Federalism Evolution — From Dual to Cooperative to New¶
Learning Objective¶
Students will explain (Bloom L2 — Understand) how the balance of power between national and state governments has shifted across historical eras, and analyze (Bloom L4 — Analyze) what drove those shifts.
- Bloom Level: Analyze (L4)
- Bloom Verb: Explain, Analyze
- Library: vis-timeline
Specification¶
The full specification below is extracted from Chapter 3: "Chapter 3: Federalism and Federal Powers".
Type: timeline
**sim-id:** federalism-evolution-timeline<br/>
**Library:** vis-timeline<br/>
**Status:** Specified
**Learning objective:** Students will *explain* (Bloom L2 — Understand) how the balance of power between national and state governments has shifted across historical eras, and *analyze* (Bloom L4 — Analyze) what drove those shifts.
**Design:**
- Three horizontal bands representing the three eras (Dual Federalism 1789–1933, Cooperative Federalism 1933–1970s, New Federalism 1970s–present)
- Each era band has a distinct background color (red fading to blue fading to purple)
- Key events within each era are clickable markers:
- Dual: *McCulloch v. Maryland* (1819), *Gibbons v. Ogden* (1824), Sherman Antitrust Act (1890), *Lochner v. New York* (1905)
- Cooperative: New Deal programs (1933–38), Social Security Act (1935), *NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin* (1937, end of old Commerce Clause limits), Great Society programs (1965–68), Clean Air Act (1970)
- New Federalism: Nixon revenue sharing (1972), Reagan block grants (1981), *United States v. Lopez* (1995), Welfare Reform Act (1996), *NFIB v. Sebelius* (2012, limits on Medicaid expansion mandate)
- Clicking a marker opens an infobox: event name, date, brief description, "shift toward national power" or "shift toward state power" indicator
- Responsive: vertical on mobile