Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Federal System

In the articles of confederation, the governing system was know as the confederal system, which gave the states the majority of the power, while the national government had very little legislative power. In the new constitution, the governing system, was a federal system, which gave a divided amount of power between national and state government. “The maze of national and state regulations results from federalism — the decision made by the Founders to split power between state and national governments.” (The Independence Hall Association) In the federal system, the power is also divided between the state and the local governments, and today the power is divided between 89,000 local, state, and national governments. There are many strengths of a federal system, but there are also a few weakness, which are found in any form of government around the world. There are many strengths of a federal system, but usually the dispersal of power is considered one of its greatest strengths. The national government also has a checks-and-balance system that …show more content…
One of the major weaknesses is that with such a dispersal of power there is more of a chance for a bill to be vetoed, slowing down action on important bills. This has happened many times when either the president, or congress vetoes a bill, usually when the Republican party controls one branch, and the Democratic party controls the other branch. Because of this it can take quite a long time for important legislature to go through. Another weakness of the federal system is that differences in laws that states pass can change how citizens are treated in different states. This can cause some states to have racial segregation that is much more extreme than some people are used to. It is also the reason why something like the Jim Crow laws, which banned interracial marriage, and required segregation in schools, can be passed in certain