Government on Two Levels

The United States Constitution creates a central government known as the federal government. The federal government deals with issues that affect the entire country. Each state also has its own state government that only handles the affairs of that state. 

This division of power between a central government and state governments is called federalism. The federal government gets all of its power from the Constitution. In order to keep the federal government from becoming too powerful, the Constitution says that any power not given to the federal government is a power the states or the people keep for themselves. These powers are said to be reserved to the states. There also a few powers that both the states and the federal government share! These are called concurrent powers because concurrent means happening at the same time.

**Federalism: The division of power between the national and state government.

**Federal: a word that refers to national government.

The Supremacy Clause

Before the Constitution, the United States tried another government that was very weak. It wasn’t able to get much done because states could just ignore all the laws it passed—and they did! The Constitution has some very important language to prevent this:

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof… shall be the supreme law of the land.

That means federal laws passed by Congress are supreme—they are superior to state laws. The Founders of our country learned from experience that this was necessary in order for the federal government to keep the power the Constitution gives it.

Federal Power: Expressed Powers

The Constitution gives Congress two types of powers. The most obvious type is expressed powers. When you express yourself, you state how you feel. Similarly, expressed powers are actually stated, or “expressed,” in the Constitution. Each branch has expressed powers, but you mostly hear this term in reference to Congress. That’s because the Constitution gives a long list of powers that Congress has. 

For example, Congress has the power to coin money, declare war, and establish immigration laws. 

Some of the president’s expressed powers include negotiating treaties with other countries, nominating justices to the Supreme Court, and pardoning people who have committed a federal crime.

Federal Power: Implied Powers

Implied powers are not expressly stated in the Constitution. When you imply something, your intention is clear even though you don’t actually say it. For example, if you have permission to go to the mall, you probably also have permission to go into the stores in the mall. Permission to go into the stores is implied. 

In the Constitution, the implied powers of Congress come from the Necessary and Proper Clause. This is a part of the Constitution that says Congress may make any law that is “necessary and proper” for 

carrying out its expressed powers. So the Constitution doesn’t say Congress has the power to create a Postal Service website, but it does say Congress can establish post offices. Permission to create the website is implied because it is “necessary and proper” to running the post office.