Federalism in the United States may be defined as relationship between state
governments and the federal government of the US with a progress shifting of power from the states towards the national government (Beck, 2011).
Federalism was a political answer and solution for the situation with the Articles of Confederation (the first US constitution replaced by the current US Constitution in 1788) that gave the federal government very little practical authority. The Articles contained the direction on the ways to direct the American Revolutionary War, conduct diplomatic relations with Europe and deal with different territorial issues and Native American relations. Although, this document also became the weakness of the government, which had less power than before. For instance, according to the Articles Continental Congress had the power to sign important treaties and declare war, but it had no right to raise army taxes. Besides, all major decisions had to be voted unanimously (Kaminski and Leffler, 1998).
Federalists also had their own point of view on government branches as well. They favored an equal, but divided, three part government in the form of Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, although there were many opponents, who were against such a power division and accused the Federalist proposals to lead to bribery (Beck, 2011).
Critics stated that new documents were dangerous because of theit ambiguity, lack of precision with which the executive, legislative, and judicial branches were defined and their connections explained, while others understood that when the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty. Federalists wanted to put boundaries between executive, legislative, and judicial branches while Antifederalists protested that the three branches were blended dangerously together. For Federalists the Constitution with its mechanisms for distributing government across the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches ensured that no branch would supersede the other. This division of power provided by the Constitution would better serve the nation than would an all-powerful legislative branch (Olson, 2006).
Federalists also believed that government must have elected office holders drawn from the educated, propertied elite as well as educated unitary chief executive. Federalists were emphasizing a great convenience of a single executive. James Madison wrote stated that in this case, being not divided, the executive would allow the executive to resist encroachments in a better way: because of the division of the the legislative authority, the executive had to be supported. Hamilton defended a unitary executive as “far more safe” as “two or more people might have different opinionswhich would weaken the authority.” Hamilton also stated that such an executive would be watched “more narrowly” and vigilantly by the people than a group of people (Bradford, 1994).
Most Federalists believed the Constitution offered a good balance of power. They felt the entire Constitution protected the liberty of all U.S. citizens. Although in some years more and more people believed that a declaration of rights should be added to the Constitution. But some members of Congress still argued that a listing of rights of the people was a silly exercise, in that all the listed rights inherently belonged to citizens, and nothing in the Constitution gave the Congress the power to take them away (Kaminski and Leffler, 1998).
When Washington’s first term came to its end, differing viewpoints about constitutional interpretation had solidified into two opposing political parties: loose constructionists formed the Federalist party, and the strict constructionists made up the anti-federalist or Democratic- Republican party. They wanted to call political awareness and spread their criticism of decisions made by federalists with the help of a media campaign. They also founded many political societies and clubs across the country. The federalists, headed by Washington and Hamilton, wanted to have a stronger central government. They represented the interests of industrial and manufacturing spheres, while the Democratic-Republicans, headed by Jefferson and Madison, defended state governments and opposed the idea of centralized power, representing rural and agrarian spheres. The Republicans fought for the expansion of states’ rights while trying to restrict the power of the central government. They stated that liberty could be protected only in case if political power was in the hands of people and those officials who were closest to the people and most responsive to them. Soon the Republicans signaled the nascence of their party being a powerful political movement (Olson, 2006).
References
Beck G. (2011). The Original Argument: The Federalists'. Simon and Schuster.
Bradford M. (1994). A Better Guide Than Reason: Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Transaction Publishers.
Kaminski, J., Leffler, R. (1998). Federalists and Antifederalists: The Debate Over the Ratification of the Constitution. Rowman & Littlefield.
Olson, R. (2006). U. S. History, 1492-1865: From the Discovery of America Through the Civil War. Career Press.
