Includes bibliographical references and index.

The United States's system of federalism has presented significant constitutional conflicts throughout history, from the founding of the first national bank, through Congress's efforts to deal with the dire effects of the Depression, to constitutional aspects of today's conflicts involving, for example, health care and immigration law. Knowing this history is vital to understanding today's - and tomorrow's - regulatory and political disputes. Federalism: A Reference Guide to the United States Constitution provides a thorough examination of this significant and distinctive part of the U.S. constitutional system, discussing its role in major domestic constitutional controversies in every period of American history. The book is organized historically, addressing the marked evolutions of important areas of doctrine over time. These doctrinal areas include the scope of Congress's power under the Commerce Clause, the scope of Congress's powers under the Fourteenth and other post-Civil War Amendments, the states' authority to regulate commercial and economic matters when Congress is silent, the principle of the supremacy of federal law and the law of preemption that follows from it, intergovernmental and sovereign immunities, the obligation of state courts to enforce federal law, and the scope of national power to regulate or impose obligations on the states. -- from back cover.

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