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The Articles Of Confederation Impact On Federalism

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The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. They were written during the revolutionary war to create a more unified government, and to establish what the national government could and could not do. The Articles let each state keep “sovereignty, freedom, and independence,” and created a very weak central government. For example, Congress could not regulate commerce or impose taxes. The impact that the Articles of Confederation had on federalism for the next few years was: the federal government had very few powers, and most of the authority remained in control of each individual state. The Elastic Clause is a statement in the first article of the Constitution. Also known as the “Necessary and Proper Clause,” it says that Congress has the power to “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper.” This means that Congress has implied powers to carry out laws that have been expressed in the constitution. One example of a time that the elastic clause has been used was when the federal government created a national bank. This shifted more of the power from the states to the federal government by giving it implied powers. With the elastic clause, the federal government creates more of its own laws. The Supremacy Clause is a statement in the US Constitution that says that “the laws of the United States… shall be the supreme law of the land.” This was created to resolve any disputes among laws of the states and of the nation. The supremacy

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