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America has throughout its history seen federalism defined in a variety of patterns.
Co-operative federalism--this assumes that the two levels of government are essentially partners. Dual federalism "this assumes that the two levels are functioning separately. Creative federalism "this involves common planning and decision making. Horizontal federalism "this involves interactions and common programs between the fifty states. In America each state has its own position of legal autonomy and political significance. Though a state is not a sovereign body. It does exercise power and can carry out functions that would be carried out by the central authority in other government set-ups. The constitution set up a division of power between the federal and state governments which initially limited the federal unit to areas of defense, foreign affairs, the control of the currency and the control of commerce between the states. This division has been eroded over the years so that today the federal government has functions that have been greatly extended particularly after "9-11-. It scares me as to where the federal government is really headed with this Homeland Security "power- as their authority will touch on nearly all aspects of life for Americans. We shouldn't forget the importance of the American states as legal entities, most of the civil and criminal laws that govern Americans' lives are state laws. State law also covers family law, traffic law and commercial law. The most obvious example of a state's right to implement laws for itself is the rights a state has to either have or not have the death penalty for convicted murders. The states have important regulatory functions, laying down many rules that business and trade unions must observe and obey. States have powers of taxation combined with local governments within each state spends large sums of money on social welfare, education, health and hospitals.