The Political Structure Of Usa

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 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.

James Madison in Federalist Paper #51 writes “Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” This idea of Federalism allows the governments to be supervised by the others while having control over itself. The powers of the government are spilt between the central and state government so neither government could gain more power over the other. The powers that state governments have are more specific to the state then the powers given to the central government. For example, states were given the powers to pass marriage and divorce laws, establish schools, set up local governments among others because these issues differ largely from state to state. Hence, it would make it illogical to give the central government these types of rights because these issues vary from state to state making it an act of tyranny by the majority against the minority. (Document A)

States have powers specific to their needs, such as, Establishing schools, regulate in-state business and giving our marriage licenses. Americas central government conducts all foreign affairs and is in charge of the United States Mint. Both state and central government has the powers to tax and create laws, theses powers were invested into them so they control themselves and each

This compound government is called federalism. As shown in the diagram in Document A, some of the powers given to the central government include: regulating trade, declaring war, and making immigration laws. The federal government makes laws that will affect all American citizens. As shown in the diagram in Document A, Some of the powers given to the states: establish schools, pass marriage and divorce laws. Local and state governments make laws that will affect the community and citizens in the state.

The division of powers between the State and the Central government limited tyranny, and this was known as federalism. As the Venn diagram in the

The Articles of Confederation were created as a loose binding of the colonies whilst they declared their independence from Britain, the document in itself worked well on paper, but when applied to an expanding nation that needed more intensive unification and strategic organization, the articles failed greatly. It didn’t build the internal systems that call for the calculated and precise decisions of a country. However, the Articles of Confederation provided a basis for the Constitution, to which is the basis of American government today.

The Articles of Confederation created a federation government, which in actuality seem like thirteen countries with an alliance agreement in case of international problems like it was the Independence war or even any invasion in the territory as delineated in Article IV and IX. Also, Article V gave each state the right to be represented in Congress, making each state seemed as its own country with what today would be called a Secretary of State. At the same time, the Articles of Confederation give total power to each state to carry out most if not all of the political decisions, more specifically Article II. This evidence shows how the power was concentrated mainly in the states as they had many political freedoms and were also responsible

When a state is divided according to its geography and the division has some government

One example that highlights the weaknesses of the central government under the Articles of confederation was Alexander Hamilton state that “without an army or a navy troops America is completely powerless to deal with international problems”. He also said, “England should have return land to the west” back to us. Also, he states that “Spain blocks ships from Mississippi River and How is the United States able to defend themselves as a nation”. Hamilton also states as a nation we should have “troops or a national government or a national treasury”. Another point that Hamilton states is every state must argue on everything before it

Most state governments are modeled after the three branch system of government like the federal government, although it is not required by law to follow suit. Each state has their Constitution as well as having powers not giving to the federal government. (whitehouse.gov) States have an

Federalism is a concept best described when discussing whether a country’s government can be considered centralized, or contrarily,

A unitary system of government is where the all the power is held by one central government. Some examples of this system are United Kingdom, France, The Netherlands, and Spain. Another system of government is Federal. This is where the power is shared by a large central government. Some examples of this are The United States and Federal Republic of Germany.

under the control of an assigned body. The setting up of government is significantly less

depending on the federal government to control state disputes. “Federalism, as it is understood in its most basic form, creates a multilevel government that permits the national and various state