Federalism is the distribution between an organization and its constituencies. In terms of our government, Federalism is the distribution of powers between the centralized national power and the state powers. In the beginning...
The United States of America started off as a British colony. The citizens of early colonial America viewed their selves largely as English citizens. They believed that they deserved all the rights of Englishmen. In every respect that those living in the motherland were considered English, the Americans were that much more so. In essence, Americans were a caricature of English society.
When the abuses of the homeland became too much and the American colonists felt as though they were being rid of their English rights, the Americans began to consider secession. It wasn't until British armies were already attacking Northern colonies that the Revolutionary war broke out.
The US Constitution
Following the Revolutionary War, the United States was a Confederacy with a very weak unicameral Congress. It wasn't until a rebellion broke out between poor farmers who were dissatisfied with the condition of the country that leading politicians decided it was time to make the national government stronger. In a convention in which representative members of each state were suppose to amend the Confederate Papers, an entirely new document was produced... the constitution!
The constitution was highly controversial. The Federalists declared that the country would break out in civil war and anarchism, mostly over territory, if the country couldn't come together as one political body, and the Anti-Federalists argued that by creating a strong centralized government, tyranny and despotism was inevitable. However, after several years of debate, the Constitution had won out the fight, and the constitution was ratified in 1788.
How the Federal Government Works...
The Federal government is split up into three main categories: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. Each one of these branches of government is intended to have its own separate power. The Legislative Branch passes laws and amends the Constitution. The Executive Branch executes laws, vetoes bills, and acts as the commander and chief of the military. Finally, The Judicial Branch acts as an impartial judge, whose duty is to maintain and uphold the Constitution.
The real genius of the Federal system of government is the way in which it was designed. One of the first problems with designing a single government was that there was a lot of disagreement about how representatives in the new Congress should be decided. The largest states argued that since they had a greater population and would have to pay more taxes, they should get more representation. However, the smaller states argued that if this was allowed to be the standard, the larger states would undoubtedly oppress the smaller states. This led to the Connecticut Compromise.
The Connecticut Compromise led to the current structure of the Congress we have today. The lower house (House of Representatives) has representatives based on population, while the upper house (Senate) has two representatives from each state. In order for a bill to pass, it must make it through both houses. This gives each state an equal and fair balance of proportional representation as well as a check against tyranny of the majority.
The Life of a Bill...
A bill is a law that is being passed through the legislature. A bill can originate in either of the two houses (HoR or Senate). However, the House of Representatives has several exclusive rights: the power to initiate revenue bills, to impeach officials, and to elect the president in case of an Electoral College deadlock. For a bill to pass, it must make it through both houses and then be signed by the President. If the President does not wish to sign a bill, he has the power to veto it, and then it will be sent back to the original house with a statement as to why the President vetoed it to be revised. At this point, it will have to be passed through both houses again.
After a bill is passed, it is still not completely secure. Another piece of legislation can be passed to revoke it, the President can make an Executive Order to revoke it, or it can be shot down in a Supreme Court decision if it is ruled to be unconstitutional.
How Representatives Are Chosen...
The basic principle of elections was that every office was to be elected from a different source. The House of Representatives was to be the government office closest to the people. Therefore, it was to be elected directly from the people. This is particularly important because the Legislative Branch was seen as the most dangerous to human liberty. That is why instead of having a single legislative office, like in the Confederacy, it had a Bicameral Legislative Branch.
The other branch of the Legislature, The Senate, was to be chosen by the state legislature to keep the States' rights from being oppressed by their citizens. In 1913, the XVII Amendment was passed, which reformed the election process for Senators to be elected by the majority vote of each States' citizens.
Likewise, the President was originally elected by the Electoral College, which in turn was elected by the States. However, due to the XII Amendment, in 1804, the Electoral College is subject to majority vote as well.
Finally, the Supreme Justices who sit on the Supreme Court are elected by the President. However, they serve a term of life in order to break them of responsibility to reelection. This allows them to exercise justice freely and without prejudice from the American public or any other branch of government.
How Democracy is Suppose to Work...
Democracy is a term which means all citizens of the government either vote on or participate in government. Despite popular belief, the government isn't here to do exactly as the majority rule wishes for it. Federalist Democracy is designed with many bodies (citizens, states, national), and many subdivisions (cities, counties, legislature, executive office, et cetera), and it is intended to keep these different separate institutions in balance. It is, however, also meant to provide an optimal amount of accountability. And that accountability comes from reelections.
The House of Representatives is the most unruly and is intended to be held most accountable. Thus, Representatives server terms of 2 years.
To insure long-term accountability for laws that may take many years to take effect, the Senators were given a longer term. Thus, the members of the Senate serve terms of 6 years.
The President serves 4-year terms and can serve a maximum of two terms.
And finally, of course, the Supreme Court Justices serve terms of life.
Conclusion
After searching many years for a perfect system of government, I never realized how great our government is. There are many things wrong with our country, but the structure of our system of government is not one of them. In fact, the original design of the government was absolutely ingenious. It kept a strong balance between States and the National government. It gave a great deal of representation to the people without taking away the power of the states. And it kept all of the branches of government under check by making sure that no one of them was too powerful.
For more information, look up Montesquieu, Checks and Balances, or Federalism
