Dual Federalism Essay

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When looking up the definition of power, what does one find? Power, as a noun, is defined as; the ability to do something or act in a certain way, the ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events, or the struggle over who gets what, when, and how. Yet, over the years power has been a struggle in our nation. To this very day power is still a struggle.

When the Articles of Confederation were created, it gave great power to the states. Although, the Articles of Confederation did not create a feasible governmental system. The confederal system, then made a weak national government and powerful states. However, there was the failure of the Articles of Confederation. For example, Shay 's Rebellion in 1786 by farmers
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However, the national government has learned to stand their ground. The Civil War was a big dispute over the states ' rights versus national supremacy. As stated before, an increase in the national government 's political powers was a the result of the war.

Over the years, federalism has evolved to what seems best for the country. Dual federalism perhaps, has been the most functional and productive governmental relationship. In fact, a crucial part of dual federalism is the tenth amendment. It states that national power is limited because any powers not constitutionally given to the national government are reserved to the states. The idea of dual federalism is that each level of government has defined powers. And not to be forgotten, the federal government cannot exceed those powers. Nullification helped to evolve the nature of this era of federalism. Dual federalism came to an end in the 1930s.

Ultimately, the national government appears to have more power over the country. As for the states, they have more power pertaining to their state. The United States government systems and nation is still evolving. There is a fine line that we must not cross pertaining to power in the national government. The government was built on the foundation of power to the people and

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