Federalism.

Many of the most important Supreme Court decisions between 1815 and 1850 centered on the relationship between the federal government and the states. Several landmark decisions during the first decade of the period contributed significantly to the strengthening of the federal government. This judicial nationalism was less an expansive than a defensive tendency; rather than identifying new spheres of federal action, the Court's decisions sought to prevent the states from absorbing and fragmenting federal powers. Nevertheless, the assertion of federal authority was highly controversial, especially during 1819-1821. Fears that the Marshall court was consolidating power in the federal government played an important part in the coalescence of the Jacksonian Democrats on a platform of strict construction of the Constitution. In response the Court adopted a more moderate course in the late 1820s and 1830s. Under Chief Justice Roger B. Taney the Court went on to...