Under the Constitution both the national and state governments

Powers not granted to the Federal government are reserved for States and the people, which are divided between State and local governments.

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Executive Branch
Legislative Branch
Judicial Branch
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What power is both state and national government?
What part of the Constitution describes the relationship between states and the national government?
Which similarity do the state and national governments have?
How are shared by the national and state governments are called?

Most Americans have more frequent contact with their State and local governments than with the Federal Government. Police departments, libraries, and schools—not to mention driver’s licenses and parking tickets—usually fall under the oversight of State and local governments. Each state has its own written constitution, and these documents are often far more elaborate than their Federal counterpart. The Alabama Constitution, for example, contains 310,296 words—more than 40 times as many as the U.S. Constitution.

All State governments are modeled after the Federal Government and consist of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The U.S. Constitution mandates that all States uphold a “republican form” of government, although the three-branch structure is not required.

Executive Branch

In every state, the Executive Branch is headed by a governor who is directly elected by the people. In most states, other leaders in the executive branch are also directly elected, including the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state, and auditors and commissioners. States reserve the right to organize in any way, so they often vary greatly with regard to executive structure.

Legislative Branch

All 50 States have legislatures made up of elected representatives, who consider matters brought forth by the governor or introduced by its members to create legislation that becomes law. The legislature also approves a State’s budget and initiates tax legislation and articles of impeachment. The latter is part of a system of checks and balances among the three branches of government that mirrors the Federal system and prevents any branch from abusing its power.

Except for one State, Nebraska, all States have a bicameral legislature made up of two chambers: a smaller upper house and a larger lower house. Together the two chambers make State laws and fulfill other governing responsibilities. (Nebraska is the lone state that has just one chamber in its legislature.) The smaller upper chamber is always called the Senate, and its members generally serve longer terms, usually four years. The larger lower chamber is most often called the House of Representatives, but some states call it the Assembly or the House of Delegates. Its members usually serve shorter terms, often two years.

Judicial Branch

State judicial branches are usually led by the State supreme court, which hears appeals from lower-level State courts. Court structures and judicial appointments/elections are determined either by legislation or the State constitution. The supreme court focuses on correcting errors made in lower courts and therefore holds no trials. Rulings made in State supreme courts are normally binding; however, when questions are raised regarding consistency with the U.S. Constitution, matters may be appealed directly to the United States Supreme Court.

Local governments generally include two tiers: counties, also known as boroughs in Alaska and parishes in Louisiana, and municipalities, or cities/towns. In some States, counties are divided into townships. Municipalities can be structured in many ways, as defined by State constitutions, and are called, variously, townships, villages, boroughs, cities, or towns. Various kinds of districts also provide functions in local government outside county or municipal boundaries, such as school districts or fire protection districts.

Municipal governments—those defined as cities, towns, boroughs (except in Alaska), villages, and townships—are generally organized around a population center and in most cases correspond to the geographical designations used by the United States Census Bureau for reporting of housing and population statistics. Municipalities vary greatly in size, from the millions of residents of New York City and Los Angeles to the few hundred people who live in Jenkins, Minnesota.

Municipalities generally take responsibility for parks and recreation services, police and fire departments, housing services, emergency medical services, municipal courts, transportation services (including public transportation), and public works (streets, sewers, snow removal, signage, and so forth).

Whereas the Federal Government and State governments share power in countless ways, a local government must be granted power by the State. In general, mayors, city councils, and other governing bodies are directly elected by the people.

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The United States federal system divides power between national and state governments, both of which govern the same constituents. The powers granted to the national government in the Constitution are called delegated powers. There are three types of delegated powers: enumerated powers, implied powers, and inherent powers. Enumerated powers, sometimes called expressed powers, are given directly by the Constitution. Examples of these powers include the power to declare war, regulate foreign and interstate commerce, conduct foreign relations, coin money, and raise and maintain a military (Article 1, Section 8).

Implied powers are those powers that are reasonably inferred by enumerated powers. The need for these implied powers is spelled out in the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 18). The clause says that Congress has the power "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States." This clause is often referred to as the "elastic clause," as it can stretch to cover a wide range of supplementary powers necessary to carry out enumerated powers.

Inherent powers, although not expressly delegated by the Constitution, are powers that are intrinsically held by any national government of a sovereign state. Examples of inherent powers include the power to control immigration, the power to acquire territory, and the power to quell insurrections.

The powers granted to the state governments are reserved powers. These are powers that are not given to the national government, but which are not denied to the states. These reserved powers are collectively known as the "police power" of the state. Powers that are shared by both the national and state governments are concurrent powers. Examples include the power to tax, borrow money, and define crimes and punish criminals.

There are several powers that are denied either to national, state, or both governments. Powers that are given to the state governments may be denied to the national government, and vice versa. Examples of powers that are denied to the states are the power to coin money, make treaties, and wage war. The national government cannot make new states without the consent of the state legislature concerned, nor can they try anyone for treason without two witnesses and/or a confession.

A recurring debate concerning federalism is the question of which government's power is supreme regarding disputes between state and national governments. Article VI of the Constitution, referred to as the supremacy clause, states that there are three items that are the superlative law of the land: the Constitution, the laws of the national government which are not otherwise unconstitutional, and treaties, which can only be formed by the national government.

Although the supremacy clause gives the national government supreme powers, boundaries to those powers are provided in the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. This amendment gives the states those powers that are not delegated to the national government, nor prohibited to the states. Therefore, the Tenth Amendment became the states' guarantee to rights and the source of the state governments' reserved powers. This amendment clearly defines the eighteenth century concept of dual federalism: shared power with separated spheres of influence.

Federalism in the United States has been an evolutionary process. Three key issues have determined how national and state powers are balanced: implied powers, commerce power, and the Civil War.

The concept of implied power has often been brought into question concerning national supremacy. The Supreme Court case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) was instrumental in shaping the meaning of implied powers. This landmark case addressed whether or not Congress has the power to create a national bank. The state of Maryland charged the Baltimore branch of the Bank of the United States, a bank created by Congress, a hefty tax. When James McCulloch, the head cashier of the branch, refused to pay the tax or the fees he incurred, he was taken to county court. The case finally made its way to the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice John Marshall determined that establishing a national bank is a "necessary and proper" function of the federal government, therefore establishing the concept of implied power.

One of the delegated powers of the national government is the power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce. Although seemingly straightforward, defining "commerce" and establishing the boundaries of the power of commerce control has proven to be difficult. The case of Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) defined commerce broadly, giving Congress the power to control practically every form of interstate commercial activity.

Differences of opinion over the issues of national supremacy and state sovereignty were fought on the battlefield, as well as in the courts. The Civil War was fought, in part, over the issue of federalism. The concept of nullification was an issue that was used to argue states' rights preceding the Civil War. The idea of nullification was created in 1798 by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, who argued in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions that states had the right to declare a federal law null and void if they determined it to be unconstitutional.

Later, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina revived the concept of nullification, first in opposition to a federal tariff and later to bolster South Carolina's right to continue slavery, even after Congress' efforts to ban it. Calhoun's position was that the states had the right to declare the federal ban of slavery unconstitutional, and therefore, null and void. Subsequently, the Civil War determined once and for all that states could not declare acts of Congress unconstitutional and that the federal union cannot be dissolved.

The Slaughterhouse Cases (1873) solidified the concept that the states were sovereign within their borders. In these cases, the state of Louisiana granted a monopoly of slaughterhouses for the protection of pubic health. Slaughterhouse operators who lost their businesses claimed that they had been deprived of their property without due process in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. This amendment forbids the states to deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law and established citizenship for African Americans. The original intent of the Fourteenth Amendment was to guarantee the freedom of former black slaves. In these cases, the Court drew a distinction between United States and state citizenship, and it was held that the amendment did not intend to deprive the state of legal jurisdiction over the civil rights of its citizens. The restraint placed by the state on the slaughterhouse operators was declared not to have deprived them of their property without due process. In this case, the states preserved their authority.

As is obvious throughout history, federalism has evolved from its creation by the Framers of the Constitution and continues to change through the political discussions and court cases of today.

What power is both state and national government?

Finally, certain powers are called concurrent powers, which the states and the federal government both may exercise. These can include, for example, setting up courts, levying taxes, and spending and borrowing money. Typically, these are powers necessary for maintenance of public facilities.