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Balance Of Power In The United States: A Case Study

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The distribution of power in the united states has been a fierce debate ever since the founding of the country. The constant shifting of the balance of these powers between the federal and state governments of the united states has created an ever swinging pendulum swaying between two extremes: a oppressive autocracy and an ununited mob. Though it is debated where exactly the perfect balance is the general concensus is the balance is somewhere in the middle.

The original form of this balance was the articles of confederation. The articles set in place a system of government that gave states almost all of the power reserving very few powers for the weak federal government. The few powers the federal government did have were very weak and often relied on the state's cooperation to achieve anything. For example the states had the ability to tax the people to generate funds to support the government, but the federal government only had the ability to borrow or beg for money. Due to this over reliance …show more content…

The proposed solution was the constitution. The same document that guides the united states today. This document shifted the balance of power by explicitly guaranteeing powers of the federal government. The most impactful powers guaranteed by the constitution were the Commerce clause and constitutional mandates, Both of which gave the federal government a stronger position to control the states. The commerce clause did this by giving the federal government the authority to regulate any activity that can be considered to relate to interstate commerce. Which can be interpreted as almost anything. Mandates gave the federal government the ability to mandate, or order, the states to act certain ways. This reduced the independence of each individual states. This has lead to many of outcries for more sovereignty for the

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