Essay On Dual Federalism

Federalism has evolved since its beginning within our government and has effected how are governments works. The power of states vs. the power of the national government was a major concern of the american people, so much so that the rights that each one has were written into our constitution. In the beginning this idea of federalism started out as what is known as "Dual Federalism". The National government worked almost completely separate from the states, similar to working in "their own little worlds". There was no shared authority or cooperation between levels of government. This type of interaction among national and state powers continued from 1790 all the way up until 1930. From 1930 to roughly 1960, Cooperative Federalism took over.

These specific grants provided funds for things such as education, urban renewal, and combating poverty, but often promoted national policy and pitted community activists against governors or mayors within their state 's government. This method of federalism began to dwindle and in 1980 the new fad called "New Federalism" began to take rise within our government. This "New" federalism if what is continues to be practiced today. This type of federalism involved consolidating numerous categorized grants in to bigger broader block grants. These block grants allowed the states to gain power voice in how federal money was spent and thus was born the Concurrent Powers. Concurrent Powers are those that both the state and national government have the right to enact, for example regulating elections, taxing, borrowing money and establishing courts. The scope national government has continued to be enlarged through these concurrent powers. They create a connection between the national and state level of government, but the two still possess their own individual powers over the other, for example states do not have the right to declare