Power in Federal Government, Essay Example

Over time, the power of the federal government in America has increased. There has been a corresponding decrease in state power. Although the federal government began with a rather weak role over the state before the American Civil War, the power of the federal government has steadily grown since the Civil War. According the the Columbia Encyclopedia, “The Civil War decided the case in favor of the advocates of strong union, and since that time the general tendency has been toward the centralization and strengthening of federal power.” (The Columbia Encyclopedia) With this trend, the federal beuracacy has also expanded.

The Constitutional basis for the expansion of federal power is often argued to be in Article I section VIII, which is known as the necessary and proper” clause. This provides the federal government with the authority to take virtually unlimited measures to enforce the precepts of the Constitution. Under this law, federal welfare programs, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and federal education programs began which extended the influence of the federal government in areas that had once been left to individual states.

Another clause in the Constitution, the so-called “commerce clause” allows the federal government to oversee the economic business that goes on between states. This power has been broadly interpreted over time to include the federal regulation of most businesses. It provides for FDA standards and EPA standards. It indirectly but definitively supports the federal government’s ability to preserve lands and also individual species within a state’s territory. it also allows the federal government to impose minimum safety standards for goods and services and to provide national educational standards. The “No Child Left Behind” law provides a good example of how federal law over-rules state power by enforcing national standards for educational goals and priorities. The expansion of federal power in just this one area provides a glimpse into the general trend of the increasing of federal power and federal oversight into almost every aspect of American scoiety and life.

Works Cited

Constitution of the United States. 2009. In The Columbia Encyclopedia 6th ed., edited by Lagass, Paul. New York: Columbia University Press.