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-Adilene Noriega
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∙ 16y ago
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Is the sharing of power between a central government and the states that make up a country-Democracy or Ferderalism?
Federalism
What is ferderalism?
1.the federal principle of government. 2.U.S. History .a.advocacy of the federal system of government. b.( initial capital letter ) the principles of the Federalist party.
Why did the Framers find it necessary to invent federalism at the Philadelphia Convention?
First of all, the founding fathers didn't actually invent federalism, the division of goverenmental power into 2 or more levels. Federalism had been used in Germany as far back as the Middle Ages under the Holy Roman Empire, where the king was over all the territory, but individual towns and duchies had significant power. But...the founding fathers were the first to organize a government with a written constitution that provided for a government containing federalism (with national and state levels). They had to for many reasons, but most of it centered on the issue of state's rights and individual liberty. The individual states at that time were very strong (so strong they made the previous government under the Articles of Confederation fail), and no state wanted to give in its authority to a stong central government, but the people didn't want the states to turn into 13 nations either, so the founders came up with the solution of federalism: having the national government deal with national affairs and provide unity, and have state governments deal with regional issues. Also, the colonies were very different. The South features plantations, while in New England shipping and industry were stronger. Different regions had different religious beliefs. The New Englanders, descendents of the Puritans and Pilgrims, had strong Protestant roots, while Maryland had Catholics, Virginia Anglicans, and Pennsylvannia Quakers. Also, geography made it hard for quick communication and isolated different towns, necessitating self-government to deal with local crisises quickly. Thus, federalism was necessary because local needs were extremely different and could only be met by local governments. (But national government was necessary as well so the nation could be united against foreign threats.) So the founders used federalism to accomodate the needs and desires of various regions while simultanously producing a united nation.
