Concept of Federalism with reference to U.S.A.

Constitution

Amresh Choudhary
Assistant Professor
Law College Dhanbad, Dhanbad
9973503996
profamresh@gmail.com
 Origin of Federalism

Federalism originated in the experience gathered from political experiments

that not merely defence but number of other subjects, such as foreign affairs, inter
state and foreign commerce and the like, are matters of national concern which
require to be dealt with by a national organisation, while other matters such as
public order, health, water, electricity and other services are the concern of the
local or municipal authorities.

Historically, the earliest form of political organisation was unitary but because
of economic & political pressure and social circumstances which impelled unitary
States to enter into alliance with other States for meeting common problems,
which initially related to defence. It is with the adoption of constitution of the USA
in 1787 the concept of federal State emerged in a definite shape.
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 From the standpoint of a territorial distribution of powers and autonomy as
between the central (or national) organisation and that territories constituting the
State, Constitutions are classified as Unitary and Federal and a Confederation
stands between them.

Distinction between unitary state, confederation and federal state

In a unitary State, all power is vested in a single central government, without

imposing any constitutional limitations upon its authority, and the local authorities
operate as administrative agencies of the central government, exercising such
powers as the central government might delegate to the latter. It is to be noted
that even under a unitary system there are a local or municipal authorities who
administers such local affairs, by delegation from the central government.
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 In a federal State, the Constitution divides the powers between the central
and regional governments, each deriving its power from the provisions of that
written Constitution, so that there is is a sphere of autonomy belonging to the
territorial organisations called States, which cannot be withdrawn or curtailed at
the will of the central organisation called the federal government. In a federal
organisation there are three tiers of authorities to which each individual and his
property are subject: a) the national or federal government; b) the state or regional
governments which constitute the federation; c) the local authorities.

A Confederation is a loose association of independent States which create a

union or central government for certain limited common purpose (such as
defence) while the members-States retain their principal powers of government,
and the very existence of the central government depends on the will of the
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 member-States. The Central Government has no direct authority over the
citizens in the several member-States; whatever power it possesses has to be
exercised through the component States.
A Confederation owes its existence, not upon the terms of a Constitution, but
upon a compact between component States from which they are free to
withdraw at will. The Central authority in a Confederation is a mere agency of the
member-States and the latter have powers superior to that agency.
The most notable example of a Confederation is to be found in America
between 1781 and 1789 founded by Articles of Confederation. The expression
‘federal government’ was used by the Articles of Confederation to refer to the
central authority set up by the Articles. It was because of the weaknesses of the
the confederacy that the American States adopted the federal constitution of
1787 which became operative in 1789.
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 But even after the adoption of the federal system of the Constitution of 1787,
loose thinking about the nature of a federal union continued, which led to the
civil war between the northern and southern States (1860 - 1865) and it was the
results of the civil war that firmly established the difference between a
confederation and a federation, in the United States.
A federal state is a union of several States into a central or federal
government. After the federation is formed, both the federal and the state
governments owe their existence and authority from the federal constitution
which distributes governmental powers between the federal and the state
governments which are to be exercised by them according to the constitutional
distribution, independently of each other.