Understanding Dual Federalism: A Closer Look at Power Division in Government

Throughout the history of the United States, we have always appreciated the ideas of federalism. Federalism is the belief of a strong central government and a loose interpretation of a constitution (Anonymous, 2015). However, federalism in itself is nowhere near as simple as one many believe. There have been a great number of different takes on this belief, and we believe many of them to be very superior to other interpretations of the idea. There are two other renderings of federalism that appear to be very prominent, these being dual federalism and cooperative federalism.

Many people recognize the federalist ideas of government to determine the power given to central government, and the way that the government interprets The Constitution. However, federalism as we know it today is so much more than how the government interprets information. It is how these multiple bodies of presiding authority recognize the split of power. In the case of the U.S. government, these powers are either shared or split up between state and federal governments (Dugger, 2015). We interpret federalism in many ways, concerning the division of this power to ensure the best service to the population of the nation.

Dual federalism follows the belief that the powers of the federal government are restricted to the guidelines provided specifically in The Constitution – all other powers are granted to the states by decree of the 10^th Amendment to The Bill of Rights. This division of powers is what establishes the modern-day idea of divided labor between federal and state governments. This is especially the case considering how dual federalism relies specifically on the fact that the government definitively splits these powers between the different state and federal levels (Pearcy, Study, 2015).

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With these split responsibilities, it can make easier to levy heavy responsibilities from each side. As beneficial as dual federalism may seem, it can also have plenty of negative aspects, especially when compared side-by-side with those benefits of cooperative federalism. This idea also falls upon the foundation of the elastic clause, being mentioned in Article I, Section 8 of The Constitution. If the government collectively decides to uphold the elastic clause while dual federalism is in action, these responsibilities become powerful only within their own realm, rather than collectively across both levels.

The government did not experiment with cooperative federalism until after we had accepted dual federalism. It was at the time of The Great Depression that we first mentioned the idea. Rather than pointing out exact roles that each level of government holds, cooperative federalism puts emphasis on the different areas where responsibilities overlap (Anonymous, US Legal, 2015).

This means that rather than relying on each level of government maintaining its own powers, it relies more on the fact that the government rules as a whole, working together with the other level in order to maintain responsibility and order. Not only is this contrary to the beliefs of dual federalism, but it also puts to light a looser interpretation of the elastic clause. Because of this, cooperative federalism brings to light a type of federalism that is a much more accurate to what we still have in modern times.

Most people do not recognize the fact that federalism is more than just interpretation of The Constitution. People fail to recognize the fact that there can exist multiple renditions of an overarching idea. In relation to the ideas of federalism, these renditions that people fail to take note of are dual and cooperative federalism.

The thing about these other renditions of federalism is how they each divide labor among different levels of government. While dual federalism divides the responsibilities between federal and state powers, cooperative federalism organizes it so that there are overlapping powers between the two levels (Clancy, 2015). While neither of these interpretations are perfect, they each work well for their own specified time and purpose. With testing out different ideas of government brings the ability to make changes and improve government, which is precisely what we need for our nation in the present times.

Work cited

1. Anonymous. (2015, September 25). Legal Information Institute. Retrieved from law.cornell.edu: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/federalism
2. Anonymous. (2015, September 25). US Legal. Retrieved from definitions.uslegal.com: http://definitions.uslegal.com/c/cooperative-federalism/
3. Clancy, L. (2015, July 27). Student Reader. Retrieved from studentreader.com: http://studentreader.com/dual-federalism-cooperative-federalism/
4. Dugger, A. (2015, September 25). Study. Retrieved from study.com: http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-federalism-definition-factors-of-us-adoption.html
5. Pearcy, M. (September, 25 2015). Study. Retrieved from study.com: http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-dual-federalism-definition-examples.html

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