The United States And The Federal System - 1360 Words

The United States is one of the few countries that govern through the federal system. Federalism was created to organize a form of government where multiple levels of government have authority. It was meant to decentralize and divide powers and responsibilities to prevent a tyranny from ever taking over. Although the United States adopted federalism as their system of government, the balance of power has been broken, drastically shifting it to the central government. Now, it is no question that the federal government held supreme power over the states and in the past few decades as well. People argue that it is more important to have a strong federal government because they have the ability to enact the policies that strongly affect the†¦show more content†¦Doing so also allows the federal government to concentrate its powers on different matters that needs to be addressed such as free college education and healthcare. In 1789, twelve constitutional amendments were proposed to the First Congress. Two years later, ten amendments were ratified. These 10 amendments were later known as the Bill of Rights, thus marking the birth of Federalism. The Federal System restrained the national government from obstructing personal freedom. The Constitution listed a broad range of powers of the federal government to exercise. The Tenth Amendment, which guaranteed what s left of the state s power, stated 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. Despite the amendment showing clear examples of federalism, it did little to nothing to limit federal powers. This amendment, however, prevented the national government from completely trampling the states. It also made it clear that states had their own power, separately in their own sphere-not an implication that state power reign supreme over the Federal government. In early 1800 s, the power of the states was tested as it battled the national government in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland. The state of Maryland, claiming that the Congress was overstepping its bounds