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082			_a321.02 BEN
100			_aBennett, Walter Hartwell
245		0	_aAmerican theories of federalism
260			_aAlabama
260			_bUniversity of Alabama Press
260			_c1964
300			_a227 p.
520			_aWhat are the different concepts of federal union that Americans have from time to time pro pounded? What has been the importance of these concepts in shaping the political institutions of the United States and in influencing public policy? In American Theories of Federalism Walter Ben nett has given these two questions their first com prehensive, detailed analysis, carrying his study from the colonial era through the first six decades of the twentieth century. Bennett uses the word "federal" in this book as a label for any political system in which there is a constitutional distribution of powers between pro vincial or local governments and a common cen tral government. Thus, speculation during the colonial period about the nature of the British Empire is well within the scope of his study, as are theories about the nature of the American union as it existed under the Articles of Confed eration of 1781. Before 1900, American constitutional theorists tended to approach federalism from the point of view of a priori notions of the nature of the state and its sovereignty a tendency obvious in colo nial arguments over the rights of the colonies, in the debates over the framing and ratification of the Constitution, and in various nineteenth cen tury controversies. Even after the Civil War had settled, for all practical purposes, the issue of the "right" of state secession, relations between the central and state governments were often still ar gued in strict legal terms. Jurisdictional spheres were assumed to be marked by such rigid bound aries that only formal amendment to the Con stitution or the will of some omnipotent sovereign could change them. In the twentieth century, emphasis on legal for malism has receded, and more and more attention has been devoted to adapting the institutions of American federalism to their new environment. The burgeoning population, increased industrial ization, modern warfare, have all propelled the idea that the federal distribution of powers will change and ought to change through new inter pretations of the same Constitution which estab lished it. When the Supreme Court adopted this new idea during the New Deal era, many thought the states would not survive the consequent enormous shifts in power and responsibility. Yet Professor Bennett holds that the existence of the states has never been seriously threatened. He points to the large number of functions still performed by the state governments, and to Congressional reluctance to encroach on areas traditionally falling under state jurisdiction. Despite the fact that judicial restraints on Congress have been relaxed, the states still hold a significant role in the composition of the central government, for by constitutional provision the seats in Congress and the Presidential electors are allotted to the states. This power will continue to make the Executive and the Congress responsive to local and state interests.
650			_aFederal government.
942			_cDB _2ddc