What is Federalism?

Hello, and today we will look at federalism. Federalism is about government power. Federalism just means that power is divided between a central national government and state or provincial governments. So in a country like the United States that has a system of federalism, some power will belong to the national government and other powers will belong to the state governments. In the United States, we call our national government the federal government. In addition, there is a government in each state. So there are 50 state governments. As a result of federalism in the United States, there's power that belongs to the federal government, and there's also powers that belong to the state governments. One power of the federal government is the power to regulate trade between the states. Another power is the power to declare war. States have powers too. States have their own laws and their own state police. States also generally run their own schools. Some powers are shared, both the federal and state governments have the power to tax. Why does the United States have a system of federalism? Remember that the United States fought the Revolutionary War to gain independence from Great Britain. Americans did not want to be ruled by a king. The 13 former colonies of Great Britain were now 13 independent states, states were concerned about losing power to other states. States were also concerned about losing their power to the federal government. However, many Americans realized they needed a national government strong enough to unite the country. So on the one hand, the new states did not want a national government so strong that there would be tyranny, but the national government had to be strong enough to be able to unite the country. Federalism was a compromise. Federalism means that some powers belong to the national government in Washington, D.C., and other powers belong to each of the states. Because of federalism, there are both federal and state legal systems in the United States. That's why in the United States, there are both federal courts and state courts. If you'd like to discuss federalism or any other matter related to U.S. law, stop by the message board. Also, please visit my blog and feel free to send me an email or add your comments below.