Dual Federalism Research Paper

In 1787, the United States of America, a nation founded on strong principles of freedom, would go on to see its first constitution. This constitution would soon give rise to federalism, a system in which both the national and state governments derive all their authority from the people. To put it simply, federalism is the idea of splitting the governing duties between the national and state governments while striving for the good of the people. Despite federalism remaining a strong and supported system of government to this day, both the national government and state government have in fact undergone major changes over time as they continued to evolve, intertwine, overpower, and grow with each other as new events and issues affected the country.

However, this system of government, which currently favors the federal government, once was neatly balanced between the state and national government in what we now know as dual federalism. Lasting from the founding of the United States to roughly World War II, dual federalism involved a noticeable separation between the national and the state government. This caused national governments to handle issues such as foreign policy and trade while leaving state governments to handle their own issues. While it endured as such for many years, conflicts such as the Civil War and the World Wars required the federal government to overpower and manage the states governments’ interests for them; additionally, the increase in industrialization and globalization pushed the federal government into assuming a greater economic role than state governments. This began the path for a powerful central government but, thanks to the Great Depression, the federal government would be forced to share some of its power again with the