Civics_Ch2_webquest-Federalism


 * Federal System - Founding Fathers set up 3 levels of government**

The Founding Fathers set up a **Federal system** (__vocabulary__), which means there is a strong central government, but subdivisions have power too and set up the 3 levels of American government: National (a.k.a. Federal), State, and Local.

__Why did the Founding Fathers set up this system?__ Put in STUDY NOTES The Revolution was against centralized power of the king and parliament and therefore, those who fought for independence favored local control, which is why they set up the confederation under the Articles of Confederation. Under the Articles of Confederation, the states were basically independent nations that formed a "league of friendship" with each other. In reality, the states had all of the power, not the Confederation Congress from 1776 to 1787 (the Constitution was written in 1787). So, knowing this, you can see that the Founders favored strong state governments and were cautious about taking away state power. Therefore, the idea of a Federal System was a way to create a stronger central government that had power over all of the states, but at the same time allow the states to still have power within their respective states.

__Does it matter to us today?__ We expect our federal government to keep us safe. For example, our federal government maintains a military to protect us. In addition, we expect our federal government to secure our borders. On the other hand, we all recognize that states have differences (Pennsylvania has different issues to worry about than a state like Hawaii for example). Therefore, states have a lot of authority over what takes place within their states. Laws that deal with education and transportation are two major areas that the states have the majority of the power over.

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