Dual Federalism Essay

449 Words2 Pages

The original system of dual federalism was set up so that the states and national government were separate but worked together. The states did most of the governing instead of the national government. “Citizens daily lives were chiefly affected by their states government not the national.” (Champagne and Harpham, 86) The national government role was to provide for national defence and foreign policy and assist in the development of commerce. The original statement of dual federalism can be found in The Collector v. Day (1807). A Supreme Court case that challenged the authority of the federal government to tax income of a state judge. The majority stated, “ The general government and the states, although both exist within the same territorial …show more content…

Federalism changed from the layer cake to the marble cake which means is was blended and all boundaries between the national government and state government were blurred. What came out of this marble cake federalism was cooperative federalism, where state and national government to provide services. Often with joint funding mainly funded by the national government. One of the most well known one is the social security, which actually changed the existing federal system in a number of fundamental ways. Such as first it put a national insurance for the elder. Second it into place a series of state-federal programs to see social problems such as unemployment, aid dependent children, and aid the blind and disabled. Although the money was federal and came in with strings attached, the states still ran them and it differed from state to state. The grants using this model were called categorical grants. The new deal led to rejection of state power when it appeared to be in the way of national government. “...there seemed no boundaries on national government.” (Champagne and Harpham, 88) Unlike the layer cake, the marble cake the national government had power and it was about equal in the beginning then it switched to the states having little power and the national government having a lot, it was