Assess the Changing Relationship between the Federal Government and the States

... Assess the Changing Relationship between the Federal Government and the States One of the biggest issues that divided the framers of the constitution was the role of Federal government in relation to the states. Eventually federal and state government were given separate powers, and the responsibility of checking on each other. The doctrine of nullification saw power to the states with a limited federal government. Since then different powers have swayed between state and federal governments, on balance the federal government has come out on top. A case example in 1816 where Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, saw that the judges of the Supreme Court of Virginia asserted that they had the power to decide whether a federal law was valid. This case involved the interpretation of a federal treaty; the judges felt that the federal Supreme Court was no more authoritative than they were in interpreting federal law. The Marshall court rejected

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