American Government   4.4 Federalism and Politics 4 
DRILL: States’ Rights & Nationalism
States’ Rights: favors local action
Nationalism: favors federal action

LESSON OBJECTIVE
Students will be able to summarize the impact of federalism on politics by reading excerpts and researching information from today’s lesson.

I. Congressional Sessions 
A. Each term of Congress has two sessions.
B. Sessions last until Congress votes to adjourn.
II. Membership of the House 
A. Members must be at least 25 years old, citizens for at least 7 years, and residents of their states.
B. Members serve for 2-year terms.
C. The number of representatives from each state is determined by the census population count every 10 years.
III. Membership of the Senate 
A. Senators must be at least 30 years old, citizens for at least 9 years, and residents of their states.
B. Senators serve for 6-year terms; one-third are elected every two years.
C. Each state elects two senators.
D. The Senate and the House set members’ salaries, and receive numerous benefits, allowances for office staffs and business trips, tax breaks for maintaining two residences, and pensions when they retire.
E. Both House and Senate members enjoy immunity from arrest, in cases not involving a felony or treason, or being sued for libel when Congress is in session.
Odds & Ends
1. A policy is a stated course of action
2. periodic checks of government agencies are called sunset laws
3. David Levitt tried to feed hungry people 
4. State elections are for the governor and the General Assembly
5. Government administrators are called the bureaucracy
6. Federalism contributes to economic and political differences among the states because it permits each state freedom.

American Government   4.4 Federalism and Politics 4

1. E 			6. C
2. D 			7. A
3. A 			8. B
4. C 			9. C
5. B 			10. D		

11. No. The size of the House is limited for more efficient government. There are 435 members now, if Congress grew in size, it would become inefficient.

13. I would pick the US Senate because you are elected for six years and there are only 100 members.

BCR 1. Advantages of federalism for states may include protection from military threat and freedom from some of the burdens of debt. Advantages for private interests may include a central government with the power to honor its debt obligations communities; for predicting the number of people who will qualify for Medicare; for tracking changes in ethnic and racial population ratios and so forth.

BCR 2. The advantages and disadvantages of federal and state responsibility. 
A. States, rather than local school districts or the federal government, should have the responsibility for identifying the standards — content and skills — students should attain.
B. States should take the lead in creating or acquiring the tests to measure student progress.

Summary: In today’s lesson, we summarize the impact of federalism on politics. 

Homework: Bureaucracy & Sunset Laws
Bureaucracy: government administrators & clerks
Sunset Laws: This law prohibits public officials from holding meetings not open to the public

Name ____________________________________________Class ___________ Date______________
American Government   4.4 Federalism and PoliticsSECTION 4 

Match each item in Column A with the items in Column B. Write the correct letters in the blanks. 
Column A
______1. stated course of action
______2. periodic checks of government agencies
______3. made a difference to hungry people
______4. state elections
______5. government administrators	Column B
A. David Levitt
B. bureaucracy
C. governor
D. sunset laws
E. policy

In the blank at the left, write the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question. 
______6. The course of action a government takes in response to an issue or problem is called
A. federalism. 				C. public policy.
B. bureaucracy. 			D. interstate policy.
______7. This law prohibits public officials from holding meetings not open to the public.
A. sunshine law 			C. sunset law
B. moonlight law 			D. law of bureaucracy
______8. This lessens the risk of one political party gaining a monopoly on political powers.
A. bureaucracy 				C. sunshine law
B. federalism 				D. sunset law
______9. This organization was formed to help local politicians keep in touch with national lawmakers.
A. America’s governors 		C. United States Conference of Mayors
B. Bureaucracy Bound 			D. The Senate Committee
______10. Federalism contributes to economic and political differences among the states because it
A. includes the sunset law. 		C. regulates states’ governments.
B. includes the sunshine law. 		D. permits each state freedom.

11. Today, each House member represents about 600,000 people. When the population increases, should Congress add more members to the House? Why or why not? 

12. If you were a politician, would you rather be a member of the House or the Senate? Explain

4.4 Primary Document The Federal System from The Age of Federalism
BY STANLEY ELKINS AND ERIC MCKITRICK
True, in the beginning there were clear interests at large in the society, each with its own particular version of what the future ought to hold for it, and for each of which Federalism in some form might make a difference. There were private interests and a variety of public ones as well. 
A number of state governments had something substantial to gain by way of rescue from a sea of troubles. There were states hemmed in by the commercial regulations of neighbor states, others with exposed and threatened military frontiers, still others with burdens of debt no longer supportable by their own taxes. 
Of the private interests, some were straightforward enough: merchants with disposable capital who had invested in the war debt, and for whom any central government with the power to honor its obligations was reason enough for supporting it; or merchant shipowners who could see any measure of national power as a better guarantee for the safety of their voyages than any they currently had. 
As for the “agricultural interest,” once seen as a natural salient against Federalism everywhere, much depended on local circumstances for a Federalist direction to imply either benefit or injury, or neither. The great planter interest of South Carolina embraced Federalism for one reason; the great planter interest of Virginia repelled it for another reason. 

4.4 Primary Document The Federal System from The Age of Federalism…continued
In rural western Massachusetts, where widespread debt and forclosures had brought on Shays’s Rebellion, the weight of the state’s tax structure was much eased by the federal assumption of state debts.	Neverteless when the entire design of Federalism was eventually in place, there was not enough in it for any of them . . . so that for any lasting or positive purposes the design never quite added up. For some it was a downright rude awakening. Such was evidently the case for the community of city artisans, who at first saw in Federalism a saving force to which they might look for protection against foreign competition, and who in New York City had paraded in a body to celebrate the new Constitution with a great float inscribed HAMILTON. 
They seem to have undergone a certain disillusionment as it dawned on them that when Hamilton himself later talked of “manufactures,” what he had in mind was not the kind they made. Few groups thereupon did more . . . to fashion the language of American republicanism: “country” thoughts, as it were, in a city voice.
 
BCR 1. List the advantages federalism offers to individual states, as well as to private industry.

BCR 2. As the debate continues over the appropriate powers of the state as opposed to the federal government. The establishment of a national curriculum for public school students, known as No Child Left Behind, constitutes an attempt by the federal government to increase its role in education. In contrast, welfare reform legislation passed during President Bush’s administration is an example of federal powers “devolving” to the states. Pick one of these issues and list the advantages and disadvantages of federal versus state responsibility as it pertains to that particular issue.

In your own words, summarize today’s lesson