What did the Little Rock crisis demonstrate about federal versus state authority?

• A. The federal government must enforce federal laws in states
• B. States can overrule federal system when necessary
• C. The President was not involved
• D. Military force is rarely used in civil rights

Answer: (A)

The main idea being tested is federal supremacy—the idea that the national government can enforce its laws and court rulings within a state, even if a state resists. In Little Rock, Arkansas initially resisted the desegregation order stemming from Brown v. Board of Education by using the National Guard to block the students. The President then federalized the Guard and sent in federal troops to ensure the state complied with federal law and protected the students. This shows that the federal government can use its power to enforce federal laws in states and overrule state resistance when necessary. It wasn’t that the President wasn’t involved, or that states can overrule the federal system, or that military force is rarely used in civil rights—on the contrary, federal force was employed to uphold federal authority and civil rights.