not what they expected...

I'm taking a Constitutional Law class this quarter and I'm learning things I never knew as a blue-tassled-business-major. The original framers of the Constitution envisioned a weak federal government, strong state government and President whose powers were a fraction of what they are now.
So what happened? (I'm not 100% complete or accurate, but I'm reasonably close.) The Great Depression happened. Prior to this, the federal government (mostly congress) was limited to what was expressly provided in Article 8, Section 1 of the Constitution. However, the Great Depression and FDR brought the New Deal philosophy. The New Deal set up federal social programs to deal with nation-wide problems such as unemployment, social security and labor laws.

The Supreme Court Justices during that time were against the New Deal and found many of the new federal statutes and powers unconsititutional. FDR, frustrated and unable to implement his plans tried to load the benches with Justices with his philosophy. Since Justices are appointed for life, he could either wait for them to retire or supplement the existing bench with his own appointments. In the end, having served almost four terms in office, FDR was able to appoint all but one of the Justices on the bench. These New Deal Justices interpretation of the federal government's Constitutional power was much broader and as federal power grew, state power shrank.

Ironically, the New Deal didn't save the country, the attack on Pearl Harbor and the increased wartime production saved the economy. However, the New Deal philosophy remained after the war.

Perhaps the Constitutional power that expanded the federal government's power most was the Commerce Clause. This clause gave Congress the absolute power over interstate trade. The New Deal Justices interpreted this power over interstate trade to include anything that might impact interstate trade. This gave Congress the power to regulate all labor because any unfair practices in any state would affect interstate trade. Farm production quotas were now constitutional. Congress could regulate both interstate and intrastate railways, because commerce passing through a state would be affected by intrastate rail rates. The Commerce Clause was even the underlying power that gave Congress the right to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Supreme Court reasoned that discrimination had a negative effect on tourism and travel, therefore the Civil Right Act was a Constitutional right of Congress to protect interstate commerce.

Just a little nugget of knowledge.