USI.16

 media type="custom" key="29546941" align="right" =**Describe the evolution of the role of the federal government, including public services, taxation, economic policy, and common defense.**=

Topics on the Page

 * Role of the Federal Government According to the Constitution **
 * Public Services **
 * Taxation **
 * Economic Policy **
 * The Post Office **
 * Defense **
 * **Foreign Policy**
 * **The Common Defense**

**[[image:rotating gif.gif width="66" height="66"]]For more on the functions and structures of the Federal Government, see USG.3.3**
Click here for **[|How Americans View the Federal Government]** from the Gallup Poll and USA Today, October 13, 2010.

**Resources for information on Federal Government** Kids.gov Our Documents- 100 Milestone Documents Ben's Guide to US Government U.S. Constitution Course from the Department of Defense

**Public Services**
The Federal Government provides many public services to the citizens of the United States.
 * Here is a list of all the Government Departments and Agencies.

Many of the Government public works programs found their beginning in the aftermath of the Great Depression, see Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program. For more, see United States History II.12
 * Search this online database from the FDR library, to find out what New Deal Projects were built in your area.

Kids can learn about public services interactively from this website: @http://pbskids.org/democracy/my-government/

**Taxation**
According to the Constitution, Congress has the power to collect taxes on incomes without apportionment and without census or enumeration. For information on the United States Treasury and the public deficit, visit TreasuryDirectKIDS.gov.
 * Click on [|When Did the Federal Government Begin Collecting the Gas Tax?] to get a brief history of one type of federal taxation, from the Department of Transportation.


 * [[image:Screen Shot 2017-04-25 at 10.36.54 AM.png link="E.4.5 Define progressive, proportional and regressive taxation."]]See also Economics 4.5 for information on progressive, proportional and regressive taxation**

**Lesson plans from the IRS about history of taxation, fair taxes, how to complete taxes, etc:** http://apps.irs.gov/app/understandingTaxes/teacher/index.jsp Another lesson plan for students to understand the current debate about Washington, D.C.'s "Taxation without Representation" motto: http://www.dcvote.org/library/lessonplan/index.cfm#.UXHtlsp4-N4

Taxes and the history of taxes are explained in this [|Crash Course] video.

The chart below is from 2009 and shows how much go to the defense budget. A lesson plan idea would be to get students to research for themselves where money collected through taxation goes - how much of it goes to public services? how much of taxes paid work in favor of the people?
 * Where do income taxes go?**
 * More info and sources here: @http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm

**Economic Policy**
According to the Constitution there is to be no commercial preference or export tax. Congress can regulate commerce with foreign nations and with Native Americans, the states do not have the right to regulate this on their own.

**Post Office (called the United States Postal Service since 1971)**

 * Image to the right shows a Letter, signed by Benjamin Franklin, giving pass for William Goddard as Riding Surveyor for the newly formed Constitutional Post, September 1776 **

For background, see [|Colonial Times]from the United States Postal Service that discusses the role of the Post Office in the decades before the American Revolution.

See also, //The Creation of the Media: Political Origins of Modern Communications//. Paul Starr, Basic Books, 2004. Starr contends that the debates leading to the American Revolution were made possible to a significant extent by the fact that the Post Office carried newspapers between printing offices for free.

[|You've Got Mail: A History of the Post Office] from BackStory with the American History Guys.

**Defense**
From Americas beginnings our foreign policy has changed many times
 * Foreign Policy**
 * To view documents from the history of our Foreign Policy and to explore the current relationships between America and other areas of the world, click the Foreign Policy link above.
 * Click here for an overview of [|President Obama's foreign policy] from the White House.
 * **See also Government 4.4 for the tools the government uses to conduct foreign policy**

According to the Constitution, states do not have the right to harbor troops or war ships during a time of peace. States cannot enter treaties of war with other nations. Only Congress has the power to declare war.
 * Common Defense**

[1] http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=2 [2] http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/articles/ [3] http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/themes/
 * Sources**