Delegated, reserved, or concurrent power?

Example 1

1. Ask the first question from Chapter 6’s tip for test day: does the country need one rule for everyone, such as one money, one army, or one foreign policy? If so, the power is probably delegated to the nation. Driving licenses do not need one national rule.
2. Ask the second question: is it something both levels plainly need in order to run any government at all, such as taxing, borrowing, and courts? If so, it is probably concurrent. Issuing driver’s licenses is not one of those.
3. It is about everyday life inside a state. The Constitution does not give this power to the nation, and it does not forbid it to the states. The Tenth Amendment says such powers “are reserved to the States.” So it is a reserved power. (Reserved means kept back.)
4. In New York, the state Department of Motor Vehicles issues the licenses.

Answer: Reserved (the states)

Example 2

1. Ask who is using the power. Here both are: the national government in Washington and the state government in Albany. (A bond is a paper that promises to pay back borrowed money, with interest.)
2. Neither one asked the other for permission. Each borrows by its own right.
3. A power that the nation and the states may both use at the same time is a concurrent power. (Concurrent means happening together, side by side.) The others to remember are taxing, setting up courts, and making and enforcing laws.
4. Why not delegated? Congress does have the power to borrow money. But when the question shows both levels using a power, the answer is concurrent.

Answer: Concurrent (both)