Why Is The Federal Government Important

The United States Government is one that is very unique. It remains based of the Constitution and that principles that were essential in the writing of it. Of these principles many are important and essential but there are three very important principles that are greater than the others. Without these the United States would not be the same it is today. These principles are Federalism, Popular Sovereignty, and Separation of Powers. Federalism was crucial in the Constitution and has remained the same throughout all of the United States’ history. First off it is important to know what it is and the history of it to see its true importance. Federalism is the division of power among the central government and several regional governments. This was a key point in setting up the government considering the colonies had declared independence from England because of their overly strong central government (Page 50). Many colonists wanted to make the central government weak because of their experiences with England. They wrote the Articles of Confederation which granted less power involving the central government and more power to the states. The American people saw this during the first rebellion in Post Revolution America, Shays’ Rebellion. This was a rebellion made up of farmers going against their local governments. Although the rebellion was not a huge success and was easily ended but it worried many of the politicians as well as the people (Shays’ Rebellion). Many people demanded change and voiced their opinions in the Federalist Papers. The papers consisted of many people's opinions on how the government may not have had enough power. These papers along with the worry created caused the politicians to draft a new Constitution (Federalist Papers). One of the major changes within the Constitution was the national government was given more power. Shay’s Rebellion showed how there needed to be a unified army to disband other rebellions (Shays’ Rebellion Significance). For this reason the national government was granted the ability to raise the army. The Constitution also allowed the national government to make general laws that all must follow and local governments to create laws unique to each of their own states. Overall federalism allows the national government to have …show more content…
This is where all three branches of the United States’ government are tasked with different things and run by different people. First of all the three branches are legislative, judicial and executive. The legislative branch is tasked with making the laws, the judicial branch is tasked with interpreting the laws, and it is the executive branch’s job to enforce the laws. The person that is in charge of the executive branch is the President, the people in charge of the legislative branch is Congress, and the people in charge of the judicial branch is the Supreme Court. The reason this principle is important is because it ensures that the government cannot become too powerful. In fact each branch of government has something it can do to counter the other branches. These counters are called checks and balances. An example of checks and balances is that the President can veto a bill passed by Congress however, Congress can override that veto if necessary. This is another way our government ensures us that it will not become too powerful. Without this it is possible that one of the branches of the government become too powerful and democracy is