Procedural Federalism in the United States, Essay Example

The purpose and principle of federalism in the United States has been an essential part of the governmental system since 1780s. It has never been simple to define federalism and explain why it exists in the U.S. The states had developed independently like separate colonies, thus after the Revolutionary War they remained “distinct, different and insular communities.”(Kurland and Lerner) Eventually, the states were brought together in a federal system, which was actually burdened with controversy. Each of the states became jealous of their independence and autonomy, thus lots of people were suspicious on the account of new Constitutional agreement that required the states’ power to be delegated to the national government. Of course, none of the states was willing to surrender that bit of sovereignty. However, some events encouraged the states to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention, thus they were more willing to accept the limitations than before. The states agreed to relinquish some part of their independence in return for government solution of trade and commerce problems. Consequently, a federal system was created with a strong national government, which unified the states in their pursuit of common goals taking only relatively small part of their independence. If it was not done that way, the ratifying conventions in some states would not have approved the Constitution, which later incorporated the principle of federalism as a critical factor of ratification. As a result, federalism can be considered the fundament of the whole governmental system of Unites States, and its benefits as of today cannot be argued.

Works Cited

Kurland, Philip, and Ralph Lerner. The Founders’ Constitution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.