Absolutism Vs Federalism

The Federalists favored a balanced relationship with the federal and state government. For example, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton were in favor of a strong central government. They saw that the states had too much power and thought that under the new constitution , the new national government needed to be stronger. On the other hand, the Anti-federalists favored a weaker national government with power belonging to the states. For example, Patrick Henry favored this idea that the state has most of the power.
A feature of the original Constitution that led to the growth in power of the national government is the necessary and proper clause. This section of the Constitution gives congress the power to make any laws they consider necessary to perform their duties, which has allowed the power of national government to expand over the years. Another feature that had this effect was the vagueness of the presidential power in the Constitution. The President was in charge of the executive branch and had the power of the
national government.
The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression , assembly , and the right to petition.
It also protects individual liberty and provides protection from government power. The Tenth Amendment was added to the Constitution largely because of the intellectual influence and personal persistence of the Anti-Federalists and their allies. The Tenth Amendment was written to emphasize the limited nature of the powers delegated to the federal government.
The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution contains a due process clause. Due process deals with the administration of justice and thus the due process clause acts as a safeguard from arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property by the government outside the sanction of law. Another clause that has altered the balance of power between the state and national government was The Equal Protection Clause which, provides that no state shall deny to any person within its
control.

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The part of the government that was originally most closely tied to citizens was the House of Representative. Members of the House are elected by the people unlike the Senate who were elected by state legislators.
The electoral college limited majority rule by putting the power of selecting the president in the hands of small group of people ( electors ) who were all originally appointed by state legislatures , not elected by the people. A representative form of government , as opposed to a direct democracy, limits majority rule. In a direct democracy, the majority automatically controls the decision-making. The purpose of having representatives is to take decision-making out of the hands of the people and to put it in the hands of a smaller group of people who are expected to be more cautious and deliberative in their decisions.
Primary elections, The Seventeenth Amendment and the Expansion of suffrage all moved the United states from a less democratic system to a more democratic system. The Expansion of suffrage led to a more representative set of voters and eligible voters. The Seventeenth Amendment mandated direct election of the U.S. senators. The Primary elections allowed voters to gain more control over the nomination process and the control was taken away from the political parties.

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The framers chose to use the electoral college as the method to elect the president because it reinforced federalism and gave states a role in presidential selection. The framers also didn’t trust the people , Congress, or state legislatures to solely select the president.
The message that the cartoon above conveys about the presidential election is that the candidates focused only on the swing states. Swing state refers to any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate. This is important because if you’re running for president, you need to know your swing states and you need to visit them frequently. For example, if you’re a Republican you’re probably going to get Texas’s Electoral Votes. And if you’re a Democrat, then you’re probably going to get California’s votes. Since swing states aren’t party loyal, they can give the candidate an extra boost they may need to win the election.
California , Texas , and New York do not appear prominently in the cartoon above because those states voted for the same parties. New York and California voted for the democrats and Texas voted for the republicans so one can easily predict who will win ; however , they are important because of their large number of electoral votes.
Some campaign tactics presidential candidates use to win the key states are, ads and use of media , they focus on issues that swing voters in those states care about and they make bigger campaign organization. They do this in order to get the people happy and on their side so that they’ll be able to earn more electoral votes.