The Unique Role Of Federalism In The United States

Brittany Morrison H340- Professor Cappello October 30, 2017 Letter to James Duane Alexander Hamilton September 03, 1780 The American Constitution is a vital segment of the United States’ foundation-- it was the premise of a unique government that did not exist before its time. Although, prior to the Constitution The Founding Fathers of the United States sought to establish a government that would not exploit the American people the way the British government had done so. With considerable fear of corruption, standing armies and lack of representation the Articles of Confederation was enacted. At the outset, the A.O.C had achieved exactly what it was written to do-- supply the governed people with the power over the government.

The Articles of Confederation was an imperative stride toward national solidarity. The new states required a central government. Congress had little power to force upon the states. They couldn't control taxes, and this prompted states taxing different states. It also could not implement power upon people, unite foreign and domestic policies, impose treaties, or pass navigation

The separation of power also prevents the United State from "consolidating into one". Another example that supported the Jeffersonian view of a strict understanding of the constitution is a letter written by him in the 1800th to, Samuel Miller, a Presbyterian minister. In it he stated that, according to the Constitution, the federal government has no authority to regulate

The Federalist No. 10” is a persuasive argument written by James Madison in an attempt to ratify the Constitution. He wrote a series of documents called the Federalist Papers under a pseudonym to convince others to approve of the Constitution. He says that factions are not good for America, neither is a pure democracy. Madison provides extensive arguments and remedies for the problems he is addressing. James Madison is attempting to ratify the Constitution by analyzing the way to deal with factions, comparing a republic to a democracy, and by comparing a small government to a large government.

Under the British unitary system, U.S was a string of colonies. When the revolution implemented, U.S became a confederation under the articles of confederation and when that system verified as abortive, it was transformed into a federal system by the Constitution. This system is preferred for several reasons. The explanations may involve the size of the nation or the miscellany of the partisan divisions. As unitary system in the U.S and the diverse interests of different states made confederation impossible to run over.

Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense” is a text on the argument of American independence. In the beginning, Paine begins by describing the many differences between Government and Society. Paine then explains the purposes of government, and how it is supposed to protect us, our liberty, and our property. Paine eventually goes on to talk about Society, and how it is encompassed by “the people”. Paine had many ideas about the world before there were Kings; he believed that before Kings, the world had no leaders.

Federalists, those who were in favor of a strong federal government, were in debates with Anti-Federalists, those who opposed the ideas of the Constitution. They believed the Constitution weakened the states too much, had no Bill of Rights, and thought the President could easily become a king. Delaware was the first state to ratify, with Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut quickly following. Massachusetts ratified, but still had a strong opposition, and only a major campaign by Constitution supporters won the ratification of the state. Maryland and South Carolina had ratified, which made 8 state ratification.

As it was definitely difficult to do so, the Constitution was ratified in

Federalism is the separation of power and responsibility between states and the federal government. It allows the state governments to exercise policy without interference from the federal government. The formation of this system of government has its origins in the Articles of Confederation. That system of government allowed states to regulate their own trade, make their own currency, and make legislation. However, the Articles failed for many reasons, like economic disorganization which led to financial hardship.

In one hand, the Articles of Confederation had a weak central government, differing form the strong central government in the Constitution. The Constitution’s government had a structure of three different branches; the legislative, executive, and judicial branch; unlike the Articles of Confederation that had no structure whatsoever. The Articles of Confederation had many problems like, the poor international trade, poor foreign relations and a weak economy in contrast to the Constitution that only had one problem, the struggle over the ratification. the Articles of Confederation achieved the Northwest Ordinance and the Northwest Territory and according to a history website, the Constitution achieved that we had a system of checks and balances, that we had a bill of rights, and, eventually, the survival of a bloody civil war intact. Lastly, the Constitution had three compromises: the Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise and the Slave Trade compromise.

Dawisha and K. Dawisha, paragraph 16). Not all provinces are guaranteed to work together and if a nation-wide issue were to arise, handling it would be difficult because the strength lies in the individual states and not in the national government. Another issue that would arise is currency and forms of trade between all units. Additionally, an issue that could be found with a confederation is there wouldn’t be a sense of unity between all the different groups, causing people to be divided and focused on individual areas rather than a whole. The United States started with The Articles of Confederation and while it was the first official unionization for the country, there were many weaknesses in it; we were unable to function efficiently as a whole.

Federalism is a type of government which contains different branches all with different levels of power. Some examples of Federalism we see today include the government of the United States of America, Russia, Mexico, and Canada. The two branches of government included in a Federalist government is the Federal government and the state government. Federal government 's control matters pertaining to the entire nation, while state governments deal with their individual state. Federalism has gone through many previous stages in order to evolve into what it is today.

A lot of states didn’t like this because there was nothing in the Constitution that says Congress can do this. So the state of Maryland decided to try and get rid of it, by taxing it. So the question was can a state tax a federal bank and can Congress create a national bank that states have to live with? Chief Justice John Marshall found the Necessary and Proper Clause gave Congress the flexibility to create the bank as an aid to carrying out its enumerated borrowing and taxing powers and that Maryland’s taxation of the bank violated the Supremacy Clause.

The Federalist Papers were, and still are, very important to American History. These series of essays, mostly written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, were published to persuade Americans to ratify the new constitution. The new constitution would replace the Articles of Confederation, what the American’s had been living under at the time. The constitution highlighted an issue that the articles did not; empowering the central government like never before. Allowing the central government to act in the interest of the United States.

Federalism is just a fancy word for the powers given to the states, to the central government, and powers the two share. Document A states that the central government can regulate trade, conduct foreign relations and declare war. The states can set up local governments, hold elections and establish schools. As James Madison said, “The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” What James Madison is trying to say is that the central and state governments have enough power that they don’t control everything.