- Has the power of the president evolved over the past 200 years? Has the office become too powerful? Was that their intent? Fully explain each element.
- Should the federal government be more limited to the enumerated powers found in the Constitution or is it inevitable that it assumes implied powers over time? What are the consequences or implications? What did the framers intend?
- Should the framers have ended the institution of slavery in the Constitution? Why or why not?
- If you were alive in 1787, would you have been a Federalist or Anti-Federalist? Why? What were their basic differences?
- What is federalism? What powers does the U.S. Constitution confer on the national government? What powers does the U.S. Constitution confer on the several state governments? What powers are shared by and denied to both the federal and the state governments?
- What is “horizontal federalism” and what are the parts of the U.S. Constitution that function to place all states on a level playing field?
- How were the Supreme Court rulings in the cases of McCulloch v. Maryland and Gibbons v. Ogden important for federalism?
- Compare and contrast “dual federalism,” “cooperative federalism,” “New Federalism,” and “New Age Federalis
- What is the current state of U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence on the topic of federalism?
