Questions On Philip Axelrod's Final Socratics

In the Unites States of America Federalism is the basic structure of the American government; it is the distribution and balance of powers between the National government and the States government. In order to obtain a compromise between those who wanted stronger state government and those who preferred a stronger national government the founding fathers arranged and settled for a federal system rather than the alternatives of a unitary or confederal system. While both National and State governments each have specific powers and authority, they also share certain powers and must be able to cooperate effectively with each other.

I agree with federalism because it ensures that one group never has too much power. Additionally, different states may have different values or needs and should be able to adopt their own policies. The structure of the legal systems ensures that no one branch has unlimited power and allows the three branches to keep each other in check. The organization of the American legal system is both diverse and unified at the same time.

People have been arguing for years about who should have more power, either the federal government or the state. People arguing that the states should have more power than the government because they care more about the people. Then other people will say that the federal should have majority of the power since they oversee everything the states do. I believe that the federal government and the state government should have shared power, but I think the federal government should have the powers such as declaring war and things to help the people as a whole. Then the states should have the power to do what they think is the best things for the people of their state.

Lastly we move to federal government this is one in which the powers of government is divided between a central government and several local governments. There is a authority superior to both the central and local governments which makes this division of powers on a geographic basis; That division cannot be changed by either the local or national level acting alone. Both levels of government act directly on the people through their own sets of laws, the officials, and agencies. In the United States, for example the National Government has certain powers and the 50 states have others. This division of powers is set out in the Constitution of the United States.

The federal government and state governments have had a long history of powers struggles. The struggle goes back and forth between who has the right to make decisions and if there is a problem who should fix it. Sometimes it is better for the federal government to fix issues and during other situations it is better for the state or local governments to fix other issues. In the PBS special of the United States Constitution, Peter Sagal travels around the states documenting the various roles and impact the government has on the country as a whole and on the individual states.

The government can only rule with the people’s best interest at heart because “governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed” (Jefferson, 1776). It is the citizens that give the government its power which is why the government protects the American citizens’ rights. Due to the Declaration of Independence, the government cannot impose unfair taxes on the citizens. If a law was to be imposed, it would have to be review by the judicial branch in order for the law to be enforced. Also, one branch of government could not have more power than the others which is why a system of checks and balances was later created. That way one branches would not be able to make all the decisions concerning the affairs of the nation without the consent of the others. This also protects the citizens from being taken advantage of and each branch will think about what the nation needs instead of competing for power among each other.

Stronger central governments are better governments. “Federalists want a strong government to hold power they want to become a monarchy” according to document 3. A monarchy is when a royal family rules. Held power for 12 years which is a long time according to document 2. Hamilton says “People don't need power they are dumb and ignorant.” Hamilton wanted a efficient government

Federalism was the first guard against tyranny. The central government and states both had their own powers but also shared a few. They had trading, conducting foreign relations, declaring war, making immigration laws etc. Local state governments got elections, establishing schools, passing marriage and divorce laws, and regulating in-state business. “The different governments will control each other and at the same time it will be controlled by itself,” said James Madison in the federalist paper #51.

The division of power between states and the national government is called federalism. This government provides double security by having the governments check each other's power to avoid one person or group gaining too much power, thus tyranny occurs. Federalism guards against tyranny by having people rule different things and sections so no man or woman accumulates too much power.

Federalism guards against tyranny by dividing the power between central and state governments. Some powers given to the central government are to regulate trade, to declare war, and etc. Powers given to the state government are to hold elections, establish schools, and etc. Both the state and central governments check each other to make sure one doesn’t get too much power.

With the power in one place instead of the states, it would easily be abused. In the text Madison said this would not be the case because of the constitution. It would establish a government that was powerful enough to keep control. However, it would not have enough to take over unobstructed. Madison argued that the government's power did not exist because it declared it did. There was no reason to concerned about a central government that had more powerful than each individual state. This was because the powers it had come from what the individual states gave it and therefore came from the people. The ones deciding on taxation would not be men from only a few bloodlines. The men would be from the same places the ones in charge of the individual states were according to Madison. People like Patrick Henry would not have to worry. The government would be fair because the same kind of men would be making the decisions as

What power did the individual states maintain? Who was given more power, the national government or the individual states? What were the implications of such a balance?

The Plessy v. Ferguson court case was that very thing, declaring the Jim Crow Laws, a set of laws that segregated the African American’s from the whites, constitutional. The ending statement of the debate says, “...provide equal, but separate, accommodations... not in conflict with either of the Thirteenth...or of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States,” (Document F). Unfortunately, even though the US Supreme Court gave conditions that needed to be met for the Jim Crow Laws to be constitutional, African Americans were still treated like a broken toy as the ruling was not enforced. This means that the ruling of the court case was not followed, allowing discrimination and segregation to rage on with nothing in its path. This also shows that since the ruling was not enforced, it made the whites feel like they had the power to control

For instance, powers given to central government are conduct foreign relations, declare war, and regulate trade. While powers given to states are set up local government, hold elections, and establish schools. James Madison (the author of Federalist Paper number fifty-one that shows the idea of federalism) believed by separating power between state and national government that they have enough power to make an impact, but at the same time not too much power that they have control over everything. As James Madison said, “The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will control itselfs” (Document A). This show that the national government have right amount of power to help the country’s major needs and the state government have the right amount of power to help the state’s major needs. So these two forms of government can operate by itself, but at the same time they work together to help the nation’s needs. Overall, this prevents tyranny through federalism because the state and national government are working together to benefit the nation instead of giving either form of government the overall power of the

Of course this is a matter of opinion. There is no way to choose whether federalism is better than some other system such as socialism. Federalism is one of the most important and innovative concepts in the U.S. Constitution, although the word never appears in the constitution itself. The Framers of the U.S. Constitution wanted a national government that was stronger than the one established under the Articles of Confederation, but many were highly devoted to their own states and feared establishing a form of government similar to that which they had rebelled against in Great Britain. Federalism is the sharing of power between national and state governments, which America has done since the separation of Great Britain in 1776. A federal system of government can be contrasted to a unitary system of government, which has only one central government, and the subsidiary governments of which serve as agents of the central government. Of course, there will always be pros and cons to any government system, but in this research, some pros and cons will