth in federal grants to state and local governments was in
a. project enhancement grants.
b. expansion of old block grants.
c. revenue sharing.
d. new block grants.
e. categorical grants.
Ans: D
Page: 64
Type: Conceptual
59. Political maneuvering and lobbying by local officials will probably be greatest when what type of federal money is involved?
a. Revenue sharing
b. A block grant
c. A mandated grant
d. A categorical grant
e. A project enhancement grant
Ans: C
Page: 64
Type: Factual
60. Categorical grants are supervised by
a. individual members of Congress from the relevant states.
b. the executive branch.
c. special committees of Congress.
d. state governors.
e. U.S. District Courts.
Ans: A
Page: 64
Type: Factual
61. What types of federal funds are most likely to be critical for an agency that depends on the federal government for its existence?
a. Categorical grants
b. Block grants
c. Fund grants
d. Revenue-sharing programs
e. Project enhancement grants
Ans: A
Page: 64
Type: Conceptual
62. One reason why revenue sharing has proved unsuccessful as a means of distributing federal money to local governments is because it
a. lacks strong local political support.
b. is too vulnerable to political lobbying.
c. requires annual congressional approval.
d. encourages rivalry among states competing for federal money.
e. rarely build consensus among leaders in Washington.
Ans: C
Page: 65
Type: Conceptual
63. The type of locally distributed federal money that would be most affected by changes in population and distribution formulas is
a. the block grant.
b. the categorical grant.
c. revenue sharing.
d. the land grant.
e. the project enhancement grant.
Ans: B
Page: 66
Type: Factual
64. When a locality is required by federal law to do something, regardless of whether it receives federal funding for that purpose, this duty is called a
a. condition of aid.
b. mandate.
c. string-attached edict.
d. court decision.
e. pontification.
Ans: E
Page: 66
Type: Conceptual
65. The difference between a mandate and a condition of aid is that
a. with a mandate the federal government tells a state government what it must do if it wants grant money.
b. a mandate applies to a block grant; a condition of aid applies to a categorical grant.
c. a mandate applies to a categorical grant; a condition of aid applies to a block grant.
d. with a mandate the federal government allows the state to do as it pleases if its actions are in accordance with federal law.
e. with a mandate it makes no difference who is paying the costs of a program.
Ans: C
Page: 66-67
Type: Factual
66. Which of the following statements about mandates is not true?
a. They are reasonable enough, stated in general terms.
b. They are the result of court orders.
c. They are tied to specific federal grants.
d. They are open to interpretation by federal officials.
e. They create administrative and financial problems.
Ans: C
Page: 67
Type: Factual
67. One of the problems the text mentions in connection with the administration of the Americans with Disabilities Act is
a. the number of disabled Americans.
b. the specificity of the blueprint for administration.
c. the absence of a clear-cut definition of "equal access."
d. a lack of public support.
e. opposition to mandates which assist specific groups.
Ans: C
Page: 67
Type: Conceptual
68. Judges have ordered Massachusetts to change the way it hires firefighters, even though the state does not receive aid from the federal government for fire fighting. Such an order is referred to as a
a. condition of aid.
b. quid pro quo order.
c. mandate.
d. pro bono requirement.
e. per curiam order.
Ans: C
Page: 67
Type: Conceptual
69. For states to qualify for certain federal highway funds, they must allow drivers to make a legal right-hand turn after stopping at a red light. This requirement by the federal government is known as a
a. mandate.
b. quid pro quo order.
c. condition of aid.
d. pro bono requirement.
e. per curiam order.
Ans: B
Page: 67-68
Type: Conceptual
70. States must pay construction workers the prevailing wage if they want to build something with federal money, even if the federal share is only part of the total building costs. When might such a requirement prevent a needed building from being constructed?
a. If it is tied to a categorical grant.
b. If it makes the total costs prohibitively high.
c. If it is tied to nondiscriminatory hiring.
d. If the prevailing wage exceeds federal guidelines.
e. If it discourages small business from making bids on contracts.
Ans: D
Page: 68
Type: Factual
71. A result of the Reagan-era block grants and budget cuts was
a. state and local governments unilaterally slashed programs.
b. higher administrative costs for state and local governments.
c. less flexibility in program design for state and local governments.
d. higher service levels than otherwise would have been the case.
e. lower service levels than otherwise would have been the case.
Ans: C
Page: 68
Type: Factual
72. The first important function that the new Republican-controlled Congress sought to shift back to the states in 1994 was ________.
a. health care
b. education
c. welfare
d. transportation
e. law enforcement
Ans: A
Page: 68
Type: Factual
73. As strong as support for reform of AFDC may have been, the complexities of the issue were somewhat highlighted by the fact that
a. President Clinton vetoed two bills that would have cut it back.
b. few members of Congress were willing to actually vote for cutbacks.
c. few members of the Senate were willing to actually vote for cutbacks.
d. most Republicans preferred to keep and maintain the program.
e. the House changed the rules for debate.
Ans: E
Page: 68
Type: Factual
74. Republicans in Congress eventually succeeded in
a. ending federal guarantees for funding of AFDC.
b. turning much of the management of AFDC over to the states.
c. demanding that women on aid begin working within two years.
d. disallowing women from AFDC for more than five years.
e. All of the above.
Ans: B
Page: 68-69
Type: Factual
75. Devolution was an old idea but it required a new vitality because ________ was/were leading the effort.
a. Congress
b. the president
c. the courts
d. state legislatures
e. state governors
Ans: A
Page: 69
Type: Factual
76. AFDC and ________ accounted for over half of all federal grant-in-aid spending.
a. Medicaid
b. food stamps
c. Medicare
d. Social Security
e. Earned Income Tax Credits
Ans: D
Page: 69
Type: Factual
77. The 104th Congress (1994-1996) block-granted the following federal aid program:
a. Medicaid.
b. food stamps.
c. Medicare.
d. Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).
e. None of the above.
Ans: B
Page: 69
Type: Factual
78. The flow of power and responsibility from the states to local governments is referred to as a _____________.
a. first-order devolution
b. second-order devolution
c. third-order devolution
d. fourth-order devolution
e. None of the above
Ans: A
Page: 68
Type: Factual
79. From 1996, when the federal welfare reform law took place, to 2002, the nation’s welfare caseload has declined by _____ percent.
a. 10
b. 15
c. 20
d. 35
e. almost 60
Ans: C
Page: 70
Type: Factual
80. Which of the following was not a reason driving devolution efforts in the mid-1990s?
a. Deep-seated mistrust of the federal government.
b. Concern about the budget deficit
c. Lack of confidence in state and local government capacity
d. Americans are in favor of devolution
e. Belief that governments closer to the people are more responsive to popular sentiment
Ans: C
Page: 72
Type: Factual
81. The text suggests relatively poor citizens are more likely to suggest _________ give(s) them more for their money.
a. local government
b. state government
c. the federal government
d. local legislatures
e. local parties
Ans: E
Page: 72
Type: Conceptual
82. Why do members of Congress who represent the interests of localities to the federal government pass laws that create so many problems for the mayors and governors of these localities?
a. Because the structure of Congress is such that the interests of localities are rarely taken into account
b. Because the power of political parties to influence the votes of party members is so great
c. Because mayors and governors frequently resent federal interference in local affairs
d. Because most members of Congress regard their role as that of representing the national government to localities
e. Because members of Congress often represent different constituencies from the same localities
True/False questions
Ans: False
Page: 50
83. T F Under a federal system, the national government may alter or even abolish local units.
Ans: True
Page: 50
84. T F The constitution of the USSR had, in theory, created a federal system.
Ans: False
Page: 50
85. T F Great Britain has a federal system much like our own.
Ans: False
Page: 50
86. T F Under a confederation, local units of government have less power than in a federal system.
Ans: True
Page: 51
87. T F The smaller the political unit, the more likely it is to be dominated by a single political faction.
Ans: False
Page: 52
88. T F Federalism discourages the average citizen from becoming involved in political activity.
Ans: False
Page: 52
89. T F Decentralization raises the cost of organized political activity.
Ans: False
Page: 52
90. T F One of the major purposes of the Founders was to frame a document that encouraged widespread political participation.
Ans: True
Page: 52
91. T F The Founders intended federalism to be a device whereby personal liberty would be protected.
Ans: True
Page: 53
92. T F The Tenth Amendment explicitly reserved broad powers to the states.
Ans: True
Page: 53
93. T F The doctrine of nullification can be inferred from Hamilton’s commentary in Federalist 28.
Ans: True
Page: 53
94. T F State governments have more power in a federation than in a unitary system.
Ans: True
Page: 54
95. T F The wording of the U.S. Constitution regarding the federal government’s right to make laws is purposely vague and elastic.
Ans: True
Page: 54
96. T F The Founders themselves had a hard time agreeing on what was meant by federalism.
Ans: False
Page: 54
97. T F James Madison and Alexander Hamilton were in general agreement on the issue of the powers of the national government.
Ans: False
Page: 54
98. T F The matter of national supremacy over the states had been settled by the 1820s.
Ans: True
Page: 54
99. T F The Civil War was fought in part over the issue of national supremacy versus states’ rights.
Ans: True
Page: 54
100. T F The Civil War led to the enlargement of the powers of the federal government.
Ans: False
Page: 55-56
101. T F McCulloch v. Maryland was the Supreme Court case that established the right of the Court to review cases from the lower courts.
Ans: True
Page: 55-56
102. T F In McCulloch v. Maryland, the Supreme Court concluded that chartering a bank was within the powers of Congress.
Ans: True
Page: 57
103. T F The concept of dual federalism grew out of a debate on the issue of commerce.
Ans: True
Page: 57
104. T F The original distinction between interstate and intrastate commerce was based on the product being shipped across state lines.
Ans: True
Page: 56
105. T F John C. Calhoun’s doctrine of nullification was clearly present in the writings of Jefferson and Madison.
Ans: True
Page: 56
106. T F John C. Calhoun first raised the doctrine of nullification in response to a tariff imposed by the federal government.
Ans: False
Page: 58
107. T F Today, most commerce is regulated at the state level.
Ans: False
Page: 58
108. T F It would be accurate to conclude that the doctrine of dual federalism is entirely dead.
Ans: True
Page: 58
109. T F In U.S. v. Lopez, the Supreme Court said that Congress had exceeded its commerce clause power by creating gun free zones around schools.
Ans: False
Page: 58
110. T F In a recent decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that violence against women substantially affects interstate commerce.
Ans: True
Page: 58
111. T F The Supreme Court has ruled that the Congress cannot require local police to conduct background checks on all gun purchasers.
Ans: True
Page: 58
112. T F In recent years, the Supreme Court has given new life to the doctrine of state sovereignty in rulings regarding the 10th and 11th Amendments.
Ans: True
Page: 59
113. T F California’s lengthy state constitution includes an explicit right to “privacy.”
Ans: False
Page: 59
114. T F The existence of local governments is guaranteed by the Constitution.
Ans: True
Page: 60
115. T F Land grants, authorized even before the U.S. Constitution was adopted, were often designed to finance school construction and educational expenses.
Ans: True
Page: 61
116. T F During most of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth, the federal government was taking in more money than it was spending.
Ans: True
Page: 61
117. T F Beginning in the 1960s, the principal proponents of grant programs to combat crime and poverty were federal officials.
Ans: True
Page: 62
118. T F The purpose of the intergovernmental lobby is the same as that of the private lobby―to get more federal money with fewer strings attached.
Ans: True
Page: 62
119. T F National organizations of governors and mayors press for more federal money, but not for increased funding for any particular city or state.
Ans: True
Page: 63
120. T F In the federal highway program, Washington pays about 90 percent of the construction costs and the states pay only about 10 percent.
Ans: False
Page: 62
121. T F The areas of health, income security, and education all increased their share of federal grants from 1960 to 1997.
Ans: True
Page: 64
122. T F From 2001 to 2003, the Bush administration sought to create new block grants for low-income housing and pre-school education.
Ans: True
Page: 64
123. T F Revenue sharing provided many city agencies with comparatively modest amounts, which made building effective constituencies more difficult.
Ans: True
Page: 64
124. T F Revenue-sharing funds were available to recipient governments for a wide variety of purposes.
Ans: True
Page: 64
125. T F Revenue sharing involved grants based on local tax bases and population formulas.
Ans: False
Page: 64
126. T F Revenue sharing, unlike categorical grants, usually involved matching grants.
Ans: True
Page: 65
127. T F As federal monies have become more important to the states, the competition among them for their respective shares has intensified.
Ans: True
Page: 65
128. T F Block grants are allocated by formula.
Ans: False
Page: 66
129. T F It is unconstitutional for the federal government to try to reverse local government policy by means of federal grants.
Ans: True
Page: 66
130. T F Most mandates concern civil rights and environmental protection.
Ans: True
Page: 66
131. T F Both the Reagan and Bush administrations opposed the growth of mandates.
Ans: False
Page: 67
132. T F Mandates on local government come exclusively from Congress.
Ans: False
Page: 67
133. T F The federal courts have discouraged the growth of mandates.
Ans: False
Page: 67
134. T F Mandates are conditions attached to the receipt of a specific federal grant.
Ans: True
Page: 67
135. T F When a state accepts federal grants, it is subject to certain rules established by Washington.
Ans: True
Page: 67
136. T F Many of the more controversial mandates are the result of court decisions.
Ans: True
Page: 67
137. T F Conditions of aid are binding on local governments only when they receive federal monies for the projects in question.
Ans: False
Page: 68
138. T F The recent strengthening of party ties has tended to favor local over national interests on matters of federal funding.
Ans: False
Page: 68
139. T F In 1981, President Reagan persuaded Congress to pass legislation that more clearly separated state from national government responsibilities.
Ans: True
Page: 68
140. T F In the wake of Reagan-era cutbacks in federal money, state and local officials privatized a number of functions in an effort to realize financial savings.
Ans: False
Page: 68
141. T F In the mid-nineties, individuals seeking AFDC type benefits were limited to a period of seven years.
Ans: False
Page: 68-69
142. T F During the mid-1990s, the effort to shift many federal functions to the states (i.e., devolution) was led by the President.
Ans: True
Page: 69
143. T F Two of the largest federal grant-in-aid programs are Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and Medicaid.
Ans: True
Page: 69
144. T F Republicans in the 104th Congress attempted to block grant Medicaid.
Ans: False
Page: 69
145. T F The federal welfare reforms of the 1990s did little to reduce the number of individuals receiving such assistance nationwide.
Ans: False
Page: 70
146. T F Most Americans favor cuts for environmental spending.
Ans: True
Page: 70
147. T F Most Americans oppose cuts in Medicaid and unemployment insurance.
Ans: True
Page: 70
148. T F Most Americans favor devolution, at least in principle.
Ans: True
Page: 72
149. T F The seeming disconnect between members of Congress and elected officials in their own states is, in part, attributable to the decline of political parties.
Ans: True
Page: 72
150. T F Relatively-well-to do citizens are more likely to speak favorably of local government than federal government.
short answer questions
151. Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson differed over the meaning of federalism. Explain their general positions in this feature of the Constitution.
Answer
a. Hamilton: powers of the national government are to be broadly construed because the government was created by the people and because its laws are supreme.
b. Jefferson: powers of the national government are to be narrowly construed because the government is the product of an agreement between the states.
Page: 54
152. Cite the two fundamental questions that the Supreme Court answered in handing down its decision in McCulloch v. Maryland, and explain the impact this decision had on the development of the federal system.
Answer
a. Could Congress charter a national bank without specific constitutional authority? (Yes, because “necessary and proper” to the exercise of specific monetary powers of Congress.)
b. Could a state tax such a bank? (No, because the power to tax is the power to destroy, and national powers are supreme over state powers.)
c. Impact: extension of the subordination of state governments to the national government.
Pages: 55-56
153. Explain how nullification became a feature of American political debate and how the issue was eventually settled.
Answer
a. 1798 Sedition Laws
b. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
c. John C. Calhoun, tariffs and slavery
d. Civil War and the views of the Supreme Court
Page: 56
154. Outline the somewhat brief history of dual federalism and discuss its implications.
Answer
a. Origin after Civil War
b. Interstate versus intrastate commerce
c. Supreme Court used product-based distinctions for a while
d. Eventually gave up
e. Congress can regulate almost any imaginable commerce as a result
Pages: 57-58
155. What are some ways in which states have opened the door to direct democracy?
Answer
a. Initiative: legislative measures
b. Referendum: rejecting measures adopted by legislatures
c. Recall: removing elected officials
Page: 59
156. Discuss four reasons why federal money historically has seemed to be attractive to state and local officials.
Answer
a. It was there: the federal government was taking in more money than it was spending.
b. The federal income tax began.
c. Convenience: the federal government managed the currency and could print more money whenever it needed it.
d. Federal money seemed to be “free” money.
Page: 61
Essay questions
157. Identify and explain some of the reasons for continuing federalism in its current form? In other words, defend a federal system of government.
Answer
a. Federalism erects an additional barrier against government tyranny and thus protects individual liberty.
b. The American people remain committed to the idea of local self-government.
c. Federalism facilitates political flexibility.
d. Federalism helps mobilize political activity, allowing private citizens a chance to influence public policy.
e. Federalism keeps members of Congress tied to local interests.
f. Grant programs have allowed national funds to be directed toward local needs.
Page: Ch. 3
158. Explain what “devolution” refers to and identify the reasons why it is a feature of American politics today.
Answer
a. Congressional effort to shift power back to the states, pass on to the states many federal functions
b. Example: Block grants for entitlements
c. Beliefs of House Republicans and those with an ideological mistrust of the federal government
d. Deficit politics
e. Public support (at least in theory)
Pages: 68-70
Federalism
Objectives
The central purpose of the chapter is to introduce the student to some of the complexities of federal government in the United States—that is, one where both the national and state governments have powers independent of one another. After reading and reviewing the material in this chapter, the student should be able to do each of the following:
1. Explain the difference between federal and centralized systems of government, and give examples of each.
2. Show how competing political interests at the Constitutional Convention led to the adoption of a federal system that was not clearly defined.
3. Outline the ways in which national and state powers have been interpreted by the courts.
4. State the reasons why federal grants-in-aid to the states have been politically popular, and cite what have proven to be their pitfalls. Distinguish between categorical grants and block grants.
5. Distinguish between mandates and conditions of aid with respect to federal grant programs to states and localities. Discuss whether or to what extent federal grants to the states have created uniform national policies comparable to those of centralized governments.
6. Evaluate the effect of devolution on relationships between the national and state governments. Assess its implications for citizens as taxpayers and as clients of government programs.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Overview
States participate actively both in determining national policy and in administering national programs. Moreover, they reserve to themselves or to localities within them important powers over such public services as schooling and law enforcement, and such important public decisions as land use. In a unitary system, these powers are exercised by the national government.
How one evaluates federalism depends in large part on the value one attaches to the competing criteria of equality and participation. Federalism means that citizens living in different parts of the country will be treated differently. This applies not only to spending programs (such as welfare), but also to legal systems (where civil rights may be differentially protected or criminal sentencing may vary). Yet federalism also means that there are more opportunities to participate in the decision making. It allows people to influence what is taught in the schools, and to decide where highways and other government projects will be built. Indeed, differences in public policy—that is, unequal treatment—are largely the result of wider participation in decision making. It is difficult, perhaps even impossible, to have more of one of these values without having less of the other.
From the 1930s to the present, United States politics and public policy became decidedly more nationalized, with the federal government, and especially the federal courts, imposing increasingly uniform standards on the states. These usually took the form of mandates and conditions of aid. Efforts begun in the 1960s and 1970s to reverse this trend by shifting to revenue sharing and block grants were only partially successful. In the mid-1990s, the Supreme Court began to review the doctrine of state sovereignty and the effort to devolve power from Washington to the states gained momentum. But whether these developments will effect significant and lasting changes in federalism remains to be seen.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Chapter Outline with Keyed-in Resources
I. Governmental structure
A. Introduction
1. Federalism: a political system with local government units, as well as a national government, that can make final decisions regarding some governmental activities and whose existence is protected
a) Local governments are able to make decisions on at least some matters without regard to the preferences of the national government
b) Examples of federal governments: United States, Canada, India, Germany, Switzerland, Australia
2. Unitary government:
a) All local governments are subservient to the national government
b) Local governments can be altered or abolished by the national government
c) Local governments have no final authority over any significant government activities
d) Examples of unitary governments: France, Britain, Italy, Sweden
3. Special protection of subnational governments in federal system due to:
a) Constitution of country
b) Habits, preferences, and dispositions of citizens
c) Distribution of political power in society
4. National government largely does not govern individuals directly, but gets states to do so in keeping with national policy
B. Federalism: Good or Bad?
1. Negative views: federalism blocks progress and protects powerful local interests
a) Laski: the states are “parasitic and poisonous”
b) Riker: federalism facilitated the perpetuation of racism
2. Positive view―Elazar: federalism contributes to governmental strength, political flexibility, and fosters individual liberty
3. Federalism has good and bad effects
a) Different political groups with different political purposes come to power in different places
b) Federalist No. 10: small political units are more likely to be dominated by single political faction―which allows all relevant interests to be heard, somewhere
C. Increased political activity
1. Most obvious effect of federalism: it facilitates political mobilization
2. Federalism decentralizes authority, lowering the cost of political organization at the local level
II. The Founding
A. A bold, new plan to protect personal liberty
1. Founders believed that neither national nor state government would have authority over the other since power comes from the people, who shift their support to keep the two in balance.
2. New plan had no historical precedent
3. Tenth Amendment was added as an afterthought to clarify the limits of the national government’s power
4. Tenth Amendment has had limited applicability, but has recently been used by the Supreme Court to give new life to state sovereignty
B. Elastic language in Article I: necessary and proper clause
1. Precise definitions of powers are politically impossible due to competing interests, e.g., commerce
2. Hamilton’s view: national supremacy since the Constitution was the supreme law of the land
3. Jefferson’s view: states’ rights with the people as ultimate sovereign; the national government was likely to be the principal threat to individuals’ liberties
III. The debate on the meaning of federalism (THEME A: WHO GOVERNS WHAT? FEDERALISM AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW)
A. The Supreme Court speaks
1. Hamiltonian position espoused by Chief Justice John Marshall
2. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) settled two questions
a) Could Congress charter a national bank? Yes, even though this power is not explicitly in the Constitution because of the “necessary and proper” (elastic) clause.
b) Could states tax such a federal bank? No, because national powers were supreme and therefore immune to state challenge.
3. Later battles related to federal taxes on state and local bond interest
B. “Nullification”: states had the right to declare null and void a federal law that they believed violated the Constitution
1. Authors: James Madison (Virginia Resolutions), Thomas Jefferson (Tennessee Resolutions), and John Calhoun
2. Question settled by the civil war: the federal union was indissoluble and states cannot nullify federal law; position was later confirmed by the Supreme Court
C. Dual federalism: both national and state governments are supreme in their own spheres, which should be kept separate
1. Example: interstate vs. intrastate commerce
a) Early product-based distinctions were unsatisfactory
b) Still, the Supreme Court does seek some distinction between what is national and what is local, though it is not entirely consistent in its support of state sovereignty
2. Doctrine of dual federalism still is argued, however―and sometimes successfully
D. State sovereignty
1. Supreme Court has strengthened states’ rights in several recent cases
a) U.S. v. Lopez (1995), guns in schools
b) U.S. v. Morrison (2000), overturned Violence Against Women Act of 1994, stating that attacks against women do not substantially affect interstate commerce
c) Printz v. U.S. (1997), background checks on gun purchasers
2. Supreme Court has also strengthened the Eleventh Amendment, protecting states from suits by citizens of other states or foreign nations
a) Alden v. Maine (1999), compliance with federal fair labor laws
b) Federal Maritime Commission v. South Carolina Ports Authority (2002), states did not agree to become mere appendages of national government
3. But not all recent decisions have supported state sovereignty
4. State can do what is not prohibited by the Constitution or preempted by federal policy, and that is consistent with its own constitution
a) Police power
b) State governments also responsible for public education, law enforcement and criminal justice, health and hospitals, roads and highways, public welfare, and use of public lands
5. States’ constitutions may provide for direct democracy
a) State constitutions more detailed about many matters, and thus view of government is more expansive
b) Initiative
c) Referendum
d) Recall
6. Protections for the states in the Constitution
a) No state can be divided without its consent.
b) Two Senators for every state
c) Every state assured of a republican form of government
d) Powers not granted to Congress are reserved to the states
7. Cities, towns, and counties have no such protections.
a) They exist at the pleasure of the state government, so there is no struggle over sovereignty (Dillon’s Rule)
b) See the Politically Speaking box, The Terms of Local Governance
IV. Federal-state relations (THEME B: WHO GOVERNS NOW? THE CONTEMPORARY POLITICS OF FEDERALISM)
A. What Washington legally may do is not the same as what politics may require
B. Grants-in-aid
1. Grants show how political realities modify legal authority
2. Began before Constitution with land and cash grants to states
3. Dramatically increased in scope in twentieth century
4. Prevailing constitutional interpretation until late 1930s was that the federal government could not spend money for purposes not authorized by the Constitution—grants were a way around this
5. Grants were attractive to state officials for various reasons.
a) Federal budget surpluses (nineteenth and early twentieth centuries)
b) Federal income tax increased revenues
c) Federal control of money supply
d) Appeared as “free” money for state officials, who did not have to be responsible for federal taxation
6. Required broad congressional coalitions with wide dispersion of funds, because every state had an incentive to seek grant money (example: post-9/11 “fair-share” security funding formulas)
C. Meeting national needs
1. 1960s shift in grants-in-aid
a) From what states demanded…
b) …To what federal officials considered important as national needs
c) Meanwhile, state and local governments had become dependent on federal funds
d) Washington’s grants to state and local governments has reached new highs since 2000
D. The intergovernmental lobby
1. Hundreds of state and local officials lobby in Washington
2. The Big 7
a) U.S. Conference of Mayors
b) National Governors Association
c) National Association of Counties
d) National League of Cities
e) Council of State Governments
f) International City/County Management Association
g) National Conference of State Legislatures
3. Purpose: to get more federal money with fewer strings
4. Since1980, their success has been more checkered
E. Categorical grants versus revenue sharing
1. Categorical grants are for specific purposes defined by federal law; they often require local matching funds
2. Block grants (sometimes called special revenue sharing or broad-based aid) were devoted to general purposes with few restrictions—states preferred block to categorical grants
3. Revenue sharing (sometimes called general revenue sharing) requires no matching funds and could be spent on almost any governmental purpose
a) Distributed by statistical formula
b) Ended in 1986, after fourteen years
4. Neither block grants nor revenue sharing achieved the goal of giving the states more freedom in spending
a) Did not grow as fast as categorical grants
b) Number of strings increased, even on these programs
5. New block grant programs were created for low-income housing, pre-school education and other programs from 2001-2003; these programs were cut or frozen by 2004 due to drops in state government revenues
6. Block grants grew more slowly than categorical grants because of the differences between the political coalitions that supported each
a) Federal officials, liberal interest groups, organized labor tend to distrust state government; categorical grants give the national government more power
b) No single interest group has a vital stake in multipurpose block grants, revenue sharing
c) Categorical grants are matters of life or death for various state agencies
d) Supervising committees in Congress favored growth of categorical grants
e) Revenue sharing was wasteful because it was so widely distributed that it did not reach those with greater need in sufficient amounts
F. Rivalry among the states
1. Intense debate regarding whether the federal government is helping some regions at the expense of others
2. Snowbelt (Frostbelt) versus Sunbelt states: debate focuses on allocation formulas written into federal laws
3. Difficulty telling where funds are actually spent and their effect, though
4. With numerous grants distributed on the basis of population, the census takes on monumental importance
V. Federal aid and federal control
A. Federal controls on state governmental activities
1. Conditions of aid: tells state governments what they must do if they wish to receive grant money; traditional control
2. Mandates: tells state governments what they must do
B. Mandates
1. Mandates: federal rules that states or localities must obey, generally have little or nothing to do with federal aid
a) Civil rights
b) Environmental protection
2. May be difficult to implement and/or be costly
3. Mandates may also make it difficult for state/local governments to raise revenues, borrow funds, and privatize public functions; some may expose them to financial liability
4. Controversial mandates may result from court decisions (example, state prisons, school desegregation plans)
C. Conditions of aid
1. Attached to grants
2. Conditions range from specific (apply to particular programs) to general (cover all or most grants)
3. Divergent views of states and federal government on costs and benefits of these conditions; each side attempts to bargain to pass on most of the cost to the other sides
4. President Reagan attempted to cut back both federal money and conditions of aid; after a bump in the early 1990s, this was continued in the mid-1990s
VI. A devolution revolution? Focus on the 104th Congress (1995–1996)
A. Devolution initiatives returned program management to the states, with some federal guidelines, but no guarantee of federal support
B. Block grants for entitlements
1. AFDC and Medicaid had operated as entitlements—federal funds a fixed proportion of state spending on these programs
2. Republicans in 104th Congress proposed making these and other programs block grants
3. AFDC did actually become a block grant
4. Devolution became part of the national political agenda
5. Some evidence that devolution in welfare programs continued from states to localities, localities to non-profit and private organizations
C. What’s driving devolution?
1. Devolution proponents harbor a deep-seated ideological mistrust of federal government and believe that state governments were more responsive to the people
2. Deficit politics encouraged devolution
a) Major cuts sought in entitlement spending
b) In return, governors were given more power and flexibility to implement program
3. Devolution supported by public opinion—though strength of support uncertain
4. See the What Would You Do? exercise, Abortion Funding.
VII. Congress and Federalism—politics remains local
1. Congress members represent conflicting constituencies—won’t always agree with governors and mayors
2. Parties once linked legislators to local groups—their erosion increases political competition.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Important Terms
*block grants
Grants of money from the national government that states can spend within broad guidelines determined by Washington.
*conditions of aid
Terms set by the national government that states must meet if they are to receive certain federal funds.
*devolution
The effort to transfer responsibility for many public programs and services from the federal government to the states.
*dual federalism
A constitutional theory that the national government and the state government each have defined areas of authority.
*grants-in-aid
Money given by the national government to the states.
*initiative
Process that permits voters to put legislative measures directly on the ballot.
*mandates
Terms set by the national government that states must meet whether or not they accept federal grants.
*necessary and proper clause
Section of the Constitution allowing Congress to pass all laws “necessary and proper” to its duties, and which has permitted Congress to exercise powers not specifically given to it (enumerated) by the Constitution.
*nullification
The doctrine that a state can declare null and void a federal law that, in the state’s opinion, violates the Constitution.
*police power
The power of a government to effect laws that promote citizens’ health, safety, and morals.
*recall
Procedure whereby voters can remove an elected official from office.
*referendum
Procedure enabling voters to reject a measure passed by the legislature.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Theme A: Who Governs what? Federalism and The Constitution
Instructor Resources
John Calhoun, A Disquisition on Government. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2003.
Frederick D. Drake and Lynn R. Nelson, eds., States’ Rights and American Federalism: A Documentary History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999.
Kermit L. Hall, A Nation of States: Federalism at the Bar of the Supreme Court. New York: Garland Publishers, 2000.
John P. Kaminski and Richard Leffler, Federalists and Antifederalists: The Debate Over the Ratification of the Constitution, Madison, WI: Madison House Publishers, 1989.
Forrest McDonald, States’ Rights and the Union: Imperium in Imperio, 1776–1876. Lawrence, KS: The University Press of Kansas, 2000.
Michael E. Solimine and James L. Walker, Respecting State Courts: The Inevitability of Judicial Federalism. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000.
Carl E. Van Horn, The State of the States, 3rd ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 1996.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Theme A: Who Governs what? Federalism and The Constitution
Summary
The Founders disagreed over the exact division of powers in a federal system. Hamilton argued for national supremacy, Jefferson for states’ rights. The Tenth Amendment spelled out what was assumed from the outset: that the federal government would have only those powers given to it by the Constitution. On the other hand the elastic language of Article I—the “necessary and proper” clause—provided a basis for arguing that the federal government had much broader powers. “The rules” about who governs what, were not clear from the start.
The Supreme Court became the arbiter of this dispute. Chief Justice John Marshall supported the Hamiltonian position, and in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) the court held not only that the Congress had the right to set up a bank, but also that such an enterprise was immune to state taxation. After the Civil War, conflict focused on the commerce clause and the power of the federal government to regulate commerce. At first the Court distinguished between interstate commerce, which the federal government could regulate, and intrastate commerce, which it could not. Practical difficulties in distinguishing one from the other led the Court, by the 1940s, to hold that the federal government could regulate virtually any economic transaction it wanted to regulate.
The Supreme Court’s struggles with defining the scope of federal power were influenced largely by economic theory. Under the laissez-faire beliefs that dominated nineteenth-century United States politics, the government was to remain neutral toward the economy and not become involved in its management. The court infused this concept into its decisions on federalism by striking down most government efforts to intervene in the economy. The Great Depression of 1929 compelled the federal government under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal to take steps to alleviate the people’s misery, but the justices consistently voided most such legislation as exceeding federal authority. An exasperated President Roosevelt, upon reelection in 1936, sought to increase the membership on the Supreme Court by “packing” it with justices who favored his perspective on federalism. While the court-packing plan failed, one justice altered his view and began to uphold an expanded federal role in the economy. This has been described as the “switch in time that saved nine.” Recently, however, the Supreme Court has placed some limitations on the ability of the federal government to legislate requirements for the states. In both U.S. v. Lopez (1995) and Printz v. U.S. (1997), the Supreme Court ruled that the Congress has over-extended the commerce clause in its regulations on gun ownership. In addition to these rulings on the tenth amendment, the Court has also protected state sovereignty through the eleventh amendment, protecting states against suits by citizens of other states or countries. These cases represent a significant development in the Court’s thinking about state sovereignty. However, their significance should not be over-stated: Though the states are protected by the Constitution, Congress can still legislate extensively and broadly on domestic policy.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Theme A: Who Governs what? Federalism and The Constitution
Discussion Questions
1. Historically, power has flowed to the central government. What reasons exist for the states to continue exercising independent power? Given the Supreme Court’s decision in McCulloch, what prevents the central government from assuming legal authority over any area of public policy?
2. Why doesn’t the federal government always intervene when states defy its authority?
3. Certain areas in Nevada permit prostitution; nine states have legalized the use of marijuana for “medical purposes”; Massachusetts has legalized same-sex marriage. Could the federal government legally intervene to forbid such practices in these states? Explain why or why not.
4. It would be possible to write a constitution that specified national, state, and even local spheres of governing much more clearly than the U.S. Constitution does. What might such a document look like? What would be its advantages? What would be its disadvantages?
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Theme B: who governs now? The contemporary Politics of Federalism
Instructor Resources
Timothy J. Conlan, From New Federalism to Devolution: Twenty-five Years of Intergovernmental Reform. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1998.
Daniel J. Elazar, American Federalism: A View from the States. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1966.
Michael S. Greve, Defining Federalism’s Future: The Role of the Courts, Congress, and the Voters. Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, 1999.
Vincent Ostrom, The Meaning of American Federalism. Institute for Contemporary Studies, 1999.
Paul E. Peterson, The Price of Federalism. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1995.
Paul L. Posner, Barry Rabe, and John Tierney, eds., The Politics of Unfunded Mandates: Whither Federalism? Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1999.
David Bradstreet Walker, The Rebirth of Federalism: Slouching Toward Washington, 2nd ed. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers, 2000.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Theme B: who governs now? The contemporary Politics of Federalism
Summary
The political dynamics of federalism have changed over the years. In the 20th century, the balance between state and federal power has clearly tipped in favor of the national government. As early as the 1960s, Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois warned that soon “the only people interested in state boundaries will be Rand-McNally.” This concern exaggerated the extent to which the federal government is capable of invading local prerogatives. The reason is that the constitutional structure forces members of Congress to remain focused on local issues—if only to achieve reelection.
The shift to national control began in the late nineteenth century, but it was not until the growth of grant-in-aid programs during the 1960s that the symmetry of authority—the key to federalism—became relatively one-sided. As state and local governmental budgets became increasingly dependent on federal resources, the intergovernmental lobby, in which local officials set up offices in Washington to compete for federal money, developed. The rivalry between states intensified when Congress began to loosen the strings of categorical grants and replace them with block grants based on distributional formulas.
The absence of federal strings and the greater leeway in spending federal funds did not produce a corresponding increase in the freedom of local officials. First, creeping categorization occurred as the federal government began to disapprove of the way block grants were utilized. Its response was to impose more restrictions on block grants. Second, categorical grants spawned state agencies and interest groups that relied on such grants for their survival. Since these groups were frequently successful in convincing congressional committees to preserve a particular grant from being merged into a larger block grant program, the result was to limit the overall number of block grants. And third, the ideological dimension of federalism became more prominent. Liberals, Democrats, and minority groups preferred to continue the practice of prescribing national standards as an antidote to the prejudices of local officials. Conservatives, Republicans, and business leaders preferred to transfer decision-making to the local level to avoid the inflexibility of national regulations. Thus in the 1980s and early 1990s stalemate developed as a Democratic Congress pushed in one direction while Republican administrations pushed in the other.
But slowly the pendulum has begun to swing back toward greater state authority. Two trends have catalyzed change. First, many states have become frustrated by federal meddling in local affairs. In 1993, for example, the state of Hawaii refused to fly the American flag for an entire weekend as a sign of protest, and an active movement on behalf of secession emerged. Second, local governments are not what they were. The level of professionalism has improved and states are again serving as experimental grounds for new programs. Policy innovation is no longer a federal monopoly. This was particularly evident in the welfare reform efforts of 1994 through 1996, when Congress effectively acted on the recommendations of state governors. In short, the politics of federalism has entered a new era, though it is not yet certain that devolution will result in more effective programs or a more responsive government.
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Theme B: who governs now? The contemporary Politics of Federalism
Discussion Questions
1. Does the system of grants-in-aid upset the balance of federalism? Do grant programs enable Congress to do what it pleases by bribing states into compliance? Or do these programs merely increase the likelihood of national policy uniformity? What would be the consequence if a state refused federal grant money?
2. To what extent have interest groups produced grants-in-aid, and to what extent have grants-in-aid produced interest groups? Who constitutes the intergovernmental lobby?
3. How and why do conservatives and liberals differ over giving aid to the states without conditions?
4. Why can’t federal agencies attack complex problems by producing and implementing a coherent systematic policy? Why don’t (can’t) federal bureaucrats issue orders where necessary?
5. Does the recent push toward devolution give the states too much power?
CHAPTER 3
Federalism
Multiple Choice questions
Ans: E
Page: 49-50
Type: Factual
1. Woodrow Wilson held that the question of the relationship between the national and state governments
a. was complex, but relatively unimportant.
b. was to be decided, ultimately, by Congress.
c. was decided by the Framers at the Constitutional Convention.
d. could not be decided until the War Between the States.
e. could not be answered by a single generation.
Ans: D
Page: 50
Type: Factual
2. The concept of separate, sovereign national and state governments is known as
a. nationalism.
b. democracy.
c. confederation.
d. federalism.
e. unicameralism.
Ans: B
Page: 50
Type: Factual
3. Which of the following countries does not have a federal system of government?
a. the United States
b. Great Britain
c. Canada
d. Germany
e. Australia
Ans: C
Page: 50
Type: Factual
4. Which of the following allows national governments the right to alter or even abolish local government?
a. A constitutional government
b. Federalism
c. A unitary system
d. Socialism
e. A confederation
Ans: A
Page: 50
Type: Conceptual
5. Ukraine, formerly one of the Soviet republics, had its own local unit of government, yet the Soviet Union was not considered a federal system. This is because, in the former Soviet Union,
a. local governments were not independent of the central government.
b. local government officials were not elected democratically.
c. the central government did not have a constitution.
d. central government officials were appointed by local governments.
e. local governments administered their own laws and ordinances.
Ans: C
Page: 50
Type: Factual
6. One of the reasons that our local governments are independent of the national government is
a. Article III of the U.S. Constitution.
b. the power of free elections.
c. the commitment of Americans to the ideal of local government.
d. the fact that the local tax structure requires local administration.
e. the Fourteenth Amendment.
Ans: C
Page: 49
Type: Factual
7. At a time when other Western nations were debating whether government ought to provide pensions or regulate business, the question in the United States was
a. how government could reduce its social commitments.
b. whether state or local government was better equipped for such tasks.
c. whether the national government had the right to do these things.
d. what tradeoffs would have to be made.
e. if government was capable of performing in an efficient manner while managing the economy.
Ans: E
Page: 50
Type: Conceptual
8. In the United States, programs such as the interstate highway system and services to the unemployed are most accurately considered
a. state functions that operate without any involvement on the part of the federal government.
b. federal functions, although state governments pay some of the costs.
c. state functions which are designated under the Tenth Amendment.
d. federal functions that operate without any involvement on the part of state governments.
e. state functions, although the federal government seeks to regulate them.
Ans: D
Page: 50
Type: Conceptual
9. Which of the following systems of government would be most likely to appeal to those in the United States who wish to implement liberal policies in the nation but who encounter resistance from conservative state legislatures?
a. Confederal
b. Federal
c. Republican
d. Unitary
e. Provincial
Ans: C
Page: 51
Type: Conceptual
10. An interest group with a strong following in only one region of the country would have the best chance to achieve its goals under what type of system?
a. Democratic
b. Republican
c. Federal
d. Unitary
e. Provincial
Ans: A
Page: 50
Type: Conceptual
11. A unitary form of government is most likely to appear preferable in the view of
a. liberal U.S. senators facing conservative state legislatures.
b. governors wishing for more control over their states’ budgets.
c. mayors seeking funding for urban problems.
d. taxpayers seeking relief from federal income taxes.
e. school officials who oppose Supreme Court rulings.
Ans: C
Page: 51
Type: Conceptual
12. Under a unitary system of government, which of the following political outcomes would be highly unlikely?
a. A group of farmers staging a massive demonstration by parking their trucks at the capitol
b. Terrorists holding a city hostage with the threat of a nuclear detonation
c. Senators from a particular region of the country blocking the passage of major civil rights legislation
d. The national government sending troops into a region of the country that is threatening to secede
e. The national government raising taxes
Ans: A
Page: 51
Type: Conceptual
13. The cost of political participation to the average U.S. citizen is less than that to the average French citizen because, in the United States,
a. more small, political constituencies are found than in France.
b. the media give greater coverage to political protest than in France.
c. fewer citizens become involved in political causes than in France.
d. political participation is both protected and encouraged by the U.S. Constitution.
e. political debates are given more media attention in the United States.
Ans: E
Page: 52
Type: Factual
14. Perhaps the most obvious effect of federalism in the United States has been to
a. centralize the government.
b. prevent states from blocking national interests.
c. increase conflict among elites.
d. raise the cost of organized political activity.
e. mobilize political activity.
Ans: A
Page: 52
Type: Factual
15. For the Founders, federalism was a device to
a. protect liberty.
b. provide efficient local administration.
c. encourage citizen participation.
d. guarantee equality.
e. protect against foreign invasion.
Ans: A
Page: 52
Type: Conceptual
16. The government in the South during the Civil War was called a confederacy. A true confederacy differs from the federalist system of the United States in that it
a. grants more sovereignty to the individual states.
b. permits state governments to do only what the central government allows.
c. is legally and politically independent of any other government.
d. gives local units of government a specially protected existence.
e. places states in a subservient manner in relation to matters of interstate commerce.
Ans: D
Page: 52
Type: Factual
17. Madison’s description of federalism in Federalist 46 suggests there should be little concern over conflicts between the federal and state governments because
a. the federal government would clearly be the winner in such conflicts.
b. the state government would clearly be the winner in such conflicts.
c. such conflicts would occur only on minor issues of importance.
d. they are different agents with different powers.
e. the judicial branch would settle such disputes.
Ans: C
Page: 53
Type: Conceptual
18. Which of the following statements about the federal system adopted at the Constitutional Convention is most accurate?
a. It had been tried without success in other countries.
b. It was adopted as an alternative to a confederate system, in which local governments are granted a specially protected existence.
c. It granted supreme authority to neither national nor state government.
d. It specifically reserved powers not delegated to the United States by the U.S. Constitution to the states.
e. It guaranteed the dominance of the states for several hundred years.
Ans: C
Page: 53
Type: Factual
19. The Founders did not include in the U.S. Constitution an explicit statement of state powers but added it later in the
a. Second Amendment.
b. Seventh Amendment.
c. Tenth Amendment.
d. Fourteenth Amendment.
e. None of the above.
Ans: E
Page: 53
Type: Factual
20. The reason a statement specific to state powers was not part of the original U.S. Constitution was that
a. no such consensus existed at the Constitutional Convention.
b. it was deleted under the Virginia Plan.
c. New York delegates refused to allow discussion on the matter.
d. the U.S. Constitution would not have been ratified.
e. it was assumed to be obvious.
Ans: A
Page: 53-54
Type: Factual
21. Just what sort of commerce Congress could regulate between the states was not spelled out in the U.S. Constitution because
a. no consensus existed.
b. of an oversight.
c. commerce was a new phenomenon.
d. slavery was involved.
e. New York delegates refused to allow discussion on the matter.
Ans: B
Page: 54
Type: Factual
22. In Federalist 45, Madison describes the powers of state governments as
a. broad but limited.
b. numerous and indefinite.
c. narrow but critical.
d. limited and subject to review.
e. without substance.
Ans: C
Page: 54
Type: Conceptual
23. Which statement best summarizes Madison’s view of federalism?
a. He was a consistent supporter of the notion of a supreme national government.
b. He was a consistent supporter of the notion of the supremacy of state governments.
c. He was first an ardent supporter of national supremacy, then of state’s rights.
d. He was first an ardent supporter of state’s rights, then of national supremacy.
e. He assumed the national government would be supreme except in times of war.
Ans: A
Page: 54
Type: Conceptual
24. Applying the principles of Thomas Jefferson to current political issues would probably dispose one to
a. favor the decentralization of government power.
b. oppose the decentralization of government power.
c. favor seven-year terms for presidents.
d. oppose seven-year terms for presidents.
e. favor a more powerful bureaucracy.
Ans: C
Page: 54
Type: Conceptual
25. The Civil War settled one part of the issue of national supremacy versus states’ rights, namely, that
a. state governments are supreme over the national government.
b. the national government derives its sovereignty from the states.
c. the national government derives its sovereignty from the people.
d. the national government derives its sovereignty from both the people and the states.
e. state governments derived their power from each other.
Ans: C
Page: 55
Type: Factual
26. The early chief justice whose decisions generally gave the broadest possible sweep to federal powers was
a. Roger Taney.
b. Frederick Vinson.
c. John Marshall.
d. Alexander Hamilton.
e. John Harlan.
Ans: C
Page: 56
Type: Factual
27. The McCulloch v. Maryland decision established
a. judicial review by the Supreme Court.
b. state sovereignty in interstate commerce.
c. national government supremacy over the states.
d. the legality of the slave trade.
e. All of the above.
Ans: B
Page: 55-56
Type: Conceptual
28. In McCulloch v. Maryland, if the Supreme Court reached the opposite conclusion on the right of Congress to charter a bank, the bank would have been
a. taken over by the state of Maryland.
b. declared unconstitutional.
c. taken over by the federal government.
d. taken over by the federal judiciary.
e. established in each of the states.
Ans: B
Page: 56
Type: Conceptual
29. The basic assumption of Marshall’s opinion in the McCulloch case was that the Constitution
a. was established by the states.
b. was established by the people.
c. was established by Congress.
d. clearly established state superiority.
e. did not allow Congress to create a national bank.
Ans: E
Page: 56
Type: Conceptual
30. An important outcome of Marshall’s ruling in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) was to
a. place limits on the constitutional powers granted to Congress by refusing McCulloch's appeal.
b. give greater power to the states in taxing agents of the federal government, including banks.
c. protect newspaper editors who publish stories critical of the federal government.
d. restrict the power of the Court in cases involving conflicts between states and the federal government.
e. confirm the supremacy of the federal government in the exercise of the constitutional powers granted to Congress.
Ans: D
Page: 56
Type: Factual
31. During the battle over slavery, the case for nullification was forcefully presented by
a. William Jennings Randolph.
b. Robert E. Lee.
c. William Graham Sumner.
d. John C. Calhoun.
e. J.E.B. Stuart.
Ans: B
Page: 56
Type: Factual
32. The doctrine of nullification refers to
a. the power of Congress to veto state laws that violate the U.S. Constitution.
b. the claimed authority of the states to declare a federal law void for violating the U.S. Constitution.
c. the power of the president to veto state laws for violating the U.S. Constitution.
d. the authority of the president to dissolve Congress and to call for new elections.
e. the power of the federal government to invalidate state laws on matters of commerce.
Ans: A
Page: 57
Type: Factual
33. The doctrine of dual federalism grew out of a protracted debate on the subject of
a. commerce.
b. banking.
c. manufacturing.
d. welfare.
e. licensing of commercial fishermen.
Ans: B
Page: 57
Type: Factual
34. Most forms of economic activity are now included under
a. First Amendment freedoms.
b. interstate commerce.
c. the doctrine of implied powers.
d. the reserved powers of the states.
e. compact theory.
Ans: A
Page: 58
Type: Factual
35. According to the text, the Supreme Court has generally excluded ________ from many of the restrictions addressed in commerce clause cases.
a. baseball players
b. lawyers
c. janitors
d. window washers
e. farmers
Ans: A
Page: 58
Type: Factual
36. The interstate commerce that the federal government can regulate is now interpreted to include
a. almost any kind of economic activity.
b. only the movement of goods between states.
c. almost any commerce in goods, but not labor transactions.
d. commerce between states and a handful of transactions within states.
e. shipping and handling, but not production.
Ans: A
Page: 58
Type: Factual
37. The text concludes that it would be a mistake to conclude that the doctrine of dual federalism is
a. entirely dead.
b. alive and well.
c. much changed.
d. no longer a threat.
e. an empirical reality.
Ans: C
Page: 58
Type: Factual
38. By ruling that the government cannot require local police to conduct background checks on all gun purchases, the Court held that to do so would be a violation of the __________ Amendment.
a. Fifth
b. Sixth
c. Tenth
d. Fourteenth
e. None of the above.
Ans: E
Page: 59
Type: Factual
39. Under their police powers, states can enact and enforce all of the following except:
a. Criminal codes
b. Laws requiring children to attend school
c. Restrictions on the availability of pornographic materials
d. Standards for DUI convictions
e. The regulation of interstate commerce
Ans: B
Page: 59
Type: Factual
40. This is a procedure that enables voters to reject a measure adopted by the legislature.
a. Initiative
b. Referendum
c. Recall
d. Logrolling
e. Rrollback
Ans: C
Page: 59
Type: Factual
41. This procedure in effect in about one-third of the states permits voters to remove an elected official from office.
a. Initiative
b. Referendum
c. Recall
d. Logrolling
e. Rollback
Ans: C
Page: 60
Type: Factual
42. The Tidelands oil reserves case was an example of the national government’s deciding that
a. state governments were asserting too much independence.
b. local governments needed help that state governments could not provide.
c. it was better to cede to the states a power that legally belonged to Washington.
d. too many conditions had been attached to a well-meant program of aid.
e. the federal government was no longer in the business of regulating interstate commerce.
Ans: A
Page: 60
Type: Conceptual
43. According to the text, the grant-in-aid system grew rapidly because it helped state and local officials resolve what dilemma?
a. How to get federal money into state hands without violating the U.S. Constitution
b. How to limit federal taxation power without reducing aid to states
c. How to increase federal taxation power without violating the U.S. Constitution
d. How to shift financial control of state programs to the federal government without violating states’ rights
e. How to gradually bring critical state functions under federal control
Ans: B
Page: 61
Type: Factual
44. Which of the following was not one of the reasons federal grants were attractive to state officials?
a. Federal government budget surpluses
b. Passage of the Fifteenth Amendment
c. The potency of the federal income tax
d. The appearance of “free money” for the states
e. The ability of the federal government to print money
Ans: E
Page: 60
Type: Factual
45. The first form of grant-in-aid to the states made by the federal government to the state governments was that of
a. cash grants-in-aid.
b. block grants.
c. revenue sharing.
d. categorical grants.
e. land grants.
Ans: B
Page: 61
Type: Conceptual
46. When North Dakota received over one million dollars to purchase biomedical suits and other equipment to deal with weapons of mass destruction, it highlighted the fact that
a. money from Washington is rarely distributed in an intelligent fashion.
b. when Washington wants to send money to one state or congressional district, it must send money to many states and districts.
c. having key Senators on powerful committees can make a big difference when money is distributed.
d. most officials in large cities are not even aware of the financial assistance available to them.
e. very few members of Congress are active in the budget process.
Ans: E
Page: 61-62
Type: Factual
47. Federal officials’ perceptions of national needs came to dominate the allocation of federal grants in the
a. Reagan administration.
b. Great Depression.
c. World War II era.
d. post-Civil War era.
e. 1960s and 1970s.
Ans: A
Page: 61-62
Type: Conceptual
48. While gleefully accepting federal grants with no apparent strings, state governors were disregarding which fundamental axiom of politics?
a. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
b. Politics makes strange bedfellows.
c. Nice guys finish last.
d. Those who respect laws should avoid being present when they are made.
e. You can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
Ans: D
Page: 61
Type: Factual
49. In the 1960s and 1970s, federal grants to states were increasingly based on
a. the demands of the individual states.
b. what state officials perceived to be important state needs.
c. the power of organized interest groups.
d. what federal officials perceived to be national needs.
e. the demands of coalitions of states.
Ans: D
Page: 62
Type: Factual
50. Between 1960 and 2001, the category of federal grant that decreased most as a percentage of all grants was
a. income authority.
b. health.
c. education and training.
d. transportation and highways.
e. social welfare.
Ans: A
Page: 62
Type: Factual
51. The term intergovernmental lobby is used in the text to refer to lobbying activities by
a. state and local officials at the national government.
b. one branch of the national government at another branch.
c. foreign governments in Washington, D.C.
d. federal agencies at statehouses and city halls.
e. governmental units with ties to interest groups.
Ans: A
Page: 62
Type: Conceptual
52. An example of an intergovernmental lobby would be a lobby comprising
a. local police chiefs.
b. local gas station owners.
c. gun enthusiasts.
d. oil company executives.
e. society of card players.
Ans: E
Page: 63
Type: Factual
53. A categorical grant is a transfer of federal funds designed for
a. the private sector.
b. discretionary use by a state.
c. the accomplishment of broad goals.
d. programs with matching grants.
e. specific purposes.
Ans: B
Page: 63-64
Type: Factual
54. A block grant is essentially a
a. grant that benefits a single, local unit (or block).
b. group of categorical or project grants.
c. reverse grant-in-aid money flows from states back to the federal government.
d. project grant with tighter restrictions.
e. a project grant with less federal support.
Ans: C
Page: 63
Type: Conceptual
55. Block grants were designed to remedy a common criticism of categorical grants, namely,
a. their lack of specificity.
b. the lack of conditions under which such grants were made.
c. the difficulty of adapting categorical grants to local needs.
d. their discriminatory nature―decisions are too often based on politics.
e. their lack of relevance to problems that were perceived to be “national” in nature.
Ans: D
Page: 64
Type: Factual
56. Federal grants over which local officials have wide discretion are called
a. categorical grants.
b. land grants.
c. matching grants.
d. revenue-sharing funds.
e. categorical choice programs.
Ans: A
Page: 64
Type: Conceptual
57. According to the text, both revenue sharing and block grants have enjoyed only marginal success, in part because
a. the federal government steadily increased the number of strings attached to such grants.
b. money from categorical grants shrank so low as to make these other grants essential.
c. these grants were based on local priorities rather than on the needs of the nation as a whole.
d. these grants discouraged federal control over how the money was to be used.
e. these grants were not attractive to members of Congress.
Ans: E
Page: 64
Type: Factual
58. Between 1993 and 1995, the entire growth in federal grants to state and local governments was in
a. project enhancement grants.
b. expansion of old block grants.
c. revenue sharing.
d. new block grants.
e. categorical grants.
Ans: D
Page: 64
Type: Conceptual
59. Political maneuvering and lobbying by local officials will probably be greatest when what type of federal money is involved?
a. Revenue sharing
b. A block grant
c. A mandated grant
d. A categorical grant
e. A project enhancement grant
Ans: C
Page: 64
Type: Factual
60. Categorical grants are supervised by
a. individual members of Congress from the relevant states.
b. the executive branch.
c. special committees of Congress.
d. state governors.
e. U.S. District Courts.
Ans: A
Page: 64
Type: Factual
61. What types of federal funds are most likely to be critical for an agency that depends on the federal government for its existence?
a. Categorical grants
b. Block grants
c. Fund grants
d. Revenue-sharing programs
e. Project enhancement grants
Ans: A
Page: 64
Type: Conceptual
62. One reason why revenue sharing has proved unsuccessful as a means of distributing federal money to local governments is because it
a. lacks strong local political support.
b. is too vulnerable to political lobbying.
c. requires annual congressional approval.
d. encourages rivalry among states competing for federal money.
e. rarely build consensus among leaders in Washington.
Ans: C
Page: 65
Type: Conceptual
63. The type of locally distributed federal money that would be most affected by changes in population and distribution formulas is
a. the block grant.
b. the categorical grant.
c. revenue sharing.
d. the land grant.
e. the project enhancement grant.
Ans: B
Page: 66
Type: Factual
64. When a locality is required by federal law to do something, regardless of whether it receives federal funding for that purpose, this duty is called a
a. condition of aid.
b. mandate.
c. string-attached edict.
d. court decision.
e. pontification.
Ans: E
Page: 66
Type: Conceptual
65. The difference between a mandate and a condition of aid is that
a. with a mandate the federal government tells a state government what it must do if it wants grant money.
b. a mandate applies to a block grant; a condition of aid applies to a categorical grant.
c. a mandate applies to a categorical grant; a condition of aid applies to a block grant.
d. with a mandate the federal government allows the state to do as it pleases if its actions are in accordance with federal law.
e. with a mandate it makes no difference who is paying the costs of a program.
Ans: C
Page: 66-67
Type: Factual
66. Which of the following statements about mandates is not true?
a. They are reasonable enough, stated in general terms.
b. They are the result of court orders.
c. They are tied to specific federal grants.
d. They are open to interpretation by federal officials.
e. They create administrative and financial problems.
Ans: C
Page: 67
Type: Factual
67. One of the problems the text mentions in connection with the administration of the Americans with Disabilities Act is
a. the number of disabled Americans.
b. the specificity of the blueprint for administration.
c. the absence of a clear-cut definition of "equal access."
d. a lack of public support.
e. opposition to mandates which assist specific groups.
Ans: C
Page: 67
Type: Conceptual
68. Judges have ordered Massachusetts to change the way it hires firefighters, even though the state does not receive aid from the federal government for fire fighting. Such an order is referred to as a
a. condition of aid.
b. quid pro quo order.
c. mandate.
d. pro bono requirement.
e. per curiam order.
Ans: C
Page: 67
Type: Conceptual
69. For states to qualify for certain federal highway funds, they must allow drivers to make a legal right-hand turn after stopping at a red light. This requirement by the federal government is known as a
a. mandate.
b. quid pro quo order.
c. condition of aid.
d. pro bono requirement.
e. per curiam order.
Ans: B
Page: 67-68
Type: Conceptual
70. States must pay construction workers the prevailing wage if they want to build something with federal money, even if the federal share is only part of the total building costs. When might such a requirement prevent a needed building from being constructed?
a. If it is tied to a categorical grant.
b. If it makes the total costs prohibitively high.
c. If it is tied to nondiscriminatory hiring.
d. If the prevailing wage exceeds federal guidelines.
e. If it discourages small business from making bids on contracts.
Ans: D
Page: 68
Type: Factual
71. A result of the Reagan-era block grants and budget cuts was
a. state and local governments unilaterally slashed programs.
b. higher administrative costs for state and local governments.
c. less flexibility in program design for state and local governments.
d. higher service levels than otherwise would have been the case.
e. lower service levels than otherwise would have been the case.
Ans: C
Page: 68
Type: Factual
72. The first important function that the new Republican-controlled Congress sought to shift back to the states in 1994 was ________.
a. health care
b. education
c. welfare
d. transportation
e. law enforcement
Ans: A
Page: 68
Type: Factual
73. As strong as support for reform of AFDC may have been, the complexities of the issue were somewhat highlighted by the fact that
a. President Clinton vetoed two bills that would have cut it back.
b. few members of Congress were willing to actually vote for cutbacks.
c. few members of the Senate were willing to actually vote for cutbacks.
d. most Republicans preferred to keep and maintain the program.
e. the House changed the rules for debate.
Ans: E
Page: 68
Type: Factual
74. Republicans in Congress eventually succeeded in
a. ending federal guarantees for funding of AFDC.
b. turning much of the management of AFDC over to the states.
c. demanding that women on aid begin working within two years.
d. disallowing women from AFDC for more than five years.
e. All of the above.
Ans: B
Page: 68-69
Type: Factual
75. Devolution was an old idea but it required a new vitality because ________ was/were leading the effort.
a. Congress
b. the president
c. the courts
d. state legislatures
e. state governors
Ans: A
Page: 69
Type: Factual
76. AFDC and ________ accounted for over half of all federal grant-in-aid spending.
a. Medicaid
b. food stamps
c. Medicare
d. Social Security
e. Earned Income Tax Credits
Ans: D
Page: 69
Type: Factual
77. The 104th Congress (1994-1996) block-granted the following federal aid program:
a. Medicaid.
b. food stamps.
c. Medicare.
d. Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).
e. None of the above.
Ans: B
Page: 69
Type: Factual
78. The flow of power and responsibility from the states to local governments is referred to as a _____________.
a. first-order devolution
b. second-order devolution
c. third-order devolution
d. fourth-order devolution
e. None of the above
Ans: A
Page: 68
Type: Factual
79. From 1996, when the federal welfare reform law took place, to 2002, the nation’s welfare caseload has declined by _____ percent.
a. 10
b. 15
c. 20
d. 35
e. almost 60
Ans: C
Page: 70
Type: Factual
80. Which of the following was not a reason driving devolution efforts in the mid-1990s?
a. Deep-seated mistrust of the federal government.
b. Concern about the budget deficit
c. Lack of confidence in state and local government capacity
d. Americans are in favor of devolution
e. Belief that governments closer to the people are more responsive to popular sentiment
Ans: C
Page: 72
Type: Factual
81. The text suggests relatively poor citizens are more likely to suggest _________ give(s) them more for their money.
a. local government
b. state government
c. the federal government
d. local legislatures
e. local parties
Ans: E
Page: 72
Type: Conceptual
82. Why do members of Congress who represent the interests of localities to the federal government pass laws that create so many problems for the mayors and governors of these localities?
a. Because the structure of Congress is such that the interests of localities are rarely taken into account
b. Because the power of political parties to influence the votes of party members is so great
c. Because mayors and governors frequently resent federal interference in local affairs
d. Because most members of Congress regard their role as that of representing the national government to localities
e. Because members of Congress often represent different constituencies from the same localities
True/False questions
Ans: False
Page: 50
83. T F Under a federal system, the national government may alter or even abolish local units.
Ans: True
Page: 50
84. T F The constitution of the USSR had, in theory, created a federal system.
Ans: False
Page: 50
85. T F Great Britain has a federal system much like our own.
Ans: False
Page: 50
86. T F Under a confederation, local units of government have less power than in a federal system.
Ans: True
Page: 51
87. T F The smaller the political unit, the more likely it is to be dominated by a single political faction.
Ans: False
Page: 52
88. T F Federalism discourages the average citizen from becoming involved in political activity.
Ans: False
Page: 52
89. T F Decentralization raises the cost of organized political activity.
Ans: False
Page: 52
90. T F One of the major purposes of the Founders was to frame a document that encouraged widespread political participation.
Ans: True
Page: 52
91. T F The Founders intended federalism to be a device whereby personal liberty would be protected.
Ans: True
Page: 53
92. T F The Tenth Amendment explicitly reserved broad powers to the states.
Ans: True
Page: 53
93. T F The doctrine of nullification can be inferred from Hamilton’s commentary in Federalist 28.
Ans: True
Page: 53
94. T F State governments have more power in a federation than in a unitary system.
Ans: True
Page: 54
95. T F The wording of the U.S. Constitution regarding the federal government’s right to make laws is purposely vague and elastic.
Ans: True
Page: 54
96. T F The Founders themselves had a hard time agreeing on what was meant by federalism.
Ans: False
Page: 54
97. T F James Madison and Alexander Hamilton were in general agreement on the issue of the powers of the national government.
Ans: False
Page: 54
98. T F The matter of national supremacy over the states had been settled by the 1820s.
Ans: True
Page: 54
99. T F The Civil War was fought in part over the issue of national supremacy versus states’ rights.
Ans: True
Page: 54
100. T F The Civil War led to the enlargement of the powers of the federal government.
Ans: False
Page: 55-56
101. T F McCulloch v. Maryland was the Supreme Court case that established the right of the Court to review cases from the lower courts.
Ans: True
Page: 55-56
102. T F In McCulloch v. Maryland, the Supreme Court concluded that chartering a bank was within the powers of Congress.
Ans: True
Page: 57
103. T F The concept of dual federalism grew out of a debate on the issue of commerce.
Ans: True
Page: 57
104. T F The original distinction between interstate and intrastate commerce was based on the product being shipped across state lines.
Ans: True
Page: 56
105. T F John C. Calhoun’s doctrine of nullification was clearly present in the writings of Jefferson and Madison.
Ans: True
Page: 56
106. T F John C. Calhoun first raised the doctrine of nullification in response to a tariff imposed by the federal government.
Ans: False
Page: 58
107. T F Today, most commerce is regulated at the state level.
Ans: False
Page: 58
108. T F It would be accurate to conclude that the doctrine of dual federalism is entirely dead.
Ans: True
Page: 58
109. T F In U.S. v. Lopez, the Supreme Court said that Congress had exceeded its commerce clause power by creating gun free zones around schools.
Ans: False
Page: 58
110. T F In a recent decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that violence against women substantially affects interstate commerce.
Ans: True
Page: 58
111. T F The Supreme Court has ruled that the Congress cannot require local police to conduct background checks on all gun purchasers.
Ans: True
Page: 58
112. T F In recent years, the Supreme Court has given new life to the doctrine of state sovereignty in rulings regarding the 10th and 11th Amendments.
Ans: True
Page: 59
113. T F California’s lengthy state constitution includes an explicit right to “privacy.”
Ans: False
Page: 59
114. T F The existence of local governments is guaranteed by the Constitution.
Ans: True
Page: 60
115. T F Land grants, authorized even before the U.S. Constitution was adopted, were often designed to finance school construction and educational expenses.
Ans: True
Page: 61
116. T F During most of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth, the federal government was taking in more money than it was spending.
Ans: True
Page: 61
117. T F Beginning in the 1960s, the principal proponents of grant programs to combat crime and poverty were federal officials.
Ans: True
Page: 62
118. T F The purpose of the intergovernmental lobby is the same as that of the private lobby―to get more federal money with fewer strings attached.
Ans: True
Page: 62
119. T F National organizations of governors and mayors press for more federal money, but not for increased funding for any particular city or state.
Ans: True
Page: 63
120. T F In the federal highway program, Washington pays about 90 percent of the construction costs and the states pay only about 10 percent.
Ans: False
Page: 62
121. T F The areas of health, income security, and education all increased their share of federal grants from 1960 to 1997.
Ans: True
Page: 64
122. T F From 2001 to 2003, the Bush administration sought to create new block grants for low-income housing and pre-school education.
Ans: True
Page: 64
123. T F Revenue sharing provided many city agencies with comparatively modest amounts, which made building effective constituencies more difficult.
Ans: True
Page: 64
124. T F Revenue-sharing funds were available to recipient governments for a wide variety of purposes.
Ans: True
Page: 64
125. T F Revenue sharing involved grants based on local tax bases and population formulas.
Ans: False
Page: 64
126. T F Revenue sharing, unlike categorical grants, usually involved matching grants.
Ans: True
Page: 65
127. T F As federal monies have become more important to the states, the competition among them for their respective shares has intensified.
Ans: True
Page: 65
128. T F Block grants are allocated by formula.
Ans: False
Page: 66
129. T F It is unconstitutional for the federal government to try to reverse local government policy by means of federal grants.
Ans: True
Page: 66
130. T F Most mandates concern civil rights and environmental protection.
Ans: True
Page: 66
131. T F Both the Reagan and Bush administrations opposed the growth of mandates.
Ans: False
Page: 67
132. T F Mandates on local government come exclusively from Congress.
Ans: False
Page: 67
133. T F The federal courts have discouraged the growth of mandates.
Ans: False
Page: 67
134. T F Mandates are conditions attached to the receipt of a specific federal grant.
Ans: True
Page: 67
135. T F When a state accepts federal grants, it is subject to certain rules established by Washington.
Ans: True
Page: 67
136. T F Many of the more controversial mandates are the result of court decisions.
Ans: True
Page: 67
137. T F Conditions of aid are binding on local governments only when they receive federal monies for the projects in question.
Ans: False
Page: 68
138. T F The recent strengthening of party ties has tended to favor local over national interests on matters of federal funding.
Ans: False
Page: 68
139. T F In 1981, President Reagan persuaded Congress to pass legislation that more clearly separated state from national government responsibilities.
Ans: True
Page: 68
140. T F In the wake of Reagan-era cutbacks in federal money, state and local officials privatized a number of functions in an effort to realize financial savings.
Ans: False
Page: 68
141. T F In the mid-nineties, individuals seeking AFDC type benefits were limited to a period of seven years.
Ans: False
Page: 68-69
142. T F During the mid-1990s, the effort to shift many federal functions to the states (i.e., devolution) was led by the President.
Ans: True
Page: 69
143. T F Two of the largest federal grant-in-aid programs are Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and Medicaid.
Ans: True
Page: 69
144. T F Republicans in the 104th Congress attempted to block grant Medicaid.
Ans: False
Page: 69
145. T F The federal welfare reforms of the 1990s did little to reduce the number of individuals receiving such assistance nationwide.
Ans: False
Page: 70
146. T F Most Americans favor cuts for environmental spending.
Ans: True
Page: 70
147. T F Most Americans oppose cuts in Medicaid and unemployment insurance.
Ans: True
Page: 70
148. T F Most Americans favor devolution, at least in principle.
Ans: True
Page: 72
149. T F The seeming disconnect between members of Congress and elected officials in their own states is, in part, attributable to the decline of political parties.
Ans: True
Page: 72
150. T F Relatively-well-to do citizens are more likely to speak favorably of local government than federal government.
short answer questions
151. Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson differed over the meaning of federalism. Explain their general positions in this feature of the Constitution.
Answer
a. Hamilton: powers of the national government are to be broadly construed because the government was created by the people and because its laws are supreme.
b. Jefferson: powers of the national government are to be narrowly construed because the government is the product of an agreement between the states.
Page: 54
152. Cite the two fundamental questions that the Supreme Court answered in handing down its decision in McCulloch v. Maryland, and explain the impact this decision had on the development of the federal system.
Answer
a. Could Congress charter a national bank without specific constitutional authority? (Yes, because “necessary and proper” to the exercise of specific monetary powers of Congress.)
b. Could a state tax such a bank? (No, because the power to tax is the power to destroy, and national powers are supreme over state powers.)
c. Impact: extension of the subordination of state governments to the national government.
Pages: 55-56
153. Explain how nullification became a feature of American political debate and how the issue was eventually settled.
Answer
a. 1798 Sedition Laws
b. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
c. John C. Calhoun, tariffs and slavery
d. Civil War and the views of the Supreme Court
Page: 56
154. Outline the somewhat brief history of dual federalism and discuss its implications.
Answer
a. Origin after Civil War
b. Interstate versus intrastate commerce
c. Supreme Court used product-based distinctions for a while
d. Eventually gave up
e. Congress can regulate almost any imaginable commerce as a result
Pages: 57-58
155. What are some ways in which states have opened the door to direct democracy?
Answer
a. Initiative: legislative measures
b. Referendum: rejecting measures adopted by legislatures
c. Recall: removing elected officials
Page: 59
156. Discuss four reasons why federal money historically has seemed to be attractive to state and local officials.
Answer
a. It was there: the federal government was taking in more money than it was spending.
b. The federal income tax began.
c. Convenience: the federal government managed the currency and could print more money whenever it needed it.
d. Federal money seemed to be “free” money.
Page: 61
Essay questions
157. Identify and explain some of the reasons for continuing federalism in its current form? In other words, defend a federal system of government.
Answer
a. Federalism erects an additional barrier against government tyranny and thus protects individual liberty.
b. The American people remain committed to the idea of local self-government.
c. Federalism facilitates political flexibility.
d. Federalism helps mobilize political activity, allowing private citizens a chance to influence public policy.
e. Federalism keeps members of Congress tied to local interests.
f. Grant programs have allowed national funds to be directed toward local needs.
Page: Ch. 3
158. Explain what “devolution” refers to and identify the reasons why it is a feature of American politics today.
Answer
a. Congressional effort to shift power back to the states, pass on to the states many federal functions
b. Example: Block grants for entitlements
c. Beliefs of House Republicans and those with an ideological mistrust of the federal government
d. Deficit politics
e. Public support (at least in theory)
Pages: 68-70
WH, Test on Monday
Most of the questions are from Chapter 20 but you will need to know the material from Chapters 18 &19.
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