Who has governing power in the United States? In the complex system created by the US Constitution, the individual state governments and the federal government bear responsibility for specific matters. This system of different layers of government handling different responsibilities is known as “federalism.”
Although the Constitution aimed to clearly distinguish between federal and state jurisdictions, the two entities have sometimes had overlapping or even conflicting responsibilities. Interwoven into the federalism debate is how American Indian tribal sovereignty factors into the federalism balance between state and national government powers. Over the centuries, the way these jurisdictions interact has evolved, and the US Supreme Court continues to make rulings that shift responsibilities between state, federal, and tribal governments.
TCTH Lesson Plan
- Analyzing Federalism: Finding the Balance between Federal, State, and Tribal Powers
- Analyzing Federalism Unit Supplement: Federalism and Challenges from the Early Years of the Republic
- Civic Engagement Project Pacing Guidance
AllSides News
The Gilder Lehrman Institute has worked with AllSides.com to pull up current articles in the news media related to this topic written from different perspectives.
Click on the “Latest News” below to access the AllSides page on this topic.
The articles shown here update regularly, so if you find articles that you are particularly interested in sharing with your students, keep track of the links to the original publications.
Additional Gilder Lehrman Resources
Essays
- “A New Era of American Indian Autonomy” by Ned Blackhawk (Yale University), History Now 9 (Fall 2006)
- “Her Hat Was in the Ring: How Thousands of Women Were Elected to Political Office before 1920” by Wendy E. Chmielewski (Swarthmore College), History Now 47 (Winter 2017)
- “Why We the People?: Citizens as Agents of Constitutional Change” by Linda R. Monk, History Now 13 (Fall 2007)
- “Natural Rights, Citizenship Rights, State Rights, and Black Rights: Another Look at Lincoln and Race” by James Oakes (CUNY), History Now 18 (Winter 2008)
- “The Civil Rights Movement: Major Events and Legacies” by James T. Patterson (Brown University), History Now 8 (Summer 2006)
- “US Treaties with American Indian Nations” by Gautham Rao (American University)
- “The Passage of the Civil Rights Act” by Clay Risen (New York Times), History Now 41 (Winter 2015)
- “Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (Zitkala-Sa) and the National Council of American Indians: Leading the Way for Indigenous Self-Representation” by Michael P. Taylor (Brigham Young University), History Now 59 (Winter 2021)
- “An Arduous Path: The Passage and Ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment” by Elaine Weiss, History Now 56 (Spring 2020)
- “The Indian Removal Act” by Elliott West (University of Arkansas), History Now 22 (Winter 2009)
- “Reconstructing the West and North” by Richard White (Stanford University), History Now 55 (Fall 2019)
Spotlights on Primary Sources
- The Brotherton Indians of New Jersey, 1780
- Two versions of the Preamble to the Constitution, 1787
- A brawl between Federalists and anti-Federalists, 1788
- Thomas Jefferson’s opposition to the Federalists, 1810
- The Battle of Horseshoe Bend and the end of the Creek War, 1814
- Davy Crockett on the removal of the Cherokees, 1834
- Andrew Jackson to the Cherokee Tribe, 1835
- The Supreme Court upholds national prohibition, 1920
Lesson Plans
- The United States Constitution: Federalists v. Anti-Federalists by Tim Bailey
- Analyzing the Great Compromise, 1787 by Wendy Thowdis
- The Nullification Crisis by Elise Stevens Wilson
- Challenging Segregation in Public Education by Roberta McCutcheon
- Native American Policy by Gabriela Mercado
- Dawes to Burke to McGirt: Tribal Sovereignty, 1887–2020 by Rebecca Luebker
Online Exhibitions
Videos
- “An Overview of Key Moments in the Separation of Powers and the Supreme Court; Federalism and the Two Court Systems” by Jack Rakove (Stanford University)
- “Madison and the Constitution” by Larry Kramer (Stanford Law School)
- “Backlash against the Fugitive Slave Act” by Lois E. Horton (George Mason University)
- “The Legal History of Desegregation” by Jack Rakove (Stanford University)