The federal government grew seven-thousandfold in budget and fourteenfold in employees

Evidence

Nevertheless, the more dramatic story is the growth of the federal government. The federal budget in 1900 was 567 million; in 2000, it was almost 2 trillion; and it rises every year. For the fiscal year 2016, the federal budget was a staggering $3.9 trillion. The dollar is worth a lot less than it was in 1900, but still, this represents a fantastic increase. The number of federal employees in 1900 was approximately 200,000; in 2000, there were on the order of 2.8 million civilian employees (it has declined slightly since then, but is still in the neighborhood of 2.7 million). … The federal Caesar fed on the meat of social upheaval, the two great wars and the Cold War, a vast depression, and, above all, a revolution in science and technology. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3763

Categorization

• QUESTION: Friedman attributes federal growth to wars, depression, and technology but also concedes state power grew in absolute terms — worth chasing how the federal-vs-state split actually tracks regulatory domains.