AP Gov Essay 10/31/13

 As time has gone on, our government has changed it's policies. This also goes for the constitution as it is amended and tweaked over time. There are two ways to amend the constitution both formal and informal. The formal approach includes proposal and ratification. The informal route includes more propaganda and proposal, rather then ratification.The informal methods are used more frequently because they require less effort, but could still warrant a result.

A major system of government at play today is federalism. It is the layering of government to create a system of shared power. One of the benefits of federalism is categorical grants, which limit the uses of the grant money so it can't be overused. Also another benefit would be federal mandates, which help regulate the relations between state and local government.

But as the state and national government found their boundaries, there were certain instances that required the states to have more power. An example of such power would be the tenth amendment. This amendment gave the states implied powers that weren't directly addressed in the constitution. Also block grants would be another example of power to the state government. These grants gave states funding for broad programs such as community development.