THE ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT Throughout United States history, we’ve seen a battle over the role of government and how much power the government should yield. Over time, some perspectives have valued a strong central government while others have valued more power to the states. In some eras the government has been absent and laissez-faire, whereas in others the government extends its control over the people. Identify how the role of the government has changed over time.

PERIOD 3: Federal Government vs. State Governments

! Attempts by the British government to assert tighter control over the colonies and the colonial resolve to pursue self-government led to the colonial independence movement.

o American colonists did not agree with Britain’s attempt to collect taxes without direct colonial representation, (no taxation without representation)

o Local traditions of self-rule and ideas of the Enlightenment influenced colonists.

o Thomas Paine’s Common Sense

o Declaration of Independence

! After declaring independence, American political leaders created new Constitutions and declarations of rights that articulated the role of the state and federal governments while protecting individual liberties and limiting both centralized power and excessive popular influence.

o Articles of Confederation created a central government with limited power

o Difficulties over international trade, finances, interstate commerce, foreign relations and internal unrest led to calls for a stronger central government

! The Constitutional Convention compromised over the representation of slave states in Congress & the role of the federal government in regulating both slavery & the slave trade.

o Anti-federalists opposed the Constitution – argued the government was too power, states would not be protected, and a Bill of Rights needed to be added

o Federalists, whose principles were articulated in the Federalist Papers, asserted a powerful national government was imperative, though they promised the addition of a Bill of Rights and explicitly restricted the powers of the federal government.

! Delegates from the states created a limited but dynamic central government embodying federalism and providing for a separation of powers between its three branches.

! Political leaders in the 1790s took a variety of positions on issues such as the relationship between the national government and the states. This led to the formation of political parties.

o Federalists: supported strong central government (loose interpretation) o Democratic Republicans: supported states’ rights and a limited government (strict)

PERIOD 4: Disagreements about the role and power of the federal government

! In the early 1800s, national political parties continued to debate issues such as the powers of the federal government.

o Supreme Court decisions established the primacy of the judiciary in determining the meaning of the Constitution and asserted that federal laws took precedent over state laws.

! Market Revolution: legislation and judicial systems supported the development of roads, canals, and railroads, which extended and enlarged markets and helped foster regional interdependence.

! By the 1820s and 1830s, new political parties arose – the Democrats, led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whigs, led by Henry Clay – that disagreed about the role and powers of the federal government.

o Whigs had formed as an Anti-Jackson party. They believed “King Jackson” was abusing his power as president (Indian Removal, ignoring the Supreme Court in Worcester v. Georgia, vetoes, killing the National Bank)

PERIOD 5: States’ Rights and the Slavery Issue

! The courts and national leaders made a variety of attempts to resolve the issue of slavery in the territories – Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott Decision

! Defenders of slavery based their argument on the belief that slavery and states’ rights were protected by the Constitution

! President Lincoln expanded his powers during the Civil War

! Reconstruction altered relationships between the states and the federal government. The federal government outlasts, is superior to the states.

PERIOD 6: Laissez-faire during the Gilded Age

! Pro-growth government policies generated rapid economic development and business consolidation

! Gilded Age = Laissez-faire – the government did not regulation the growth of big business

! Dramatic changes in the period inspired political debates over the proper relationship between business and government

! Following the Civil War, government subsidies for transportation and communication systems helped open new markets in North America

! The government policies promoted economic growth and created new communities and centers of commercial activity

! Some argued that laissez-faire policies and competition promoted economic growth in the long run, and they opposed government intervention during economic downturns. ! Economic instability inspired agrarian activists to create the People’s (Populist) Party, which called for a stronger governmental role in regulating the American economic system.

PERIOD 7: Progressive Government, Laissez-faire 1920s, New Deal 1930s

! Progressive Era: government becomes much more involved and regulatory

! On the national level, Progressives sought federal legislation that they believed would effectively regulate the economy, expand democracy, and generate moral reform.

! Progressive amendments to the Constitution dealt with issues such as prohibition and women’s suffrage.

! Preservationists and conservationists both supported the establishment of national parks while advocating different government responses to the overuse of natural resources.

! After WWI, there is a shift back to “normalcy,” isolationism and little government

! Technological development combined with the conservative, laissez-faire policies of Presidents Harding and Coolidge led to economic prosperity in the 1920s.

! Conservative Republican President Herbert Hoover does very little to help the nation out of the Great Depression, believing in “rugged individualism.”

! Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal attempted to end the Great Depression by using government power to provide relief to the poor, stimulate recovery, and reform the American society.

! Radical, union and populist movements pushed Roosevelt toward more extensive efforts to change the American economic system, while conservatives in Congress and the Supreme Court sought to limit the New Deal’s scope.

! The New Deal left a legacy of reform and regulatory agencies.

SUM-UP o Debates over federal power vs. state power influenced with Articles of Confederation, the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, and the formation of the first political parties. o During the Market Revolution the government supported the growth of roads, canals and railroads, and during westward expansion the federal government similarly supported railroads through subsidies and settlement through the Homestead Act. o States’ rights over slavery was a key issue leading to the Civil War. After, Reconstruction altered relationships between the states and the federal government, asserting the supremacy of the federal government. o Laissez-faire during the Gilded Age allowed for the consolidation of business and economic growth. Conservative policies during the 1920s also contributed to innovation and prosperity. o The Progressive Era called for increased government regulation over business and society. The government regulated trusts, monopolies, labor, and added new amendments to protect the people. o FDR’s New Deal transformed the power of the federal government, increasing its power and scope and creating a number of regulatory agencies still in effect today.