The Role Of Federalism In The United States

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Federalism is a form of government that is based on the division of power between the National government and individual state governments like in the United States of America (USA). In the US, There are 50 state governments and the national government (Sutton, 2002.p. 33). Federalism provides the manner in which the state governments and the national government can effectively complement each other. Federalism was adopted after the 13 original colony states gained independence from their English colonial masters. They deiced to form their own individual governments and a national government that would oversee the inter-state interactions. Federalism has been maintained since then and it was intended to share power between the two governments…show more content…
This means that the national currency was to be controlled by the national government and it was to be a common currency with equal purchasing power parity in all the statesgovernment (Sutton, 2002.p. 42). The national government also reserved the power to oversee and regulate foreign interactions like trade between the US and other countries. The national government is also has the power to declare war; this means that state cannot individually declare war on other countries but it is upon the national government to do so. The National government also reserves the power to conduct foreign relations as compared to the state governments. State governments on the other hand have the power to control education in their respective states. They are also mandated with the control of public health and safety in the states. Education and health are devolved functions that are easier managed from the State level rather than at national level (Fleming & Levy, 2014.p. 16). The state governments are also empowered to control trade within the state. This is where they gain their revenue from, through the control of the state businesses. The state governments have the power to ratify amendments so as to come up with the best
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