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Federalism Dbq Essay

729 Words3 Pages

Federalism is a system of government used in the United States that divides power between the National and State governments. The U.S. constitution gives power to both the states, and the federal government, but the states cannot directly contradict the constitution. This makes it so that the broader issues are handled by the federal government, and the smaller, more local problems, go to the states. Sometimes, they must work together in order to make big things happen. A good example of this is the 1st article of the constitution. It talks about how the states decide how the elections will be held, but congress can pass laws to change the rule for elections (Document A). This shows that while the states have the power to pass laws, congress …show more content…

One of the federal government’s main jobs is to enforce the laws. Elections are so important and have such a large impact on the country as a whole, that it is obvious there are a lot of laws involved in the process. If any of the governments are too restrained, how will they properly enforce these laws? The 15th amendment shows a great example of this. It gave African American men the right to vote, which was being withheld from them by the states (Document B). If the federal government was not able to fully enforce this law, the states would likely find a loophole of some sort in the law, and we would not have the voting rights we cherish today. This actually happens more often than you would think! When some states from around the country such as Alabama, Virginia, and Texas established poll taxes, which made it so that you must prove you payed the tax before you can vote, they where indirectly discriminating against people of color (Document D). Although they did not directly say it, they knew what they were …show more content…

constitution has a separate purpose, but some need another in order to function properly. While the 15th amendment (Document B) and the poll tax receipt (Document D) are both centered around the idea that the federal and state governments need to be able to enforce laws, they also have many obvious differences. One talks about giving African American men the right to vote, while the other discusses paying a poll tax. The same goes for the first Article of the US constitution (Document A) and the timeline (Document E). While they are very different, you can see some of the rights that the first article of the constitution gave people reflected through the

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