Federal Courts Turning Point Analysis

Because they could not forcefully tax the citizens, they were unable to collect money and repay their debt. In relation to the federal government being weak, the Powers of the State had far more power. Due to the states having more power, they were acting as if they were independent countries. Another

Even though the Articles of Confederation formed a poor government, to not be able to collect taxes, it had other weaknesses too. The government had no national court

The founding father’s idea when they created the Constitution was to prevent a centralized government. As expressed by James Madison in Federalist No. 51, they believe that the power surrendered by people would be divided between the federal and state governments, creating balance of power that would enable both governments to control each other. Over time, the balance of power between the federal and state governments has shifted in favor of the federal government and this has taken place with the help of the Constitution and by enactments of Congress. The role that Chief Justice John Marshall played in defining the power of the federal and state governments during the early 19th century is important to mention because he shaped the nation.

“Elastic Clause”. This clause is also often referred to as the “necessary and proper” or the “sweeping” clause. It can be found in article 1, section 8 of the constitution, clause 18. The “elastic clause” puts forward that Congress has the power to pass any law that they have deemed to be both necessary and proper to implement the powers that have already been delegated to the Congress. (U.S Const.

One of these rough patches was the Articles of Confederation, which taught us that a balance of power is of great importance. We abandoned the Articles of Confederation and adopted a new Constitution because of State powers, and lack of Congressional powers. The fear of a Central Government like Great Britain led The United States away from having such a strong Central Government. So the States were given autonomy to make most decisions & have many powers under early American Government.

The constitution addressed the issues that the articles of confederation failed to do such as federalism, checks and balances, and the Elastic Clause. Federalism is the principle that the national government does not have all of the power in the nation. Subdivisions of the nation (states) have many powers too. The national government protects the whole nation and holds the nation together, regulating things that states cannot regulate.

When the United States of America began to fight the Revolutionary War in 1775, they would need a governing body to run the new country. However, seeing as they had just escaped from a tyrannical government under England, the Articles of Confederation gave the states a very large amount of power so that they would not have the same problem again. However, although this government gave many states what they wanted, it was not strong enough to run a country. So, when writing a new Constitution the founding fathers gave more power to the federal government than the states because of the former government.

The Articles of Confederation had many problems and therefore it made the government weak. One of may problems was that under the Articles Of Confederation was that there was no executive branch, and so nobody could enforce or carry out laws made by Congress. Another problem was that each state only had one vote in Congress. When each state only had one vote states that had small populations had the same amount as a large state.

The three levels within the federal courts are: the U.S. Magistrate Courts, the U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. The magistrate courts are the lowest level and as such are limited to trying misdemeanors, setting bail amounts and assisting the district courts. The U.S. District Courts are the federal branch of original jurisdiction courts. These are responsible for criminal trials and giving guilty or not guilty verdicts. The U.S. Courts of Appeals are responsible for all the appeals from U.S. district courts.

Under the Articles, The power of government was very weak. Every state wanted to gain more power and benefits. So, government did not have executive, no judiciary authorities, no army, and even no chance to gain taxation. The federal parliament only declared war and peace, sent foreign envoys, adjusted relationship between states.

These authorities that the national government should have, were all up to the states to decide under the Articles. With the taking away some of the states rights in the Constitution, Anti-federalists feared that this would leave the states too weak, resulting in more problems. Under the new Constitution, many powers that were now in the government 's hands are: the power to levy and collect taxes, the power to regulate interstate commerce, the government set up a national court system consisting of district, circuit, and a supreme court, the government could enforce laws, there was now a house based on population, and a senate based on equal representation (two votes per state), to amend the Constitution, a ⅔ vote of Congress was needed, and a ¾ vote of the states were needed, and a majority rule was needed to pass bills. These new powers and abilities of the national government helped to create a strong, new

“The different governments will each control each other at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” (Doc A, Madison,James, Federalist Paper 51, 1788). Each part of the government had there own jobs to do, for example the central government has the power to regulate trade, conduct foreign relations, provide an army and navy, while the state government set up local governments, holds elections,

Examples of this would include the lack of a bill of rights, the unbalanced powers in our government, and overall the

1. The supreme court is the highest federal court in the United States. It consists of nine supreme court justices. Federal judges are nominated by the president and approved by the senate. Once appointed the justices will serve on the supreme court for the rest of their lives, unless they are impeached.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at the time was Chief Justice John Marshall, and he declared that this whole process of delivering commissions for judges, the Judiciary Act, was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court declared this act illegal, because it gave the Supreme Court a power that they were forbidden to have. This is when the first law was declared unconstitutional and judicial review came into