From 1789 to 1860, the United States actually lived under the system of enumerated powers James Madison designed. The federal government really was limited. States really did dominate most policy. And somehow—imperfectly, with glaring contradictions we’ll address—it worked.

By 1937, the United States stood at the brink of both economic despair and constitutional transformation. The Great Depression had gutted industry, wiped out banks, and left one in four Americans without work. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal promised salvation through action — and what it delivered was not just federal policy, but federal power.