Certainly, the federal and state governments pose immense influences on the lives of Americans living across various contexts. As such, there should be a balance of power between these two forms of governments. Worth noting is the fact that the United States constitution dictates that the federal government should exercise authority over the state government in specific areas.
However, this constitutional provision does mean that the authority enshrined to the federal government is not limited (Schmidt et al., 2011). Evidently, there are certain areas not left exclusively to the federal government; hence, the state government helps in carrying out certain roles in such areas. This creates a balance of power between the federal government and the state government.
While it is true that the balance of power exists between the federal and state government, the recent past has experienced cases which indicate that the state government has gained less power from the time when the country was created. A factor that is worth noting is that when the country was created, the federal government was exceedingly weak compared to now. In a nutshell, the state government has gained less power than the federal government over the years. In fact, the federal government has gained significant power, especially after periods of civil wars, radical social change, and the period of recession. After these periods, the federal government amassed much power as it sought to keep all the states together (Schmidt et al., 2011).
In addition, the early 20th century experienced the emergence of politicians such as Teddy Roosevelt, who played a role in enabling the federal government to gain more power than the state governments. During Roosevelt reign, the government created trust with the average workers by helping them tackle different issues affecting them (Schmidt et al., 2011). It is this factor that offered a comprehensive platform that people could trust on the federal government more than the state government; hence, making the federal government more powerful. Overall, the state government over the years has gained less power than the federal government.
Reference
Schmidt, S., Shelley, M., Bardes, B., Ford, L. (2011). American Government and Politics Today, No Separate Policy Chapters Version, 2011-2012. Boston: Cengage Learning.
