FRQ Practice 2

When the framers of the constitution wrote the document, they purposely created a federal system, meaning a tiered government with local, state, and national levels of government. Although, theoretically, each operate in their own separate sphere, most of the time the levels of government operate on a "cooperative federal" level. The national government does have a moderate amount of power over state governments with categorical grants and federal mandates. Through these two systems, the national government can attach figurative strings to federal money that the states use. If the states do not adhere or meet certain standards, money can be withheld. On the flip side, states have power due to block grants and the Tenth Amendment. Block grants are basically handed out to all states with very general uses attached to them. This allows the states to put the money where it is needed most, as long as it vaguely relates to the grant specifications. The Tenth Amendment says that the state government are granted all powers not directly delegated to the national government or strictly prohibited of the states. This gives the states a significant amount of power because much can be open to interpretation.