1. Federalism
Consequences

2. Consequences
 Variation in state laws – marital age, drive
a car, must attend school
 Variations in penalties for law breaking
from state to state
 Complexity of the legal system – national
and state courts
 Each state has its own constitution
 Complexity of the tax system – income
tax (federal and state), local sales tax

3.  Elections are state based run largely
under state law
 Political parties are decentralised and
largely state based
 Regional diversity – the South, the Mid
West

4. Power to the states
 Power has tended to shift back to the
states in recent decades – why?
 Reduction of federal govt economic aid to
the states
 A perception that federal govt
programmes eg New Deal had not been
so successful
 Federal govt failed to tackle social
problems such as gun crime

5.  Widespread distrust of federal govt and
Washington politicians
 Supreme court decisions upholding states
rights
 Republican domination of the White House
during the 1970s and 80s
 Election of a significant number of
Republican state governors during the
1990s.