Colonial Government Vs Centralized Government

The founders of the United States created a new nation on the idea and principal of rule by the people. The colonies had come to staunchly oppose to the concept of a powerful centralized government. “The conflicts between Great Britain and its American colonies between 1764 and 1775 arose from the efforts of colonial leaders to protect local privileges from the invasion of imperial authorities to impose order on a region they had been created to govern.” During this time period the colonial leaders tried to shield the local populous from oppression, primarily in the form of taxes imposed by Great Britain. The Colonial people as a whole felt that they could govern their own communities more effectively than that of a centralized government. This was when the American people started entertaining the idea of self-governing that eventually led to the formation of the Continental Congress, the Declaration of Independence and the …show more content…
A common method the federal government uses to exert influence on states is through the use of financial grants. These grants are given only to those states that meet all the conditions and stipulations that the federal government places on the money. If a state wants to have access to this federal assistance they have no choice but to abide by the conditions attached to the grant. An example of this can be seen in the state imposed legal drinking age of 21. In past years the drinking age varied from one state to another, typically ranging from 18 to 21 years of age. If the federal government had drawn up legislature to pass a federal law on the subject it likely would have been challenged as unconstitutional. Instead Congress stipulated that states had to set the legal drinking age to 21 in order to continue to receive federal highway funds. In the end the states could not afford to lose this funding so each state