Chapter 3 AP GOV – Ms. Shay

 A political system in which there are local units of government as well as a national government  The local units (state, county, city, or town) exist independently of the national, and have protected status with the ability to make final decisions, in at least some matters.

 Commitment of the people of the United States to claim their states’ rights  Congress is made up of people who are responsive to their local constituencies

 U.S.  Canada  Australia  India  Germany  Switzerland

 Unitary – national government is supreme and if any local units exist, it is for the administrative convenience of the national government.  Examples: France, GB, Italy, Sweden  Confederal (confederation) – states are sovereign and national government can only do what the states permit  Example: United States under Articles of Confederation and European Union today

 Increased political activity  Ability to make a more effective difference  Protection of personal liberty  Smaller groups take the lead in experimentation

 The people could shift their support between state and federal levels of government as needed to keep the two in balance.  “if their rights are invaded by either, they can make use of the other as the instrument of redress”

 The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.  But what does that mean exactly?

HAMILTON  National government is supreme according to Article VI  powers ought to be broadly defined and liberally construed JEFFERSON  Principle threat to people’s liberties was the national government and it only exists because the states agreed to let it exist  Powers should be narrowly construed and strictly limited

 National government is supreme  Sovereignty is derived from the people  Thus the states could not secede

 Levy taxes  Borrow money  Regulate commerce  Laws for naturalization and bankruptcy  Coin money  Fix weights and measures  Punish counterfeiting  Establish post offices and post roads  Issue patents and copyrights to promote science and innovation  Establish courts lower than the Supreme Court  Punish piracies  Create and army and navy  Declare war  Call up the militia  Govern D.C.

Congress may not:  Suspend writ of habeas corpus  Pass a bill of attainder  Pass an ex post facto law  No interstate tariffs  No preferential treatment for some state in regard to regulation of commerce, port duties, etc  No titles of nobility  No money may be drawn from Treasury without appropriation made by law  Statement of account must be made public

 Congress shall have the power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers vested by this Constitution

States may not:  Make treaties with foreign nations  Coin money  Issue paper currency  Grant titles of nobility  Pass a bill of attainder  Pass an ex post facto law  Levy taxes on imports or exports  Keep troops and ships in time of peace  Make treaties with a foreign power

 A republican form of government  Protection against foreign invasion and domestic insurrection (if states request it)  States will not be broken up or merged without the state’s consent  Taxes levied must be uniform  Constitution may no be amended to give states unequal representation in Senate

 McCulloch v Maryland 1819  McCulloch was the cashier of the Baltimore branch of the Bank of the U.S. which had been created by Congress  Refused to pay a tax levied on that bank by the state of Maryland  Found guilty in state court but appealed all the way to the highest court

 1 st Question – Does Congress have the power to establish a bank? ▪ Yes. Because it has money management powers, a national bank is necessary and proper to carry out those powers  2 nd Question – Can a Federal bank be lawfully taxed by a state?  No. National power to establish a bank is supreme and its use thereof must be immune from state challenge.  The power to tax is also the power to destroy which would give the states power to have supremacy over the federal government  States may not tax any federal institution!

 Supreme Court confirms what was decided by the Civil War victory of the North:  The federal union is indissoluble and that states cannot declare acts of Congress unconstitutional.

 National government is supreme in its sphere, the states are supreme in their sphere, and the two spheres should be kept separate  Most difficult challenge comes when deciding between interstate commerce and intrastate commerce

 First it was based on the kind of business being transported between states  Lottery tickets, liquor, prostitutes were part of it  Farming and manufacturing were not  When does it change from interstate to intrastate?  When it’s out of original packaging  What about oil and grain?  What if a company did business in more than one state?  Eventually the court began to allow almost anything to be regulated by the federal government  Expansion of federal power up until the 1990’s

 United States v Lopez – Congress had exceeded its commerce clause power by prohibiting guns in a school zone  United State v Morrison - Violence Against Women Act of 1994 overturned however states can pass this law and many have  The Constitution requires a distinction between what is truly national and what is truly local

 Printz v United States 1997 – SC invalidated a federal law that required local police to conduct background checks on all gun purchasers  Law violates the tenth amendment by commanding state governments to carry out a federal regulatory program

 Alden v Maine 1999 – state employees could not sue to force state compliance with federal fair-labor laws  Federal Maritime Commission v South Carolina Ports Authority Expands states sovereign immunity from private lawsuits

 In 1999, the Court also ruled that state welfare programs may not restrict new residents to the welfare benefits they would have received in the states from which the moved.

 Congress can still make laws on almost anything as long as it does not go too far in commandeering state resources or gutting states’ rights.  To empower states is not to disempower Congress

 Public education  Police power to promote health, safety, and morals  Law enforcement  Criminal justice  Health and hospitals  Roads and highways  Public welfare  Use of public land and water supplies

 The federal constitution is a republic where laws are made by representative not directly by citizens themselves  States open up direct democracy in 3 ways: 1. Initiative- measures placed directly on the ballot as long as there are signatures from 5-15% of those who voted in the last election 2. Referendum – procedure allowing voters to reject a law usually used in tax increases 3. Recall – voters can remove an elected official from office