Federalism
Federalism is a basic provision of the U.S. Constitution. The founding fathers included this principal in their outline for the nation’s government in order to prevent a single centralized power from becoming overbearing. However, although at the time the Constitution was written federalism seemed like the answer to a number of problems, it does not always work in today’s modern world. Federalism, which come from the Latin foedus or “covenant”, is: one, the philosophy that describes the governmental system created by the Framers, and two, the sharing of power between the states and the national government (Marshall, 2). When the government was formed in 1787, the Constitution delegated limited or enumerated powers to the national government. Some of these enumerated powers granted included the right to coin money, conduct foreign relations and declare war. The Necessary and Proper clause also reserved any additional “implied powers” that the national government may deem necessary to carry out its enumerated powers. Four years later when the bill of rights was ratified, all remaining powers were granted to the states. Such state responsibilities include police power, managing budgets and enforcing laws in poli
cy areas (Marshall 2). Other powers, such as taxation, establishing courts and chartering banks and corporations are powers shared by both powers. Ultimately, due to the way that the Framers designed the government, both the state and national powers are directly accountable to the people. In1 1787,when the Constitution was written, the Framers had a goal. Their objective was to create a government in which they could live without fear of tyranny. They made a number of preventative measures including the division of checks and balances and the implementation of federalism. The idea behind these precautions was to insure that no one person became too powerful and that the power always rested in the hands of the people. The men hoped that their system would withstand time and preserve the freedom of Americans for many generations to come. The actual definition of federalism arose from a disagreement between the delegates. Some wanted with the confederate government defined under the Articles of Confederation. Others preferred the idea of a more centralized unitary system, like that of Great Britain. The result was the worlds first federal system, under which the thirteen states were each granted independence from one another, but still bound under one national government. The three most consistent reasons for adopting the federal system were: to prevent tyranny, to provide a provision for increased participation in politics and to use the states as a testing ground for these new programs and policies. federalism served as an ideal for keeping both the national and state powers in check.
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Approximate Word count = 1443
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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