Division of Powers
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In the American system of government there is a division of power between the states and the federal government that is embodied in the United States Constitution. At different times in our history, relative levels of power may shift from one to the other, but at all times there are certain functions relegated to the states and certain functions that are handled in Washington, D.C. One of the themes in American political history is federalism as seen in various arguments over whether the balance of power has shifted too much one way or the other, with some believing that all power should devolve to the states, with the federal government performing only a few tasks, such as the national defense, while others see a much stronger role for the federal government based on ideas of fairness and equity so that a citizen can move from one state to another and find essentially the same laws and the same benefits. At the present time, the new Congress is involved in an effort to shift power back to the states, and this may mean greater innovation and greater opportunity for states such as New Hampshire to shape policies and programs in an individual way to meet the needs of local citizens. In any case, there are certain roles and functions which belong to state government and which have traditionally been administered by the states. The system that has developed was based first on arguments among the Founding Fathers over the proper role of a central government and the power that
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t that had not been solved in Europe. Madison pointed out that Americans found a way of applying a republic to an extended territory, and he also noted that the elaborate system of representation in the Constitution would do two essential tasks: 1) it would prevent the central government from grasping excessive power, because representatives would always to be responsible to their electors; and 2) it would, in turn, screen the central government from the detrimental force of popular passion. In No. 39 of The Federalist Papers, Madison asked whether the new government would be strictly republican:
It is evident that no other form would be reconcilable with the genius of the people of America; with the fundamental principles of the revolution; or with that honorable determination, which animates every votary of freedom, to rest all our political experiments in the capacity of mankind for self-government (Madison 59).
Madison concluded that the proposed government was indeed republican in form, modified for the size of the territory:
The proposed Constitution therefore is in strictness neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both" (Madison 63).
According to the U.S. Constitution, the federal gove
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1768
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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