American Federalism—Theory and Practice

Abstract

THE appearance in the last decade of such devices for social control as the Government Corporation and the Interstate Authority seems to suggest that the American Federal State system is passing through a critical stage in the course of social metamorphosis. It may be that the Federal State system, succeeding the Confederate system of states, approaches now a Regional system in the course of this metamorphosis. It is at any rate interesting that the Constitutional provision for agreements among the states with the consent of Congress—perhaps the most typical symbol of the old Confederation— is, with the breaking down of the Federal State system, coming strongly into vogue. Where the problems are regional in character and where the jurisdictional framework is not coincidental with the problem area (for example, the Colorado River Valley Problem Area) a regional authority created by concessions of jurisdiction on the part of the several states or on the part of the states and the Federal Government becomes necessary. These considerations determine the manner in which such regional or “sub-national” interests are to be set within “the framework of the American Nation”—a framework, the legal lines of which, in the words of the National Resources Committee, “aggravate the growing points of our national life”.