federal power
Central government control
Federal power is the authority exercised by a national government, particularly in systems where power is divided between central and regional governments.
In the United States, federal power refers to the constitutional authority of the national government as distinct from state powers: The Commerce Clause has been used to expand federal power.
Debates over federal power often concern its proper limits—whether Washington has overreached or whether national action is necessary where states fall short.
- governmentAuthority over a state
- big governmentExpansive, powerful state apparatus
- WashingtonU.S. seat of government
- statesModes of being
- centralizedConcentrated in one location
authority · Constitution · jurisdiction · Supreme Court · Congress · executive · executive branch · sovereignty · overreach · mandate · regulation · interstate · bureaucracy · Capitol · legislation · enforcement · taxes · military
- constitutional lawConstitution, Bill of Rights, First Amendment, Second Amendment, Fourth Amendment
- Civil War aftermath13th Amendment, 14th Amendment, freedmen, Reconstruction, sharecropping
- ConstitutionBill of Rights, preamble, articles, U.S. Constitution, Article I
- Early RepublicGeorge Washington, Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Constitutional Convention
- authorityleaders, ruler, rulers, monarch, bosses
- Antebellum Americaantebellum era, Compromise of 1850, sectionalism, states' rights, Fugitive Slave Act
federal powerstate power
Government's capacity to govern
local governance · state authority · local government · state sovereignty · city government
federal powerdecentralization
Distributing power from center
devolution · subsidiarity · confederation · federalism · localism
federal powerindividual liberty
One's own protected rights
private sector · private enterprise · civil society · corporate power · individual rights
federal, power, federate, federation, federalism, federalist, federated, confederate, confederation