What is Federalism?

What is Federalism?

In simple words, federalism refers to the division of authority and function between the government and the governments in various states. State and local governments have an important role to play in the politics of America since the power of the national government are shared with state government, while each remain separate sovereigns. Federalism has evolved over the years in the American history and at different time periods, the balance of power between the state and national government has seen many changes and has evolved to the political system in place today.

For the first 150 years of the United States, i.e. till the time of World War II, the form of government was what is known as dual federalism. The Constitution divided the two forms of government as state and national, with the national government to be responsible for the defense, foreign policy, and for generating commerce while the state was supposed to deal with criminal law, local matters and regulation of economy. Problems in this kind of setup were realized during the Civil War, with debates surrounding the state governments having the power to decide about legalizing slavery in the state. The victory of Union though helped in strengthening the power of the federal government the debate over the rights of the state ended at that time (Katz, 1997).

There was then seen a change in the nature of government and politics in the country in the later years of the 19th century moving into the 20th century. Due to industrialization and globalization, the role of the federal government was expanded. This was mainly because the economy became more national and industrial and the states were considered to be better in dealing with such a change. The expansion of economy and the extension in the ...