The concept of Federalism is fundamental to the American system of governance - despite the fact that many Americans are probably only fleetingly acquainted with the term. The basis for our Federalist government lies in our history - in the transformation of the loosely knit and in many ways (to use a 21st-century term for an 18th-century phenomenon) dysfunctional country under the Articles of Confederation to a powerful and (mostly) united country that has existed under the rule of law and democracy for far longer than most republics in the history of our race.
Federalism is a system of governance in which two levels of government have authority over the same geographic territory and the same citizens at the same time. This is something that we as Americans are both familiar and in general highly comfortable with: We do not find it in any way peculiar that we are simultaneously citizens of California (or Ohio or Arkansas) and the United States. We do not find it in any way peculiar that we are subject to two different sets of laws - those of our state and those of our nation (McKittrick, 1994, p. 19.
The origins of this dual system lie in the nation's history. After the Americans had won the revolution and the right of self-determination, they were adamant about avoiding the perils of a strong centralized government that they had experienced under George III. Their first attempts at nation making, however, erred too far in the opposite direction: The country created by the Articles of Confederation had too little centralized power - no central bank or currency, no clear way to engage in foreign policy, no ability even to repay its war debts.
The form of governance that was created by the Constitution rectified this lack of a centralized authority while retaining an emphasis on local governance. While this form of government seems "natural" to Americans, in fact it is relatively uncommon, with most countries having a "unitary ...