Federalism

Federalism Delegated Powers – powers taken from the state and given to the Federal government. Reserved Powers – the powers not taken from the states, the ones left over. Concurrent Powers – the powers the national and state governments share.

Concurrent Powers

Federalist – People who supported the ratification of the Constitution Alexander Hamilton John Jay James Madison

Antifederalist – people who opposed ratification of the Constitution George Mason Patrick Henry

Arguments for and Against Anti – Federalist (Arguments against the Constitution) Federalist (Arguments for the Constitution) The new central government was made too powerful at the expense of the States. We fought the Revolution to rid ourselves of a powerful central government, why are we replacing a strong central government with another strong central government. State and Individual Rights will be violated. There is no Bill of Rights. The Articles of Confederation were too weak to address major issues like managing the nation’s economy or providing for the security of the nation, the Constitution will be a better safeguard for the nations well being. The powers of the new central government are divided and shared in many ways, first it is shared between the states and central government (federalism), and furthermore, by separating power into 3 Branches, and even further, a system of checks and balances will keep any one branch from taking too much control of the government.

The Federalist Papers A series of essays written anonymously to explain and convince the American people to ratify the Constitution. They argued for a stronger central government.

Bill of Rights The Bill of Rights were added to the Constitution as a compromise between the Federalist and the Antifederalist. Antifederalist agreed to ratify the Constitution only if a Bill of Rights was added to protect individual liberties.