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9 J.L. & Pol. 333 (1992-1993)
From Cooperation to Coercion in American Federalism: Housing, Fragmentation and Preemption, 1780-1992

handle is hein.journals/jlp9 and id is 343 raw text is: From Cooperation to Coercion in American Federalism: Housing, Fragmentation and Preemption, 1780-1992 John Kincaid' This essay interprets American federalism against the backdrop of federal housing-related policies. The argument is that the growth of federal power has entailed a reorientation of federal policy making from places to persons: that is, from state and local governments to individual citizens, thus fulfilling Alexander Hamilton's admonition that we must extend the authority of the Union to the persons of the citizens-the only proper objects of government.' Federal policies for places tend to produce cooperative federalism because the federal government tries to serve or accommodate state and local governments, which, like traditional states, are seen as the primary governments for persons. Federal policies for persons either tend to bypass intergovernmental channels or to produce coercive federalism because the federal government alters or preempts the exercise of state and local powers in order to benefit persons directly, much like a unitary state. Historically, as federal policy turned to persons, constituencies developed appetites for federal benefits. Federal officials adroitly cultivated constituencies by drawing on three comparatively painless revenue sources largely out of the reach of state governments: the western land-base (plus tariffs), the income tax base and deficit spending. The use of these resources is linked to three broad phases of American federalism, phases reflecting resolutions of tensions inherent in a constitution that is neither wholly national nor wholly confederal.2 The first was a This continues the discussion of housing policy and American federalism contained in the Volume VIII, Number 4 (Summer 1992) issue of the Journal of Law & Politics. Executive Director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, Washington, D.C., and Associate Professor of Political Science, University of North Texas (on leave). I The Federalist No. 15, at 109 (Alexander Hamilton) (Clinton Rossiter ed., 1961). 2 The Federalist No. 45, at 246 (James Madison) (Clinton Rossiter ed., 1961).

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