The American Founders utilized federalism in order to both prevent tyrannical leadership and to try and incite more participation in government and politics. The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 states “The body-politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals: It is a social compact, by which the whole people covenants with each citizen...that all should be governed by certain laws for the common good.”1 This is a perfect example of federalism, as there is not one singular person or entity in charge, but rather a group of groups working together in order to ensure that no one group becomes too powerful and that everyone has equal representation. Federalism is based on the principal that there is a central government made up of
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This design essentially ensures that the central government is not too powerful in relation to the smaller regional governments. The primary goal of the founders was to avoid tyranny at all costs, and this government model allowed them to do exactly that. Because the regional governments have control over their internal governments, the central government's power is limited and a tyranny cannot be formed. This early principal of federalism played an immense role in the formation of Texas' modern day government, primarily evident in the way Texas' government is structured and how the branches function cooperatively. One major example of federalism in the US is how each state has its own government within the federal government itself. Each of these state governments has it's own set of rules and methods of doing things. An example would be Texas and Ohio as they are going to have many similarities in their governments, but also many differences regarding the operation of government both within …show more content…
The state governments are actually designed to have almost the same powers as the federal government, just on a smaller scale. In Barron v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore, it was declared that “Each state established a constitution for itself, and in that constitution provided such limitations and restrictions on the powers of its particular government as judgment dictated”7. This is essentially stating that each state has their own constitution and determines its own rules and laws within itself. This limits the control of the federal government over the states and allows the states to have much more leniency in making their own laws and regulations. However the state governments have the same thing going on within their governments. The smaller districts and cities have their own small governments with their own jurisdiction in which they have their own regulations. One example of this is speed limits. Each city sets their own speed limits within their jurisdiction while the state government has no control over the speed limits. However, the State government has control over things that require more power, such as whether or not certain things are legal or not within that state, like certain items such as weapons or public actions. While the state governments have control over things within their states, the federal government has control over things that concern the entire country, such as going to
This design essentially ensures that the central government is not too powerful in relation to the smaller regional governments. The primary goal of the founders was to avoid tyranny at all costs, and this government model allowed them to do exactly that. Because the regional governments have control over their internal governments, the central government's power is limited and a tyranny cannot be formed. This early principal of federalism played an immense role in the formation of Texas' modern day government, primarily evident in the way Texas' government is structured and how the branches function cooperatively. One major example of federalism in the US is how each state has its own government within the federal government itself. Each of these state governments has it's own set of rules and methods of doing things. An example would be Texas and Ohio as they are going to have many similarities in their governments, but also many differences regarding the operation of government both within …show more content…
The state governments are actually designed to have almost the same powers as the federal government, just on a smaller scale. In Barron v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore, it was declared that “Each state established a constitution for itself, and in that constitution provided such limitations and restrictions on the powers of its particular government as judgment dictated”7. This is essentially stating that each state has their own constitution and determines its own rules and laws within itself. This limits the control of the federal government over the states and allows the states to have much more leniency in making their own laws and regulations. However the state governments have the same thing going on within their governments. The smaller districts and cities have their own small governments with their own jurisdiction in which they have their own regulations. One example of this is speed limits. Each city sets their own speed limits within their jurisdiction while the state government has no control over the speed limits. However, the State government has control over things that require more power, such as whether or not certain things are legal or not within that state, like certain items such as weapons or public actions. While the state governments have control over things within their states, the federal government has control over things that concern the entire country, such as going to