There’s not much of a difference between the separation of power and federalism. Separation of power is when the government is broken into three branches under the Constitution into the legislative, judicial, and the executive branch where each branch has the ability to check and balance each other’s powers over one another. Whereas federalism is when the Constitution distributes power evenly though the federal governments, states, and local governments. The United States federalism is somewhat different than the federalism you’d see in Nigeria, Brazil, Canada, and etcetera; the only difference between normal federalism and the U.S. federalism is that the state controls the power of local governments instead of the constitution.
Separation of powers is known as the division of power among legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. Back to 1748, Montesquieu, a French political theorist proposed dividing political authority into legislative, executive, and judicial powers. He believed that assigning each set of powers to a separate branch of government would promote liberty. Like Montesquieu, the Founders of the US also thought that promoted Liberty would help the US to develop better. Therefore, they decided to use the Separation of powers system. In the US, the Separation of powers works under "checks and balances" system, whereby each branch of government exercises some control over the others. In Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution, the Founders stated that "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in the Congress of the US. In Section 8 of this Article, they also gave the Congress expressed powers which included enumerated and delegated powers, and implied power which is also called "elastic clause". This clause gives Congress the right to make all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out the powers expressed in the other clause of Article I. In Article II, Section 1, the Founders affirmed inherent powers of the President by the following statement: "The executive powers shall be vested in a President of the USA. Finally, in Article III, Section 1 the Founders mentioned that the judicial powers should belong to the Supreme Courts. In addition, the Courts also have the Reserved powers which written in the Tenth Amendment.
Federalism is the division of government in which power is divided, by a constitution, between a central government and regional governments. The founding fathers decided to use a type of federalism, because the Articles of Confederation were considered weak and they were avoiding giving power to the national government. In the United States we use a type of federalism, in which our constitution gives power to federal and state authorities, and the state gives power to the local authorities. This type of government allows for a system of checks and balances, and doesn’t allow for any one government to have all the power over our country. The founding fathers came up with federalism, because of the Articles of Confederation, which they were used after the Revolution, were not sufficient and breaking the states apart. The British were dealing with the states individually for commerce, and as a result the small farmers and artisans instituted economic policies, including inflation, which the under the Articles of Confederation, the national government was useless in stopping. Another incident where the Articles of Confederation were posed as useless was in Shay’s rebellion in February of 1787. Daniel Shay was a former army captain that led a mob of farmers in a rebellion against the state of Massachusetts, who was foreclosing their farms because of debt. In fourteen days, the state militia was able to stop the mob, but because congress under the Confederation had been unable to act quickly enough, it was decided that a Constitutional Convention be held in May of 1787, where the delegates soon committed to a second founding. This new founding was a very successful attempt to create an effective new government, thus Federalism was born. Under our constitution, the 10th Amendment states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." With this amendment, our Constitution clearly states, who has power over what and only who and what. Also, before the creation of the Constitution, the states had more power under the Articles of Confederation than the federal government like collecting taxes; however, that all changed with the creation of the Constitution. In Article 1 section 8 of the Constitution, it clearly states that Congress has enumerated powers like collecting taxes and declaring war, which the states no longer have.
When the founding fathers decided to create the Constitution, they had in mind that they wanted a strong central government because the Articles of Confederation failed to create one. Along with the creation of the Constitution, came about two important principles that define how the government’s power is divided in the United States, which are known as federalism and the separation of powers. Federalism divides power between the national and state governments whereas the separation of powers divides the government into three separate braches known as the legislative branch, judicial branch, and executive branch. The reasons why these principles were established were to limit the powers of the government and to prevent tyranny. Though our government system may be considered to be “complicated”, it is known as one of the most long lasting government systems in the world. It is a system of government protected carefully by the Constitution, which also protects the rights of the people. The Constitution gives power to the people and if the U.S. government were to ever destroy the rights of the people, then they have all right to destroy the government. After all, that’s why the founding fathers decided to create such a rebellious document that is the Constitution, to show people that they have the right to fight if it means that their rights are being taken away from them.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
1. A) a lesser emphasized separation of powers is that between the federal government and governments at state and local levels. The separation is known as federalism.…
- 476 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Before the federal system government, there was an article of confederation (1776-1787), which was designed to keep more power in the states government, and less power in the national government. The article of confederation had much weakness, which calls for a change in the government system. The federal government system which is also known as “Federalism” is a division of power between a central government and state/regional government, and the division of powers are as follow; delegated powers (enumerated), which is expressly given to the national government; reserved powers, which reside in the state; and the concurrent powers granted to both national and state government. The balance and boundaries between the federal government and state…
- 728 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Federalism is the type of government where there is segment of different powers between a state government and the central government. The United States is a federalist government where the states have their own individual powers and authority that they are able to exercise and the federal government has its own circle of authority that it tends to exercise.…
- 828 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
MidTerm Essay The Constitution divided the powers between the Federal,State and Local governments in a very specific way. Which we now call Federalism,but before this we had the Articles of Confederation. The reason we did not keep the Articles of Confederation was because it was to weak and gave too much power to the states. But it did set up a foundation which helped bring us the division of powers between Federal,local and state governments.…
- 309 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
In Federalist Paper #47, James Madison explicates how one person or group withholding all the power is the definition of tyranny and that, “[L]iberty requires the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.” The excerpt from the United States’ Constitution explain the different powers given to each branch of government. For instance, in Article 1, Section 1 it states, “All legislative power herein granted shall be vested in a Congress…” Moreover, the United States’ Constitution explains, “The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States.” Additionally, the Constitution states, “The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such inferior courts….” Separation of Powers helps guard against tyranny because we prevent a singular branch from ruling over the people and have all the power, the very definition of tyranny. By separating the power of each branch it assures that no one branch overpowers…
- 631 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The federal government has powers that are more general and apply to the country as a whole, while the state government has powers specific to their area. According to Madison in Federalist Paper #51 written in 1788, federalism guards against tyranny because, “The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” (Document A) They are able to control their separate areas of government while still controlling the power of the other, ensuring that the other does not accumulate too much power and turn the country into a…
- 671 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The theory of the Separation of Powers keeps the government in check and ensures that one branch doesn’t become too powerful or else the government would be a monarchy or dictatorship. In document one, it talks about how there are three branches of government: the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial Branch. The powers of the government are separated between these three branches, sort of like the system of checks and balances, because they didn’t want one branch becoming too powerful and taking over the other branches. In document five it shows how each branch has one main power or job. For example the main power of the Legislative Branch is to make the laws. The Executive Branch has the President and the branch is responsible for carrying out and enforcing the laws. The Judicial Branch has the courts and their main power is to interpret the laws and punish those who have broken the law. The Separation of Powers limit the power of the federal government by making sure one branch does not become too…
- 874 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Federalist and Antifederalist had different ideas and beliefs of the nation’s government. Antifederalist believed in more power for the states and did not agree with a strong central government. They preferred the Articles of Confederation. Antifederalist did not want to ratify the Constitution due the fact there was no bill of rights and there was too much power in the national Constitution and not the States. On the other hand, Federalist believed in a more centralized national government. Federalist propose the separation of powers, which the act of vesting the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of government in separate bodies.…
- 261 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
What's the difference between a Federalist and an Anti-federalist? Why did they have different perspectives on the ratification of the Constitution? Republicans and Democrats are not the original political parties. As i'm getting older i will be eligible to vote at the age 18, I will know the difference between the two. The Political parties had changed over the year where now the rules are way different back then.…
- 69 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
On the heels of the revolutionary war and the failed attempt of a national government (The Articles of Confederation), the leaders of the United States set to make a stronger, centralized government, with dual sovereignty between the national government and the states. The rules of this governing body would be laid out in a document called the Constitution. Although most leaders supported the constitution they did not agree on many aspects of it. Out of the disagreement two groups emerged, the Federalist and the Anti-Federalist. The Federalist supported all aspects of the constitution and a larger national government, while the Anti-Federalist opposed ratifying the constitution and supported a smaller national government and more sovereignty to the states. This disagreement led to a fierce debate between the two groups that still resonates today. This essay will examine the primary…
- 591 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Separation of powers is defined as a system of government in which powers are divided/shared between federal and state governments. Some evidence that described more about the separation of powers came from document B, titled Separation of Powers, was basically about having all power in the same hands, which James Madison defined as tyranny, plus liberty required all powers in the government to be separate. One of the arguments involving the separation of powers was that each branch of government had a different job, which divided the powers.…
- 485 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Under Federalism there was a National vs. State separation where specific powers were maintained for the National Congress and reserves some power for the states. Constitution had a clause giving the National…
- 2142 Words
- 9 Pages
Good Essays -
Federalism in the United States has had several different concepts throughout our history. Dual federalism ran until around the Great Depression of the 1930s. Dual federalism has very distinct and rather clear lines of power for the national government as well as the state or local level of government. At times, it is referred to as “layered cake”. The national level very distinct and rule over much smaller, local, or state governments. There is a balance of power between the two, each maintains sovereignty that should not impact the other. Both national and state should work together, but still question the other to operate effetely. Dual federalism for This Nation seemed to cause more tension between the national and state levels than anything else. McCulloch v. Maryland is an early example of dual federalism. When the state of Maryland argues that the U.S. Constitution did not give the national government the power to make a National Bank since it was not an enumerated power and was unconstitutional. However, the court concluded that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and that if the end goal is legitimate than what the national government is trying to do is constitutional.…
- 657 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Montesquieu argument for the separation of powers, “he did not mean that these departments ought to have no partial agency in, or no control over, the acts of each other” (270). In Federalist paper #48, describes how the Federal Constitution provides a defense through a blend of the branches of government. In class, we discuss that in order to make the separation of powers work there is a need to find a way that the legislative branch does not take power from the executive. He provides examples of Virginia and Pennsylvania in which the powers of the legislative were not protected against and the executive branch was usurped by the legislative. In class, we also discuss that there were three important things that prevent legislature to intimidate and control the behavior of the executive which means Congress controls over the President. First, elections which nor the president or the congress can control them, there are elected independently. Second, Salaries which means that there are fixed and cannot be altered, and finally the division of powers and the presidential veto, which it creates two different chambers the house and the…
- 1059 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
(Federal vs State Powers Lecture, Slide 4) Separation of Powers, first thought of by Greek philosopher Aristotle in ancient Greece for each branch to have separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility. These were created to prevent the three different branches from becoming supreme and to limit each other. The balancing of the separation of powers is also called Checks and Balances. These Checks and Balances are for each branch of the government, The Executive Branch, The Judicial Branch, and the Legislative Branch. Checks for the Legislative Branch include proposing laws, veto laws, declare acts of Congress unconstitutional, and organize special sessions of Congress. On the Judicial Branch, the checks are that they appoint federal judges, creates lower federal courts, impeach judges, and also propose amendments to overrule judicial decisions. Checks for the Executive Branch are that Presidents can override veto, confirm executive appointments, declare war, and declare executive actions unconstitutional. Federalism is a system of the United States Government that divides powers between States and…
- 1638 Words
- 7 Pages
Good Essays