Explain the role and importance of Federalism in the Constitutional system of government.

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Robin Walden

Politics in the USA

Tutor: Donna Jackson

Explain the role and importance of Federalism in the Constitutional system of government.

When the founding fathers constructed the American constitution in 1787, Federalism was absolutely crucial to the basis of the revision of the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution itself was testament to the Founding Fathers' will to implement a central government, for the Articles of Confederation had proven ineffective in providing a unifying leadership. The system of Federalism addressed this problem whilst remaining wary of the possible abuse of this authority, represented through the political power distributed to the States. This preservation of democracy represents the Founding Fathers biggest concern and this legacy of freedom and liberty remains today as essential to the American character. Not only was it important to separate the powers to protect democracy, but cultural and political differences between the states demanded that local governments oversee local issues. The changing role and definition of Federalism from 1789 to present is also important to consider, with special consideration required in the transformation it has undertaken in the twentieth century. Federalism has always been at the cornerstone of democracy in the United States and this surely remains the case today, for the American people have always identified themselves as an American and as an American of a particular state. Federalism allows this dual identity, and the constitutional power enshrined to the States ensures that central government is deliberately restricted, and certain powers are preserved to for the States.

The primary concern for the Founding Fathers was merely to find a way to implement democracy and the system of Federalism enabled this in a "mode of political organization that unites separate policies within an overarching political system"1. The reasons that Federalism was chosen as this form of democratic government is are important to consider, the ideals (doesn't make sense) of the Founding Fathers are represented through the Constitution, specifically the mistrust of strong central authority. Despite this "certain distrust of human nature"2, the founding fathers also realised that the Articles of Confederation were not unifying, nor strong enough to serve the peoples of Eastern America: "there are important needs which can be met only through co-operation, and if the looser forms of co-operation prove utterly inadequate, the result must inevitably be a demand for more effective and intimate union."3. Therefore the system of Federalism appears to represent this necessary compromise, where power is centralized with the Federal government and localised amongst state governments. Thus the potential for corrupting influences within central government is minimal, due to the powers attributed to the States, keeping a check on any such incidence.

Indeed the tenth amendment of The Constitution did not exclusively enumerate powers to the States; instead it left broad scope for interpretation, through non-specification of the States role: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."4 Under the 'strict constructionist' concept, there may be objections to the tasks the States have assumed, yet using the idea of 'implied powers' the States have tended to assume responsibility for the roles such as education, health and other such tasks. The motivation for the inclusion of this amendment was primarily from the anti-Federalists, those particularly cynical of centralized power who believed "central power can be limited by ensuring that the administration of a whole range of domestic policies is conducted at the state and local level"5. This theory of Federalism has been interpreted as "different agents and trustees of the people...designed for different purposes"6; "...larger governments primarily responsible for raising revenues and setting standards, and the smaller ones primarily responsible for administering programs"7. Therefore the role of Federalism, through the separation of powers, includes the assignment of responsibility and the separation of responsibility (perhaps another word eg. Liability/accountability), making each government supreme in their area of authority.
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The importance of Federalism is, in essence, entirely concurrent with the roles of Federalism. Questioning the importance of Federalism is essentially to ask why the separation of powers is so significant to the Constitution of America. The impact of Federalism to the American system is not to be underestimated, for it was the first time the States had implemented a truly unifying and centralising piece of legislation, and a piece of legislation that would see America remain essentially unified over 200 years later. The Constitution was "the result of a long succession of efforts at intercolonial co-operation"8. The ...

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