Understanding Federalism: A Study of US Government

517 Words2 Pages

Federalism is the powers a country has, divided between the state and federal government. Federalism was not included in the articles of confederation which left the states with all of the power. Federalism was chosen in the United States because the U.S. wanted there to be more control in the National Government. The U.S State government wanted to keep some of the power, so federalism was a good system of government to choose because they got to split the powers between them. Federalism has many benefits in California. Federalism helps California by giving the state power. Each state is going to have a different diversity in which each state can govern. If California wanted to, they could establish a policy of their own. They could see how well the policy went, according to other states that have established them. There are three branches of government in the U.S. There is the judicial branch, the executive branch and the legislative branch. The powers of the branches are all divided by the constitution which is called the separation of national government, Congress is the legislative branch. The Executive branch is led by the President and the judicial branch is run by the Supreme Court (SCOTUS). Each branch of the national government has power over each other and can check each other. Congress makes laws for the entire country. The president (executive branch) carries out the laws that congress makes. The judicial branch interprets how the law should be read. Each branch has separate jobs (separation of powers). For the state, governors have the authority to issue executive orders. This means that they can veto the legislation they enforce state laws instead of national laws. In the state, the legislation branch consists of two houses which are considered bicameral. The judiciary branch of the state government is the state courts. The state and national level of government basically check each other in the same ways at the legislative

Open Document