Describe how the federal system of government creates a division of power.

The most important feature of the Constitution is probably the federal system it created. Without the inclusion of the federal principle, the Constitution would have been rejected at the Convention. Even if it had survived there, it would have been soundly defeated in the battle for ratification. In terms of the daily operations of the government, national-state governmental relations have a more profound impact on more aspects of politics and the economy than perhaps any other feature of America’s constitutional system.

What is Federalism?

In a federal system, a national government exercises at least some coordinating authority over the governments in smaller jurisdictions within the larger borders of that nation. Under the Articles of Confederation, the national government had authority to enforce any of its enactments as it attempted to guide the states in their “league of friendship.” What Madison and other proponents of the Constitution proposed was the creation of a truly federal system in which the national government had authority to compel the states to pay taxes and comply with other national laws. Under this arrangement, the states would retain unique powers and authority, passing laws and governing the people who lived within their boundaries.

The critics of the Constitution complained that the system established by the Constitution was not a federal one at all, but rather a national or unitary one in which the states were wholly subordinate to the national government. They thought that a truly federal system would give a voice to states in the creation and implementation of law.