Click any step to jump to it - the lit step is the one showing below. Federal power grows from the New Deal, then the Court and the states pull some of it back. Green = expanded or strengthened · Amber = mixed or contested · Red = restricted or weakened.
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What happened. The framers of the 1787 Constitution refined federalism, giving the federal and state levels their own spheres; the 10th Amendment (1791) reserved to the states any power not delegated to the federal government.
What it shows. Power deliberately split, with the states' sphere protected. Constitution and dual spheres
What happened. In McCulloch v Maryland the Marshall Court held that the federal government has implied powers under the Necessary and Proper Clause and that Maryland could not tax the federal bank.
What it shows. The foundation case for federal supremacy in its sphere. McCulloch and implied powers
What happened. FDR's New Deal began the cooperative "marble cake" era (1933-1968), making the federal government responsible for recovery, social security and banking regulation, funded through grants-in-aid; the Social Security Act 1935 and Civil Rights Act 1964 extended federal reach.
What it shows. A historic wave of federal power into state life. New Deal cooperative era
What happened. In Wickard v Filburn the Court ruled that even a farmer's wheat grown for personal use counted as interstate commerce, the peak expansion of the commerce clause.
What it shows. The legal high-water mark of federal authority. Wickard stretches commerce
What happened. The new federalism era (1968-2008) brought devolution - Nixon's block grants, Reagan's rhetoric of "returning power to the states", and Clinton's 1996 welfare reform handing welfare to state administration.
What it shows. A deliberate political push back toward the states. New federalism devolution
What happened. In US v Lopez the Rehnquist Court struck down the Gun-Free School Zones Act 1990, the first commerce-clause limit since 1937; US v Morrison (2000) followed on the Violence Against Women Act.
What it shows. The Court policing the federal-state boundary again. Lopez limits commerce
What happened. In NFIB v Sebelius the Court upheld the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate as a tax, but struck down the Medicaid-expansion coercion, ruling the federal government could not threaten all Medicaid funding to force compliance.
What it shows. Federal reach upheld in part but capped in part. NFIB caps the ACA
What happened. In Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health the Court overturned Roe v Wade and Casey, returning abortion to the states under the 10th Amendment; 13 states banned it immediately.
What it shows. Federalism by deletion - power handed back to the states. Dobbs returns abortion
What happened. In his second term Trump ordered the Department of Education dismantled, tied K-12 funding to anti-DEI compliance and threatened to withhold grants from sanctuary cities, though Printz v US (1997) anti-commandeering and Democratic-state AGs pushed back.
What it shows. Federal assertion at its modern peak, but contested. Trump 2 federal coercion
Roll up and down: use the arrows, scroll or swipe inside the box, the up and down keys, or click any step in the arc above.
Read top to bottom, the balance swings through four eras. Dual federalism (1787-1933) kept separate spheres; the New Deal cooperative era (1933-1968), backed by McCulloch and Wickard, pushed power to Washington; new federalism (1968-2008) and the Lopez Court pulled some of it back; and coercive federalism (2008-present) sees the federal government leaning hard on the states through the spending power.
The Court is the swing factor. McCulloch and Wickard expanded federal authority, but Lopez, NFIB and Dobbs have returned power to the states - while Trump v US (2024) expanded reach elsewhere. The trajectory is bidirectional and increasingly partisan, not a clean centralisation.
The same events split by side. Build each paragraph around one point from each column, then judge.
The strongest answers separate the long-run growth of federal power (New Deal to Trump 2) from the judicial and constitutional brakes (Lopez, NFIB, Dobbs, anti-commandeering), then judge whether the shift is decisive.
For "has power shifted decisively to the federal government?", run one paragraph on federal expansion (McCulloch, New Deal, Wickard, Trump 2 coercion) and one on power returning to the states (Lopez, NFIB, Dobbs, the 10th Amendment), then judge.
Name and date the cases and pair each with what it shows: Wickard = peak federal commerce power; Lopez = the Court reasserting state limits. The pairing is the AO2 mark.