Federal Government Role in the United States
Constitution of the United States: The Influence of the Constitution Defining the Role of the Federal Government
Although the Constitution created a new federal government, it took a courageous, brilliant, and farseeing Supreme Court chief justice to help realize the framers’ vision. In a series of striking opinions, Chief Justice John Marshall, who sat on the Supreme Court from 1801 until his death in 1835, forcefully built a body of law that gave constitutional strength to the new government. The defining moment came in 1803 when Marshall announced the doctrine of judicial review in Marbury v. Madison. It is for the courts, Marshall wrote in his decision, not other branches of government, to say what the Constitution means. By asserting the primacy of the judicial branch over the other branches of government, Marshall’s decision made the Supreme Court the authoritative interpreter of the Constitution. In this single decision, the Supreme Court won the right to strike down any law enacted by Congress or the states that conflicts with the Constitution.
The Marbury case made the Supreme Court the main arbiter (decision-maker) in struggles over state and federal power. Marshall used this power in 1819, in McCulloch v. Maryland, to give vast authority to Congress and the federal government. The case arose when Congress created a national bank, the Bank of the United States. Some states objected and tried to tax the bank out of existence. The Supreme Court decided that even though the Constitution did not explicitly give Congress the power to create a bank, Congress could do so under the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution. The clause empowers Congress to take whatever actions it deems appropriate to achieve its legitimate goals, such as regulating the economy. In the nearly two centuries since the Marshall court’s broad interpretation of the Necessary and Proper Clause, the federal government has expanded into nearly every aspect of U.S. social and economic life.
The Supreme Court cannot force other branches of government to obey its decisions. In 1832 the court ruled in Worcester v. Georgia in favor of the Cherokees in a treaty dispute with the United States. Upon hearing of the decision, President Andrew Jackson is said to have retorted: “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” Jackson ignored the court’s decision, and Georgia stripped the Cherokee of their land. In the next century and a half, federal and state governments sometimes ignored judicial decisions. Some Southern states evaded the Court’s 1954 desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka for years. Arkansas, for example, refused to abide by the Court’s decision until 1957, when President Dwight Eisenhower sent federal troops to enforce it. But the principle of judicial review has historically been so widely respected that eventually the Court’s declaration of constitutional principles has prevailed. (1)
In this Section about the Influence of the Constitution and Protecting Personal Rights: Constitution Influence, Federal Government Role, Constitutional Regulation of Business and Commerce, Constitutional Protection of Personal Rights, Constitutional Protection of the Right to Privacy, Constitutional Protection of Free Speech, Constitutional Protection of Religious Rights, Constitutional Protection of the Rights of the Accused, Constitutional Protection of Civil Liberties. (1)
The Constitutional Principles of Government
Although the Constitution has changed in many aspects since it was first adopted, its basic principles remain the same now as in 1789:
- The three main branches of government are separate and distinct from one another. The powers given to each are delicately balanced by the powers of the other two. Each branch serves as a check on potential excesses of the others.
- The Constitution, together with laws passed according to its provisions, and treaties entered into by the president and approved by the Senate, stands above all other laws, executive acts and regulations.
- All persons are equal before the law and are equally entitled to its protection. All states are equal, and none can receive special treatment from the federal government. Within the limits of the Constitution, each state must recognize and respect the laws of the others. State governments, like the federal government, must be democratic in form, with final authority resting with the people.
- The people have the right to change their form of national government by legal means defined in the Constitution itself.
(Source: “An outline of American government” (1980), by Richard C. Schroeder)
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