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Articles of Confederation
Left the federal government weak and allowed states to take control. Nothing was controlled across the board so states could make their own money and regulate people however they please. -
Constitutional Convention
They scrapped the Articles of Convention which had a lot of state power. They then created a form of government which made the federal part of it superior to the rest of it. -
10th Amendment
The 10th amendment states that the federal government has only the powers specifically mentioned to them. Any other power not listed is reserved for the states to handle. This obviously increases state's powers because it gives them more to do with. -
Virginia & Kentucky Compromise
States believed they could stand against any federal law they believed to be unconstitutional. This caused nullification in South Carolina when the state decided they would outlaw 2 federal tariffs -
McCulloch v. Maryland
Maryland tried to shut down a national bank in the state. The supreme court ruled that state government cannot impede on the actions of the federal government. Also ruled that implied powers are real things used by Congress -
Gibbons v. Ogden
Supreme court heard a case dealing with problems of interstate commerce from New York. The court ruled that the federal government had control of this because of the commerce clause -
Formation of land-grant colleges
Although the grants were provided by the federal government the states benefited from it more. It let states take land and turn them into colleges. New York very wittingly used it to cut down trees therefore profiting from the grant. -
Civil War
The southern states thought they had the power to secede from the union whenever they wanted to. The federal government and northern states disagreed and said the union must be preserved. The federal government took control over their seceding and therefore gained more power -
14th Amendment
This increased federal power because it overruled the state's ability to have laws making life difficult on previous slaves. It was supposed to make everyone “equal” no matter what the state says. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The federal government took control of the corporations in America by outlawing aggressive monopolies. It increased federal power because they laid it across the board with no state being able to overrule. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
They challenged the separate but equal ideal in segregation. The Supreme Court ruled that the state had the right to do this because rail cars did not have anything to do with the 14th amendment. -
16th Amendment
Gave the ability to the federal government to make and collect taxes. These taxes did not have to pass through states anymore and couldn’t be stopped by them. -
Gitlow v. New York
Gitlow gets arrested for bad talk about the government. Government Rules that federal laws are above state laws thus increasing federal power -
The New Deal
Increased the number of federally funded programs to help combat the great depression. This was supposed to be the state and local governments jobs but they couldn’t handle it. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Public schools in some states were funding segregation. Plaintiffs argued that the segregation was not actually equal and was causing psychological problems. The national government took control and said that all states had to abolish segregation in all public facilities. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Federal government outlawed discrimination on people based on race, sex, origin. It took away the state’s ability to make voting restrictions and segregation in anything public. -
Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
A large problem of poverty was growing in America. Part of Lyndon B Johnson’s war on poverty was the Economic Opportunity Act. The act increased federal programs to help the people and gave funding to many other existing programs -
Roe v. Wade
The outcome allowed for abortion to be kept legal. The only way a state could overrule this and make a law outlawing abortion is if there was a “compelling state interest”. Not very specific if you ask me. -
Election of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan cut taxes on wealthy so the money would trickle down to the poor. He also cut 60% of funding to federal programs which made things rely heavier on states -
Americans with Disabilities Act
Made it so people couldn’t discriminate others based on disabilities. This increased federal power because states no longer had any say in the matter -
Planned Parenthood v. Casey
Although it did not completely repeal Roe it did set back many of its decisions. The states now had control over when abortion was legal based on when they accepted it. -
United States v. Lopez
Congress tried to use the commerce clause to regulate handgun carrying. The Supreme Court ruled that Congress had spread the Commerce Clause way too thin and carrying of handguns had no real effect on the economy -
104th Congress
When the 104th congress met they got little accomplished. The government was shutdown for a period and they were locked in a constant battle with the president. -
Printz v. United States
Congress tried to control background checks on potential handgun owners. The supreme court ruled that Congress couldn’t make CLEO fulfill any of these tasks at all. -
Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare)
Creates a government provided health insurance plan. This plan knocked down the state's authority to regulate the private healthcare market for their particular state.
