The American government is a Federal Government. In other words, political authority is distributed between the national government (also known as federal or central government) and the state government (or political subunits). Additionally, power is divided between the three branches of the national government, which are the Congress, the president, and the Supreme Court. Undoubtedly, such separation of powers is the key to maintain a system of check and balances, in order to avoid abuse of authority. Certainly, this system has been the reason why America is still so strong and prospering today. Baron de Montesquieu was an eighteenth century French enlightenment thinker who first expressed the concept of separation of powers within a country.
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As a matter of fact, the Congress was granted enumerated powers such as regulating foreign commerce, conducting foreign affairs, coining money, establishing courts inferior to the Supreme Court, declaring war, supporting the military, admitting new states to the Union, and more powers found under Article I of the Constitution. On the other hand, the state governments retained reserved powers such as conducting elections, ratifying amendments, regulating safety, health and moral, regulating state militia, and regulating intrastate commerce. In addition to the enumerated and reserved powers, the Federal Government and state governments shared together what were known as concurrent powers. However, federalism has been interpreted in different ways throughout the years. This shifting in the conception of federalism was to be expected. In fact, the Constitution itself was created with the ideology of flexibility, so that America could stand strong throughout the changes that may have challenged it over the future years. In fact, America went through five distinct eras of federalism, and the flexible nature of such system allowed it to adapt to each particular circumstance and to each shift in power between the national government and state …show more content…
The Constitution grants to the federal government the power of dealing with certain issues that pertain to the nation as a whole, while it grants to the states the authority to deal with in-state matters. I believe that the Government, each state, and the Supreme Court should have their power distributed between them equally. After all, that is what makes the United States of America stand out in the world. The federal government has the important duty of regulating the most important matters and maintaining an overall equality between the states. The states should comply with the Constitution in dealing with their internal issues, and the Supreme Court should ensure protection of the States’ rights. Federalism has the advantage of accommodating the diversity that has always been the peculiar aspect of the United States. With no doubt, the separation of powers was, is, and will be fundamental in maintaining America and its democracy stand
As a matter of fact, the Congress was granted enumerated powers such as regulating foreign commerce, conducting foreign affairs, coining money, establishing courts inferior to the Supreme Court, declaring war, supporting the military, admitting new states to the Union, and more powers found under Article I of the Constitution. On the other hand, the state governments retained reserved powers such as conducting elections, ratifying amendments, regulating safety, health and moral, regulating state militia, and regulating intrastate commerce. In addition to the enumerated and reserved powers, the Federal Government and state governments shared together what were known as concurrent powers. However, federalism has been interpreted in different ways throughout the years. This shifting in the conception of federalism was to be expected. In fact, the Constitution itself was created with the ideology of flexibility, so that America could stand strong throughout the changes that may have challenged it over the future years. In fact, America went through five distinct eras of federalism, and the flexible nature of such system allowed it to adapt to each particular circumstance and to each shift in power between the national government and state …show more content…
The Constitution grants to the federal government the power of dealing with certain issues that pertain to the nation as a whole, while it grants to the states the authority to deal with in-state matters. I believe that the Government, each state, and the Supreme Court should have their power distributed between them equally. After all, that is what makes the United States of America stand out in the world. The federal government has the important duty of regulating the most important matters and maintaining an overall equality between the states. The states should comply with the Constitution in dealing with their internal issues, and the Supreme Court should ensure protection of the States’ rights. Federalism has the advantage of accommodating the diversity that has always been the peculiar aspect of the United States. With no doubt, the separation of powers was, is, and will be fundamental in maintaining America and its democracy stand