D2.Civ.1.9-12: Powers and Responsibilities of Local, State, Tribal, National and International Institutions

Overview

Lesson Procedure

70-85 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction25 minutes
3. Guided Practice15-20 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure10-15 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "List five rules that affected you this week (a speed limit, a school schedule, a sales tax, a passport rule, a hunting season). For each, guess which government made it: your city or county, your state, a tribal nation, the national government, or an agreement among countries. Mark any you are unsure about."

   Sort the examples on the board into five columns. Students will often disagree on several. Use the disagreements to define jurisdiction (the area or subject over which an institution has legal authority) and to set the lesson question: how do we tell which institution has the power, and what it owes in return?

2. Direct Instruction25 minutes

   Five levels of civic and political institutions

   Level	Authority comes from	Examples of powers	Examples of responsibilities	Source
   Local	State constitutions, state laws and city charters	Local taxes, zoning, police, roads, schools	Provide local services such as roads, jails and courts	Sources 1 and 6
   State	The U.S. Constitution and the state's own constitution	Reserved powers: criminal law, licensing, elections, education	Protect residents' "lives, liberties, and properties"; respect federal law	Sources 2 and 3
   Tribal	Inherent sovereignty, recognized in treaties, federal law and court decisions	Make and enforce laws, tax, decide membership, zone, exclude persons	Govern members and lands; work with states through compacts	Source 4
   National	The U.S. Constitution (enumerated or delegated powers)	War and peace, treaties, foreign and interstate commerce, currency	Defend the nation; trust and treaty duties to tribes	Sources 2, 3 and 4
   International	Treaties that nations sign and can leave	Investigate, recommend, coordinate, sometimes sanction	Keep the peace; members keep their promises	Source 5

   Part 1: Local and state. Read Source 1 and Source 2. Garner, a political scientist, wrote this widely used textbook in 1911 and revised it through 1922. Ask students to find the sentence in Source 2 where Garner contrasts a county with a state. Gloss "enumerated" (listed one by one) and "reserved powers" (powers the Constitution leaves with the states, as the Tenth Amendment says). Then read Source 3, where Madison argued in 1788 that the states would keep the larger share of everyday government.

   1Functions of the County.--The county is a judicial and elective district, and the jails and courthouses and sometimes the almshouses are county rather than town institutions. Outside of New England the county is also often the unit of representation in the legislature; and it acts as an agent of the state in collecting taxes and executing many laws.

   2County Officers.--The County Board.--The principal county authority is usually a board of commissioners or supervisors (in Louisiana it is called the police jury), elected by the voters either from the county at large or from districts into which the county is divided. In most states it is a small board, usually three or five members; in some it is larger, being composed of one member from each township in the county. In a few Southern states (Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas), the county court of justices of the peace still acts as the county board, as in Colonial days.

   3This board is both a legislative and an administrative body for the county, for the executive and legislative functions in local government are not always kept so separate and distinct as they are in the state and national governments. It levies taxes, appropriates money for meeting the public expenses, has general control of county finances, has charge of county buildings and other property, settles claims against the county, approves bonds of county officials, and in many states it establishes roads, lets contracts for the erection of bridges and other public works and for repairing them, licenses ferries and sometimes inns, saloons, peddlers, etc., cares for the poor and dependent classes, and performs numerous other services which vary in extent and character in the different states.

   1The states collectively make up our great republic, but they are not mere administrative districts of the union created for convenience in carrying on the affairs of national government. They do not, for example, bear the same relation to the union that a county does to the state, or a township to the county. A county is nothing more than a district carved out of the state for administrative convenience, and provided with such an organization and given such powers of local government as the state may choose to give it. The states, on the other hand, are not creations of the national government; their place as constituent members of the union is determined by the Federal Constitution, framed by the people of the United States, and their rights and obligations are fixed by the same authority. Each state, however, determines its own form of government and decides for itself what activities it will undertake.

   2Division of Powers.--The Federal Constitution has marked out a definite sphere of power for the states, on the one hand, and another sphere for the national government on the other, and each within its sphere is supreme. Upon the domain thus created for each the other may not encroach. Each is kept strictly within its own constitutional sphere by the federal Supreme Court, and the balance between the union and its members is harmoniously preserved.

   3The states were already in existence with organized governments in operation when the national government was created. The founders of the national government conferred upon it only such powers as experience and reason demonstrated could be more effectively regulated by a common government than by a number of separate governments; they left the states largely as they were, and limited their powers only so far as was necessary to establish a more effective union than the one then existing. Experience had taught them, for example, that commerce with foreign countries and among the states themselves should be regulated by a single authority acting for the entire country: only in this way could uniformity be secured, and uniformity in such matters was indispensable to the peace and perpetuity of the union. Accordingly, the national government was vested with power over this and other matters which clearly required uniformity of regulation, and the remaining powers of government were left with the states, where they had always been. Thus it came about that the national government was made an authority of enumerated or delegated powers, while the states have reserved powers.

   1The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Fœderal Government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects, which, in the ordinary course of affairs concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the People, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.

   2The operations of the Fœderal Government will be most extensive and important in times of war and danger; those of the State Governments, in times of peace and security. As the former periods will probably bear a small proportion to the latter, the State Governments will here enjoy another advantage over the Fœderal Government. The more adequate, indeed, the Fœderal powers may be rendered to the National defence, the less frequent will be those scenes of danger which might favor their ascendancy over the Governments of the particular States.

   Part 2: Tribal. There are more than 570 federally recognized tribes in the United States. Tribal nations governed themselves before the United States existed, which is why tribal power is described as inherent: it was not granted by the federal government, though Congress, treaties and court decisions have limited it. Read Source 4. Gloss "plenary" (complete), "relinquished" (given up) and "extinguished" (ended).

   1What is the relationship between the tribes and the United States?
   The relationship between federally recognized tribes and the United States is one between sovereigns, i.e., between a government and a government. This “government-to-government” principle, which is grounded in the United States Constitution, has helped to shape the long history of relations between the federal government and these tribal nations.

   2What is the relationship between the tribes and the individual states?
   Because the Constitution vested the Legislative Branch with plenary power over Indian Affairs, states have no authority over tribal governments unless expressly authorized by Congress. While federally recognized tribes generally are not subordinate to states, they can have a government-to-government relationship with these other sovereigns, as well.

   3Furthermore, federally recognized tribes possess both the right and the authority to regulate activities on their lands independently from state government control. They can enact and enforce stricter or more lenient laws and regulations than those of the surrounding or neighboring state(s) wherein they are located. Yet, tribes frequently collaborate and cooperate with states through compacts or other agreements on matters of mutual concern such as environmental protection and law enforcement.

   [...]

   4What are the inherent powers of tribal self-government?
   Tribes possess all powers of self-government except those relinquished under treaty with the United States, those that Congress has expressly extinguished, and those that federal courts have ruled are subject to existing federal law or are inconsistent with overriding national policies. Tribes, therefore, possess the right to form their own governments; to make and enforce laws, both civil and criminal; to tax; to establish and determine membership (i.e., tribal citizenship); to license and regulate activities within their jurisdiction; to zone; and to exclude persons from tribal lands.

   5Limitations on inherent tribal powers of self-government are few, but do include the same limitations applicable to states, e.g., neither tribes nor states have the power to make war, engage in foreign relations, or print and issue currency.

   Part 3: International. The Covenant of the League of Nations was part of the 1919 peace treaties after World War I. The U.S. Senate did not approve the Treaty of Versailles, so the United States never joined the League. Read Source 5, then compare it with today's main international institution, the United Nations (founded in 1945), in Activity 3. Gloss "territorial integrity" (a country's right to keep its borders), "arbitration" (settling a dispute through judges both sides accept) and "ipso facto" (by that very fact).

   1ARTICLE 10.--The members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all members of the League. In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or danger of such aggression the council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled.

   2ARTICLE 11.--Any war or threat of war, whether immediately affecting any of the members of the League or not, is hereby declared a matter of concern to the whole League, and the League shall take any action that may be deemed wise and effectual to safeguard the peace of nations. In case any such emergency should arise the Secretary General shall on the request of any member of the League forthwith summon a meeting of the council.

   3It is also declared to be the friendly right of each member of the League to bring to the attention of the assembly or of the council any circumstance whatever affecting international relations which threatens to disturb international peace or the good understanding between nations upon which peace depends.

   4ARTICLE 12.--The members of the League agree that if there should arise between them any dispute likely to lead to a rupture, they will submit the matter either to arbitration or to inquiry by the council, and they agree in no case to resort to war until three months after the award by the arbitrators or the report by the council.

   5In any case under this article the award of the arbitrators shall be made within a reasonable time, and the report of the council shall be made within six months after the submission of the dispute.

   [...]

   6ARTICLE 16.--Should any member of the League resort to war in disregard of its covenants under Articles 12, 13, or 15, it shall ipso facto be deemed to have committed an act of war against all other members of the League, which hereby undertake immediately to subject it to the severance of all trade or financial relations, the prohibition of all intercourse between their nationals and the nationals of the covenant-breaking State and the prevention of all financial, commercial, or personal intercourse between the nationals of the covenant-breaking State and the nationals of any other State, whether a member of the League or not.

   7It shall be the duty of the council in such case to recommend to the several Governments concerned what effective military, naval or air force the members of the League shall severally contribute to the armed forces to be used to protect the covenants of the League.

   • Local (Source 1, paragraphs 1-2)

     What makes the county a unit of government, and who chooses the county board?

     Result: Garner calls the county "a judicial and elective district," with the jails and courthouses as county institutions (paragraph 1), and says the board is "elected by the voters either from the county at large or from districts" (paragraph 2). The board's power comes from two places: state law, which creates the county, and local voters, to whom the board answers.

   • State and national (Source 2, paragraph 2)

     According to Garner, what keeps the national government and the states inside their own spheres of power?

     Result: Garner writes that "each within its sphere is supreme" and that each "is kept strictly within its own constitutional sphere by the federal Supreme Court" (paragraph 2). A court, not either government acting alone, settles disputes over where national power ends and state power begins.

   • Tribal (Source 4, paragraphs 1 and 3)

     How does the BIA describe the relationship of tribes to the United States and to the states?

     Result: The BIA calls the relationship with the United States a "government-to-government" one (paragraph 1), a relationship between sovereigns, meaning governments with their own authority. With the states, tribes "frequently collaborate and cooperate" through "compacts or other agreements on matters of mutual concern such as environmental protection and law enforcement" (paragraph 3). Tribes are a separate level, not a part of the state they sit in.

   • International (Source 5, Article 11)

     What responsibility does Article 11 give the League as a whole, and what right does it give each member?

     Result: Article 11 declares that "Any war or threat of war" is "a matter of concern to the whole League" and gives each member "the friendly right" to bring threats to peace "to the attention of the assembly or of the council." The League's power rests on its members' promises; it has no government of its own over their people.

3. Guided Practice15-20 minutes

   Groups read Source 7, an invented case, and complete Activity 2: for each of the five levels they name the institution in the case, the power it used and the responsibility behind it, and they note one thing that institution could not do. Show Diagram 1 while they work.

   1The Clearwater River is invented. It begins in the mountains of one state, flows through Harlan County and the city of Millbrook, crosses the reservation of the Red Willow Nation, an invented federally recognized tribe, and then crosses the international border into Canada.

   2Last spring a chemical spill from a warehouse in Millbrook killed fish for 30 miles downstream. The Millbrook city council voted to require warehouses near the river to store chemicals behind containment walls, a zoning rule for land inside the city. The Harlan County board, which runs the county's emergency services, sent crews to set up drinking-water stations in three towns.

   3The state environmental agency, acting under a state law, fined the warehouse owner $250,000 and ordered a cleanup. The Red Willow Nation's tribal council passed its own water-quality code for the river on the reservation, stricter than the state's rule, and the tribe's environmental office began testing the water near its fishing sites.

   4Under the federal Clean Water Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets national water-quality standards and works with states and tribes that run their own water programs. The federal government also has a duty, under treaties it signed with the Red Willow Nation in the 1850s, to protect the tribe's fishing rights.

   5Downstream, a joint commission created by a treaty between the United States and Canada studied whether the pollution would cross the border. The commission cannot fine anyone. It can investigate and recommend action to the two national governments.

   Teacher model for the local level: Two local institutions act in paragraph 2. The Millbrook city council uses its zoning power over "land inside the city," a power the state grants through the city's charter, and it meets a responsibility to protect residents near the river. The Harlan County board uses its responsibility for emergency services to set up water stations. Neither one can fine a warehouse outside its boundaries or set rules for the reservation.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students reread Sources 1-5 on their own and highlight each power in one color and each responsibility or limit in another. Then they answer the quiz, which uses Sources 1-5.

5. Closure10-15 minutes

   Exit ticket: Choose two levels from the lesson. In three sentences, name a power each one has that the other lacks, and one responsibility the two share.

   Teacher note on the sources: Sources 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are quoted exactly as published, including older spellings ("Fœderal," "defence"). Garner's textbook reflects the law of 1922. In particular, many states have since given cities "home rule," the power to write their own charters and manage local affairs, so the strict state control he describes in Source 6 now varies by state. Madison wrote in 1788, when state legislatures chose U.S. senators; the Seventeenth Amendment (1913) moved that choice to the voters. Sources 4 and 8 are a current federal agency's explanations and are quoted as published on the agency's site; they are general statements. Tribal sovereignty is a matter of federal law and treaties, and the court rulings that Source 4, paragraph 4, refers to include these: Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe (1978) held that tribes may not prosecute non-Indians, a power Congress restored in part for certain crimes in 2013 and 2022; Montana v. United States (1981) limited tribal regulation of nonmembers on land within a reservation that is not owned by the tribe or its members, with exceptions; and Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta (2022) held that states may also prosecute non-Indians for crimes against Indians in Indian country. These rulings concern authority over individuals; they do not change the government-to-government relationship that Source 4 describes.

   Homework passages. Garner on state control of cities (Source 6) and the BIA on Public Law 280 (Source 8).

   1State Control of Cities.--The organization, powers, and privileges of the city are determined for the most part by the state constitution and laws. In a few states the financial transactions of city officials are subject to state inspection and audit, and in practically all of them their power to levy taxes and borrow money is placed under restrictions. It is felt that if the cities were left entirely free from state control they could not always be relied upon by the state to carry out the laws which they are charged with enforcing, and that in other respects their action might not be in harmony with the general policy of the state. In those matters, however, which are of purely local interest, the state should interfere as little as possible. Interference in such cases is contrary to the ideas of local self-government which Americans cherish as one of their most valuable rights. However, the right of the people living in cities to regulate their own local affairs according to their own notions is not always recognized, and there are frequent complaints that state legislatures have interfered when the interests of the state did not justify it.

   2The City Charter.--The city, unlike the county, township, and other minor civil divisions described in the preceding chapter, has a charter granted to it by the state which gives the city more of the character of a public corporation. The charter contains the name of the place incorporated, a description of its boundaries, its form of organization, and a detailed enumeration of the powers which it may exercise. It is granted by the state legislature, though, unlike the charter granted to a private corporation, such as a bank or a railway company, it is not a contract but simply a legislative act which may be repealed or altered at the will of the legislature. Thus, legally, the city is at the mercy of the legislature. Its charter, indeed, may be taken away from it and the city governed directly by the legislature in such manner as it may choose, and this has sometimes been done in the case of cities which grossly abused their powers or got themselves into such hopeless financial condition that they were unable to meet their obligations or properly discharge their duties.

   1What is Public Law 280 and where does it apply?
   In 1953, Congress enacted Public Law 83-280 (67 Stat. 588) to grant certain states criminal jurisdiction over American Indians on reservations and to allow civil litigation that had come under tribal or federal court jurisdiction to be handled by state courts. However, the law did not grant states regulatory power over tribes or lands held in trust by the United States; federally guaranteed tribal hunting, trapping, and fishing rights; basic tribal governmental functions such as enrollment and domestic relations; nor the power to impose state taxes. These states also may not regulate matters such as environmental control, land use, gambling, and licenses on federal Indian reservations.

   [...]

   2Subsequent acts of Congress, court decisions, and state actions to retrocede jurisdiction back to the Federal Government have muted some of the effects of the 1953 law, and strengthened the tribes’ jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters on their reservations.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which of these is NOT among the powers of the county board listed in Source 1, paragraph 3?

   AIt levies taxes and appropriates public money BIt has charge of county buildings and property CIt appoints the judges of the state courts DIt cares for the poor and dependent

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Garner writes that the county "acts as an agent of the state in collecting taxes and executing many laws" (Source 1, paragraph 1). What does this show?

   AThe county carries out state laws for the state BThe county may ignore state laws it dislikes CThe county is a separate sovereign like a tribe DThe county writes the state constitution

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 2, paragraph 1, how are the states different from counties?

   AStates were created by the national government BStates are not creations of the national government CStates have no powers the Constitution does not list DStates may leave the union at any time

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 2, paragraph 1, what does each state decide for itself?

   AIts own form of government and its activities BWhether it will follow the Federal Constitution CHow many senators it sends to Congress DWhich treaties it signs with other nations

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why, according to Source 2, paragraph 3, was commerce with foreign countries and among the states given to the national government?

   ATo raise more money for the national army BBecause the states asked to give up all trade CBecause foreign nations refused to deal with states DSo uniform rules would cover the whole country

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 3, Madison says the powers of the federal government "will be exercised principally on" which objects?

   AWar, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce BRoads, schools, local courts and town affairs CThe lives, liberties and properties of the people DThe internal order and prosperity of each State

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does Madison predict about when the federal and State governments will each be most active (Source 3, paragraph 2)?

   AFederal in peace; the States in times of war BFederal in war and danger; States in peace CBoth will be equally busy in war and in peace DThe States will be most active only during elections

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 4, paragraph 2, why do states have no authority over tribal governments unless Congress allows it?

   ABecause tribes have larger populations than most states do BBecause the Supreme Court removed all state courts from reservations CBecause tribes have chosen not to form their own governments DThe Constitution gave Congress plenary power over Indian Affairs

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which of these does Source 4 say tribes do NOT have the power to do?

   ATax BEstablish and determine membership CExclude persons from tribal lands DPrint and issue currency

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to Source 4, paragraph 3, how may a tribe's laws on its lands compare with the laws of the surrounding state?

    AThey must be the same as the state's laws BThey may be stricter or more lenient CThey may be stricter but never more lenient DThey need the governor's approval first

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Under Article 10 of the Covenant (Source 5), what do the members of the League undertake to do?

    ARespect and protect every member's borders and independence BReduce their armies and navies to the same size CAccept the council as the government of each member's people DTrade only with the other members of the League

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Under Article 12 (Source 5), suppose a dispute is sent to the council and the council takes the longest time allowed to report. Counting from when the dispute was submitted, what is the earliest a member could lawfully go to war?

    A3 months B6 months C9 months D12 months

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Under Article 16 (Source 5), what may the council do about military force against a member that goes to war in disregard of the Covenant?

    AOrder every member nation to send its troops BRecommend forces for members to send CCommand a standing League army of its own DDeclare war on the member by itself

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to Source 1, paragraph 3, why is the county board "both a legislative and an administrative body"?

    AThe state constitution requires every county board to do both jobs BThe county has no courts or judges of its own CLocal governments do not always separate lawmaking and executive work DThe voters elect the board from separate districts

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Using Source 1 and Source 2, explain one difference between the relationship of a county to its state and the relationship of a state to the national government.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source 4, paragraph 4, says tribes keep all powers of self-government except those given up by treaty, those Congress has ended, and those federal courts have limited. Using Source 2, explain one way this differs from how the powers of a state are protected.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Under Article 12 and Article 16 of Source 5, what responsibilities do League members accept when a dispute arises, and what happens to a member that ignores them? Explain why the League depends on its members to make these rules work.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Garner wrote in 1922 that the balance between the union and the states "is harmoniously preserved" (Source 2, paragraph 2). Explain what claim he is making and give one reason a reader today should check whether it still holds.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    In the last sentence of Source 3, Madison writes that the more adequate federal powers are for "the National defence, the less frequent will be those scenes of danger which might favor their ascendancy." Explain his argument in your own words. ("Ascendancy" means rising above, or dominance.)

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Choose one problem that crosses levels of government (for example, a river, a highway, a pandemic or a trade dispute). Name two levels from this lesson, and for each give one power it could use and one responsibility it would have. Cite one source for each level.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to D2.Civ.1.9-12: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.