This Homework Help narrative explores the history of the Founding of the U.S. and the reasons why federalism was created as an important part of our constitutional system. The video challenges viewers to consider this question: why do we have a system with local, state, and federal laws?

The Federalist Papers is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States.

Federalism shapes the ways in which nearly half the world’s people govern themselves—from citizen activism and representation to public policy formation, innovation, and diffusion. Modern federalism, invented by the American founders, provides a political means to create unity and protect diversity, national identity and personal liberty.

Because federalism profoundly shapes American politics and policy making, understanding federalism equips students, teachers, and citizens with tools to more accurately perceive and interpret political life and policy outcomes. Here you will find curated resources on all facets of American federalism and the perennial problems of how a people best provide, divide, separate, share, and limit political power.

When crafting the Constitution, one of the central concerns of the Founding generation was how best to control government power. With the new Constitution, the Framers looked to strike an important balance—creating a new national government that was more powerful than the one that came before it while still protecting the American people’s most cherished liberties. They settled on a national government with defined but limited powers. Instead of placing authority in the hands of a single person (like a king), a small group of people (like an aristocracy), or even the whole people (like a direct democracy), the Framers divided power in two ways. At the national level, the Framers divided power between the three branches of government—the legislative branch, the executive branch and the judicial branch. This process of dividing power between different branches of government is called the separation of powers. From there, the Framers further divided power between the national government and the states under a system known as federalism.