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Federalism: The Iroquois League

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Federalism is the idea of the powers of government being distributed between a national institution and provincial, or state, institutions. Over the long history of humanity Federalism has taken many forms. To give an example, in the 15th-16th century the Iroquois League was formed. This was a system of Federalism wherein the central government had very few actual powers. In the Iroquois League each nation determined its own laws, for the most, independent of the rest of the confederation. However delegates of each nation would meet periodically to vote on certain policy decisions (particularly matters dealing with nations not in the League, such as whether or not to declare war). They had a Constitution that all members had to abide by that …show more content…

This system, it is said, was an important influence for the founding fathers of the United States. However, what came out of the United States Constitution was a federation with a far stronger central government. The government could control all kinds of trade within each state, settle civil and social matters, as well as all the international affairs that the Iroquois league managed. This wide array of federal government powers strays from the clearly defined lines of the Iroquois League. As a result there is a lot of debate over which powers the states ought to have and which ought to reside in the hands of the federal government. When responding to this issue we should first consider what the benefits are that the states are hoping to gain from this relationship. First and foremost is national security. This was the driving factor behind the formation of the Iroquois League and is an important benefit in every such federation. The power to ensure national security certainly includes control over foreign affairs, but what does that entail, aside from the obvious functions? Well the principal duty is to provide a vanguard to defend against foreseeable threats which possess a strong ability and clearly defined intent to harm the society's

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