National Government Definition, Responsibilities and Powers

The government, or political autonomy, that governs a country is known as a national government. A national government must have a national army, sufficient influence over its states or provinces to formulate and manage foreign policy, as well as the ability to collect taxes, at the very least. A national government can also be anything from a dictatorship to just a loose federation of states, such as the Confederacy during the Civil War in the United States. Unitary and federal governments are the two primary types of national governments.

What does it mean to have a national government?

States or provinces have little or no influence in a unitary government because it is centralised. Their regional powers were not even fixed because the national government can take them away at any time. Unitary governments include monarchies, dictatorships, and communist regimes.

The positions are reversed in a federal government. The states wield the majority of power, while the federal government is just given enough authority to function. Some federal governments only have the authority to organise an army, execute foreign affairs, and impose taxes. Most modern countries, including the United States, have federal governments.

Responsibilities of the Government

GOVERNMENTS were probably certainly formed to safeguard people from conflict and to maintain law and order. Why have there been human conflicts throughout history? Many people, both famous and not, have raised questions. Maybe selfishness is ingrained in human nature, and people will always fight over who gets whatever property or privilege. Maybe it’s because, as KARL MARX put it, the concept of “PROPERTY” makes people selfish and greedy.

Whatever the reasons, governments arose when people discovered that it was simpler to protect themselves by banding together in groups & agreeing that one (or a few) group members should have more power than others. SOVEREIGNTY, or the right of the group (later a country) to just be free of outside intervention, is founded on this recognition.

A country must therefore organise not simply to defend its residents from each other, but also to prevent external attack. They had built Great Walls in the past and carefully guarded them against invaders. Governments, on the other hand, acted when economies spiralled out of control during the 1930s, and countries fell into deep depressions. The FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM was established by the United States Congress in the early twentieth century to combat inflation and keep track of the dollars’ worth. 

Constitutional Powers of the National Government

Power is divided between the national (federal) government and the local (state) governments in the United States, which is a constitution-based federal system.

Despite the fact that the Supremacy Clause declares the Constitution, federal laws, and treaties to be the “supreme rule of the nation,” the Supreme Court has determined that the Constitution clearly established a federal government with restricted powers. “Every law created by Congress must be based solely on a single or more of its authorities stated in the Constitution,” the Supreme Court has said.

These limited powers are outlined in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution as “enumerated powers.” The ability to levy taxes, regulate commerce, establish a standard law of naturalisation, create federal courts, build and maintain a military, & declare war are among the enumerated powers.

In addition, the Supreme Court has construed the Necessary and Proper Clause to identify “implied powers,” which are those that are required to carry out the powers stated in the Constitution. Justice John Marshall established the idea of implied powers in McCulloch v. Maryland, declaring that a government trusted with great powers must also be entrusted with the authority to carry them out.

While the federal government is given vast powers by the Constitution, the 10th Amendment declares that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor forbidden and it’s to the States, are reserved for the States, or to the people.”

“The powers entrusted to the different States will extend to those objectives which, in the regular course of affairs, affect the lives, liberties, & properties of the people, as well as the internal order, progress, and prosperity of the State,” James Madison noted.

These reserved rights, such as those essential for public safety, health, and welfare, are commonly referred to as “police powers.”

Finally, concurrent powers are those that can be exercised by both the states and the federal government. Establishing courts, levying taxes, including spending & borrowing money are only a few examples. These are usually powers required for the upkeep of public infrastructure.

One of the difficulties with the federal system, as can be seen, is deciding which institution, if any, has the authority to legislate in a certain area. The idea of pre-emption was born out of the situation of conflicting laws between the states and the federal government in general.

If a state or local law conflicts with a federal statute, the state or local law must give way under this doctrine, which is based on the Supremacy Clause (unless the federal law is itself unconstitutional, it exceeds the power of federal government). 

The Supreme Court has suggested that the Supremacy Clause may imply pre-emption of state law through express provision, implication, or conflict between federal and state law under this doctrine. When it would be difficult for someone to comply with both state and federal laws, this is known as impossibility preemption. Pre-emption for purposes and objectives happens when a state law will impede the federal legislation’s purposes and objectives.

Conclusion

Federalism is a political framework in which 2 or more governments share control of the same geographical area. The state and federal governments in the United States share power. On a national level, the federal government establishes policies and administers laws, while state governments do the same with their respective regions of the country.

The separation of powers principle governs the duties of state and national government in the United States. A power is the legal right of a government’s executive, legislative, or judicial branch to act.

The national and state (or federal) governments in this country have distinct and distinct powers. The federal government could do things the states can’t, as well as the states can do things the federal government can’t.