Federalism is known as State's Rights. It embodies the concept put in the Constitution by the founding fathers that each state was to be a strong and definite political body in and of itself. The states were to retain most authority to govern their own affairs without interference from the federal government. While we think of our modern America as a democracy, that was not the original intent of the founders. Their concept was for the states to be a group united together under the idea of a free republic. After the Constitutional Convention, when Benjamin Franklin was asked by a citizen what they had been given, he replied, "A republic, if you can keep it". A republic would have less of a central government with more power residing in the individual states.
The main purpose of the Constitution was to have some foundation for a central government, instead of the Articles of Confederation, which were rules for a coalition of separate states.
Some might consider the capitalization just more formal or forceful. Others would say that capitalizing the term means that you are referring to a specific group of people, i.e. the American Founding Fathers, instead of a generic group of founding fathers who could have founded anything.
You can't, and nobody should try, to presume what the founding fathers would've thought. Instead just understand that they would agree with your right to defend yourself and to have a say in your country.
The Founding Fathers felt the need to change the Articles of Confederation because of the desire for a stronger Government. A conflict called Shay's Rebellion created a fear of violence, and many saw stronger government as a solution. The issue of states' freedom was also a contributing factor, and how each state could be represented in the government. The initial meeting of the now-named "Constitutional Convention" was intended just to revise the Articles, but instead they ended up writing a whole new document.
The Founding Fathers may have been dipicted as Christians, but in actuality were more Deists or Idealists instead. If you notice, they were also the ones who started the Free Masons.
Where the 13 colonies were united as one nation instead of thirteen divided entities. It was a "united we stand, divided we fall" mentality.
Essentially, the state governments held most of the power under the Articles of Confederation. The founding fathers wanted to keep as far away from a monarchy like Britain's, which gave nearly all power to the central government, as possible. As a result of the terms of the Articles of Confederation, though, each state functioned almost like its own individual country instead of a component of the United States, the central government couldn't do anything about it, and the entire country faced economic issues because the central government couldn't tax its people.
Confederation created Canada as a country instead of a British colony. Confederation meant Canada would have its own government to look after its affairs.
One of the problem facing the Nigerian Federalism is the complexity of the interest and units as represented by the local government, ethnic group affiliations, and some states. Instead of uniting the country, Nigeria federalism has divided the nation through tribal appointments and corruption.
Dieodid
Instead of fixing the problems with the Articles of Confederation, the delegates drafted a new plan. The new plan was a compromise they thought most people would agree to. The US Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation.
Probably because Lincoln was using "fathers" to mean forefathers. In a literal interpretation, fathers are our male parents, one generation back.