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 polic

In recent years, the Supreme Court has made a number of rulings “immunizing the states from the full reach of the law” (Case 1). For example, in 2000, it ruled states could not be sued by their employees for violating age discrimination laws; in 2001, it declared that the states were also immune from suits claiming employment discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. These recent cases are examples of the confusion federalism is facing in the modern world. It is a seemingly never-ending debate as to which scope of power is the greater and which should be honored in each individual situation.

However, despite the fact that in 1787 the federal system was effective in governing the country, that is not necessarily the case today. Keeping in mind that the United States has grown and changed in more ways than we can even count, it seems unreasonable to expect that the same thing that worked 200 years ago is going to have the same efficiency now. This country has grown both in size and population in the last two centuries; it has added 37 states and hundreds of millions of citizens. It has endured a Civil War, two World Wars and a Great Depression. And yet through all of the changes, the infrastructure of the government has not changed. As would have to be expected there are a number of problems that have arisen due to the role of federal government in modern America.

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