Chapter Four Essentials Study Guide
Mr. McCormack
American Government
Chapter Four Essentials Study Guide
• The powers of the federal government can be broken into three categories.
Expressed Powers are clearly in the Constitution (for example, in Article I, Section 8) and include such powers as the power to coin money or declare war.
Implied Powers are not in the Constitution, but are closely connected to powers that are. We know the Framers intended for Congress to exercise Implied Powers because of Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 (the “Necessary and Proper Clause” or “Elastic Clause”). The Supreme Court famously upheld the idea in McCulloch v. Maryland. An example of an implied power is the power to draft soldiers for war.
Inherent Powers are not in the Constitution either, but there are certain powers that MUST be exercised by the governments of sovereign states. As the Constitution created a government for a sovereign state, we can assume the Framers intended the government to have those powers. An example of an inherent power is the power to control immigration.
• The federal government is a government of limited power – it can only do what the people specifically authorized it to do in the Constitution. State governments, on the other hand, have a much more broadly defined police power (the power to pass laws for the benefit of health, welfare, safety, or morals). Thus, states can pass any law that is not specifically prohibited by the Constitution. The 10th Amendment clearly states that all powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution, or prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or the people.
• We know that there are some things that the federal government cannot do, either because the Constitution does not mention them, or because the Constitution specifically prohibits them (such as taxing exports or making laws prohibiting the free exercise of religion), or because some powers are reserved to the states in our federal system.
• Congress can add new states by passing an Act of Admission. The only limits to this power are that the federal government cannot make a new state out of the territory of another without that state’s permission and the federal government can’t merge states without those states’ permission. Congress can also set conditions on admission, but can’t dictate political conditions post-admission.
• Five states (Maine, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Vermont) have been made on land that was formerly claimed by other states. One state (Texas) was an independent country before it joined the US. The US still has several territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa) that may become states in the future. WashingtonDC would like to become a state but cannot apply for statehood unless the Constitution is amended to allow it.
• The federal government must guarantee each state a republic form of government. The Constitution doesn’t really explain what that means, though it is interpreted to mean representative democracy. Protecting voting rights is seen as an example of this guarantee. The federal government must also protect states from invasion and internal disorder (when requested by the state government). The federal government must also respect the territorial boundaries of each state.
• The federal and states’ governments help each other in many ways. The federal government helps the states by funding many projects (roads, education, etc.) and providing other resources (ie FBI aid to law enforcement, military assistance to state national guard). The states help the federal government by conducting federal elections, helping immigrants to naturalize, and providing other resources (ie law enforcement aid to the FBI).
• States help each other in many ways, including signing agreements known as inter-state compacts for shared resources (ie a border river) and by extraditing criminals wanted by other states.
• The Privileges and Immunities Clause requires states to treat the citizens of other states just as they would their own, unless there is a reasonable justification for the difference. For example, out-of-state students may be charged more to attend a state university because in-state students already support the university through their tax dollars.
• The Full Faith & Credit Clause requires states to recognize the legal effect of laws and legal proceedings in other states. For example, an out-of-state contract or marriage would be recognized as valid in another state’s courts. The federal Defense of Marriage Act and the issue of gay marriage provides a test of the Full Faith & Credit Clause.
• The Supremacy Clause establishes that the federal Constitution is the supreme law of the land and that federal laws and treaties are just behind it. Thus, federal laws trump state laws or state constitutions. The Supreme Court famously upheld the idea in McCulloch v. Maryland when it struck down a state tax levied on a federal bank.