In the United States of America, as the nation has grown and developed, so the power and influence of the national government has broadened in scope and magnitude. Simultaneously, the executive branch of the American government has evolved in dramatic fashion; the American President is recognized today as the most powerful man in the world. These two processes -- the increasing of national authority and the growth of presidential power -- have at times complemented one another and at times contradicted one another. Ultimately, these are trends that are precariously linked, and forever intertwined.
In the interest of protecting the individual citizen, the American system initially provided for basic sovereignty to reside in the separate states (Kinsley, 1995, p. 78). The 10th Amendment was drafted specifically for this purpose. At the time it was drafted, the federal government was responsible primarily for maintaining a free-trade zone and to protect the country from foreign aggression (McGinnis, 1998, p. 30). Throughout the following centuries, these powers would expand, gradually edging out the states in the battle for supremacy.
By the early 20th century, new Constitutional amendments had cropped up that granted the federal government more power. Similarly, in the 1960s the Warren Court would take drastic measures with the Constitution, allowing for most of the Bill of Rights to be incorporated into the due-process clause of the 14th Amendment, thereby stripping the states of even more power. The Warren Court, in utilizing this incorporation of Amendments into the due-process clause, began to establish a governing structure in this country that allowed for national standards to be legally imposed on local communities (Kelley, 1991, p. 612).
Though the activities of the Court during these critical years were concerned primarily with civil rights, the effects were more sweeping; The Warren Court, aside from usheri...