| Block grants | Federal grants-in-aid that permit state and local officials to decide how the money will be spent within a general area, such as education or health.
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| Categorical grants | Federal grants-in-aid to states and localities that can be used only for designated projects.
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| Commerce clause | The clause of the Constitution (Article I, section 8) that empowers the federal government to regulate commerce among the states and with other nations.
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| Confederacy | A governmental system in which sovereignty is vested entirely in subnational (state) governments.
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| Cooperative federalism | The situation in which the national, state and local levels work together to solve problems.
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| Devolution | The passing down of authority from the national government to states and localities.
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| Dual federalism | A doctrine based on the idea that a precise separation of national power and state power is both possible and desirable.
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| Enumerated powers (expressed powers) | The seventeen powers granted to the national government under Article I, section 8 of the Constitution. These powers include taxation and the regulation of commerce as well as the authority to provide for the national defense.
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| Federalism (federal system) | A governmental system in which authority is divided between two sovereign levels of government: national and regional.
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| Fiscal federalism | The expenditure of federal funds on programs run in part through state and local governments.
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| Grants-in-aid | Cash payments from the federal government to states and localities for programs which they administer.
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| Implied powers | The federal government's constitutional authority (through the "necesssary and proper" clause) to take action that is not expressly authorized by the Constitution but which supports actions that are so authorized.
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| "necessary and proper" clause (elastic clause) | The authority granted to Congress in Article I, section 8 of the Constitution "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper" for the implementation of its enumerated powers.
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| Reserved powers | The powers granted to the states under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.
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| Sovereignty | The ultimate authority to govern within a certain geographical area.
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| Supremacy clause | Article VI of the Constitution, which makes national law supreme over state law when the national government is acting within its constitutional limits.
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| Unitary system | A governmental system in which the national government alone has sovereign (ultimate) authority.
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