Federalism: Dividing Power
Aligned to C3.D2.Civ.2 — C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.
What this lesson teaches
Federalism divides authority between a national government and the state governments, with some powers reserved to each and some shared, or concurrent, such as the power to tax. The Constitution's Supremacy Clause makes valid federal law override conflicting state law. Delegated powers belong to the national government, while the Tenth Amendment reserves unlisted powers to the states or the people.
Worked example
During Prohibition and later drug policy, both the federal government and the states could pass and enforce their own laws, an example of concurrent powers, until conflicts were resolved under the Supremacy Clause.
Practice questions
- Define delegated, reserved, and concurrent powers.
- Explain what the Supremacy Clause does when a state law conflicts with federal law.
- Analyze one advantage and one disadvantage of dividing power between national and state governments.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
Federalismo: la división del poder
El federalismo divide la autoridad entre un gobierno nacional y los gobiernos estatales, con algunos poderes reservados a cada uno y otros compartidos, o concurrentes, como el poder de cobrar impuestos. La Cláusula de Supremacía de la Constitución hace que la ley federal válida prevalezca sobre la ley estatal que la contradiga. Los poderes delegados corresponden al gobierno nacional, mientras que la Décima Enmienda reserva los poderes no enumerados a los estados o al pueblo.
Ejemplo: Durante la Prohibición y, más tarde, en la política antidrogas, tanto el gobierno federal como los estados podían aprobar y hacer cumplir sus propias leyes, un ejemplo de poderes concurrentes, hasta que los conflictos se resolvían bajo la Cláusula de Supremacía.
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