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Compare And Contrast Federalism Checks And Balances

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The first government of the United States was outlined in the Articles of Confederation written in 1871. Under this system, the states operated as sovereign nations. The weak national government, which consisted of nothing more than a unicameral legislature, did not have the authority to tax the states, settle interstate disputes or effectively support a military. Following the Revolutionary War, the inadequacies of the national government became apparent. This led to the drafting of the Constitution in 1787. The constitution addressed the issues that the articles of confederation failed to do such as federalism, checks and balances, and the Elastic Clause. Federalism is the principle that the national government does not have all of the power in the nation. Subdivisions of the nation (states) have many powers too. The national government protects the whole nation and holds the nation together, regulating things that states cannot regulate. But on the other hand, the national government does not do everything that needs to be done, states can still do many things, do them differently from other states, and the national government cannot interfere. Federalism was put into the constitution because the Articles allowed the Continental Congress the power to sign treaties and declare war, but failed to …show more content…

The three branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial) have respective powers that enable each of them to "check and balance" the other two branches. This was done because the drafters of the constitution didn 't want any one person or group of persons to have too much power. An example of checks and balances in action is how Congress voted overwhelmingly to override a veto by President Obama for the first time, passing into law a bill that would allow the families of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for any role in the

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