Summary
FEDERALISM is a government structure that joins two governing bodies by a covenant and allocates to each body specific powers and functions. In the United States government, this covenant and division of powers exists between the federal government and the states.
When drafting the Constitution, the American founders wanted to strengthen the national government in order to unite the states, particularly for purposes of defense and commerce. At the same time, having witnessed the tyranny and oppression of the British Crown, they wanted to limit the powers of the national government and let the people of the states remain sovereign.
The Constitution assigns to the national (federal) government specific powers and roles and reserves all others to the states and their people (see Amendment X).
Balanced federalism — a proper balance of power between the states and the federal government – is critical to maintaining a free and prosperous society. State and local governments can perform some roles more effectively and efficiently, whereas the national government is better suited for others (see Subsidiarity). Lawmakers should take care not to weaken the federal structure by shifting responsibilities from the national level to the state and local levels or vice versa.
Quotes from the Brethren
Dallin H. Oaks–
For more than a half century our national government has been acquiring additional powers by assuming functions previously left to state and local governments. This trend has now gone so far that our national government is beginning to direct what state and local must do and even how they must spend their limited funds. This trend must be stopped and reversed or we will cease to be the federal republic established in our Constitution. It is imperative that state governments have the power and fiscal resources to respond to local needs and to capitalize on local strengths; that is the essence of federalism. But if federalism is to work, state governments must be willing to move against local and regional problems such as clean air and water and not wait for every such initiative to come from the national government. The current imbalance between national and the state governments is just as much a product of state inaction as it is of national overreaching. (Dallin H. Oaks, Provo’s 1994 Freedom Festival Patriotic Service) (He says that this talk is his opinion)
Dallin H. Oaks–
Another inspired fundamental of the U.S. Constitution is its federal system, which divides government powers between the nation and the various states. Unlike the inspired adaptations mentioned earlier, this division of sovereignty was unprecedented in theory or practice. In a day when it is fashionable to assume that the government has the power and means to right every wrong, we should remember that the U.S. Constitution limits the national government to the exercise of powers expressly granted to it. The Tenth Amendment provides:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to it by the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people.”
This principle of limited national powers, with all residuary powers reserved to the people or to the state and local governments, which are most responsive to the people, is one of the great fundamentals of the U.S. Constitution. (Dallin H. Oaks, “The Divinely Inspired Constitution,” Ensign, Feb. 1992)
G. Homer Durham–
Federalism, the division of authority between a central government and local units, is one of the greatest political devices of all time. It limits any single all-powerful force. Caesar was not to become God, as he had in the Roman world. The device has roots in the necessities of administration, in the fact that the people in each locality can largely determine the effectiveness of governmental action for their area. For example, no federal marriage licenses are required in the United States as the basis for family organization. That precious function is retained by the states—delegated by them to the county courthouses. The principle of federalism has deep roots in man’s social needs. It finds clear expression in the Constitution of the United States. (G. Homer Durham, “The Protection of All Flesh,” New Era, Sept. 1987)
Quotes from the Founders
The Bill of Rights–
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. (Tenth Amendment to the Constitution Bill of Rights, December 15, 1791)
Alexander Hamilton–
This balance between the National and State governments ought to be dwelt on with peculiar attention, as it is of the utmost importance. It forms a double security to the people. If one encroaches on their rights they will find a powerful protection in the other. Indeed, they will both be prevented from overpassing their constitutional limits by a certain rivalship, which will ever subsist between them. (Hamilton, Alexander speech to the New York Ratifying Convention, June 17, 1788)
Thomas Jefferson–
I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that ‘all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.’ To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer susceptible of any definition. (Jefferson, Thomas Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank, February 15, 1791)
Speeches and Other Resources
- Dallin H. Oaks, “The Divinely Inspired Constitution,” Ensign, Feb. 1992
- Rex E. Lee, “The Consitution and the Restoration,” 15 Jan. 1991
- G. Homer Durham, “The Protection of All Flesh,” New Era, Sept. 1987
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