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quizlet government federalism
evolution of federalism throughout American history
evolution of federalism throughout American history
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United States Government
The United States has a deeply rooted and embedded tradition through the Constitution of having a federalist style of governing as its structural framework for operating and guiding the government of the country. The form of governing is best described as a balance between powers of the central government and the powers of each independent and autonomic state. “Federalism is a system in which the power to govern is shared between national and provincial (state) governments, creating what is often called a federation” (Wikipedia 1).This style of governance has not been the only structure instituted in American history in order to implement civilized law and order among the people of the land. Prior to the adoption of the United States Constitution in 1787 the American people and their respective states were governed by the Articles of Confederation. This document, adopted in 1781 by the American colonies transforming them officially into independent states and as a country, provided the citizens of the new nation with their first experiment in independent liberty and organized government. In July 1776 The United Colonies needed to develop a new Confederation to declare war against England, this included ratification for all 13 states and became the first “Constitution” (Klos 1). As the title of this historic document suggests, the style of government provided the American people through the Articles of Confederation is that of a confederacy. A confederate government consists of independent states that have an overriding and unquestioned sovereign authority over their affairs. The type of political system the Founding Fathers of the United States severed their colonial connections to was that of a uni...
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...ticularly better in all cases than another. However, careful examination of the concepts and application of the confederacy, unitary, and federalism styles of government is vital to leading the world in a direction that brings ordered and civilized government to all countries.
Works Cited
www.archives.gov/.../document.html?...Articles%20of%20Confederation (accessed June 30, 2010).
www.pgcps.org/~croom2/Reading_Government%20Systems.doc (accessed Jun 30, 2010).
www.usconstitution.net/csa.html (accessed Jun 30, 2010).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/federalism 6 July 2006
Klobs, Stanley L. Articles Of Confederation November 15, 1777. 6 July 2010.
http://thedeclarationofindependence.org/articlesofconfederation.com/
Roskin, Michael G., Robert L. Cord, James A. Medeiros, and Walter S. Jones. Political Science: An
Introduction, 11th edition.
Grace Abbott, Ph.M. (Political Science) 1909 [SSA Centennial Celebration Profiles of Distinction Series]. (n.d.). In Chicago/SSA/Centenial. Retrieved March 6, 2011, from The University of Chicago website: http://ssacentennial.uchicago.edu/features/features-abbott-grace.shtml
Mintz Eric, Close David, Croc Osvaldo. Politics, Power and the Common Good: An Introduction to Political Science. 2009. Toronto: Pearson Canada. 15,147,183.
The federalists view saw the republicans view as a weakness. They insisted on a stronger common government. The federalists had an understanding that there could only be one sovereign in a political system, one final authority that everyone must obey and no one can appeal. They thought this was the only effective way in creating an effective central government. The independent states seemed to think it was clear that each one of them were independently sovereign, although based on history only small countries were suitable for the republican government. With history proving the republicans wrong for trying to create a republican government in the states the federalists were slowly trying to create a stronger central government. There first step was making the sovereign states agree to the Articles of Confederation which established a close alliance of independent states. The federalist central government was referred to as a “confederacy”.
Federalism, established by the constitution, is like a single piece of armor protecting us from tyranny. James Madison noted in Federalist Paper #51 that “the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments [state and federal]...,” which describes his view on how the government should be divided. Each would have specific powers delegated to
Dye, Thomas R., L. Tucker Gibson, Jr., and Clay Robison. Politics in America. Ninth ed. Vol. 2. New York, NY: Longman, 2011. 337. Print.
Shapiro, Ian, Rogers M. Smith, and Tarek E. Masoud, eds. Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics. Cambridge ; Cambridge University Press, 2004.
The American Academy of Political and Social Science The Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science,(2013)
Political science first emerged as an academic discipline towards the end of the 19th century and mainly focused on formal institutions, structures and organizations within government (Theodore Rosenhof, 1). However, at the mark of the 1920’s this approach towards institutions began to be revised. Soon a behavioral approach towards government surfaced which focused on electoral patterns and voting behavior (Theodore Rosenhof, 1). In using this approach, many academics recognized an alarming amount of movements and change across the state; resulting in a dynamic, rather than a stagnant, political network. These establishments and generalizations made by academics eventually culminated in what is presently known as the realignment theory (Theodore
Federalism guarded against tyranny, provided military security, and reduced fighting amongst states. When the colonies declared their independence from Britain in 1786, the framers at the Constitution Convention attempted to balance the perceived tyranny. As a result, federalism was created in order to preserve freedom while still maintain order as a new nation. “The Federalist Paper No.51” by James Madison stated, “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” The federalism was able to balance the power because of checks and balances. It distributed its power into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Checks and balances act to prevent one branch from becoming too powerful. Separation of powers does the same thing it divides powers among the three branches who then check each other. This result in double security to people...
Federalism was initially defined as the arrangement of powers that came from the people. The powers were divided at the national and state level government. In America’s history, federalism began with the idea that people granted power to the states which then granted power to the national government. As a result, this produced a weak national government. To overcome this, U.S Constitution was created to build a powerful national government, but at the same time provided rights to the state and its people. Federalism provided a good structure of government for United States. It made it easier to run a country as big as United States by separating powers at different levels. With its strengths, the federal system came with its weaknesses. Over
Without federalism there would be no hierarchy of power in this country and instead of union we would have division. This is what makes federalism so important to the United States of America and why we have been able to prosper together as a union.
After winning the Revolutionary War and sovereign control of their home country from the British, Americans now had to deal with a new authoritative issue: who was to rule at home? In the wake of this massive authoritative usurpation, there were two primary views of how the new American government should function. Whereas part of the nation believed that a strong, central government would be the most beneficial for the preservation of the Union, others saw a Confederation of sovereign state governments as an option more supportive of the liberties American’s fought so hard for in the Revolution. Those in favor of a central government, the Federalists, thought this form of government was necessary to ensure national stability, unity and influence concerning foreign perception. Contrastingly, Anti-Federalists saw this stronger form of government as potentially oppressive and eerily similar to the authority’s tendencies of the British government they had just fought to remove. However, through the final ratification of the Constitution, new laws favoring state’s rights and the election at the turn of the century, one can say that the Anti-Federalist view of America prevails despite making some concessions in an effort to preserve the Union.
Federalism is perhaps the greatest form of government by the people and for the people because of its evolution. Because people and society change, so must the form of government that presides over them. Federalism allows the flexibility to do so.
Even before the Constitution was ratified, strong argument were made by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison in the Federalist Papers urging the inclusion of a federal form of government to replace the failed confederation. In Federalist Paper No. 9 Hamilton states, “This form of government is a convention by which several smaller states agree to become members of a large one, which they intend to form. It is s kind of assemblage of societies that constitutes a new one, capable of increasing, by means of new associations, until they arrive to such a degree of power as to be able to provide for the security of a united body” (Usinfo.state.gov). The people of the United States needed a central government that was capable of holding certain powers over the states.
In conclusion Federalism is a big part of our country. Federalism does have its pros and cons but it’s safe to say that it has so far worked out fairly well. Still, we must keep in mind that federalism does affects our everyday lives and many times we take for granted that the individual in political parties will make the right decisions for the well-being of the public, though at times it is not always be the case. We must remember that for change to happen we must be involved and ready to learn and see and understand ways that we can make a difference, for at the end of the day it is our lives that are affected with every single decision that is made.