America has not one government but many, stacked on top of each other. The line between what Washington decides and what your state decides is one of the oldest fights in the country.
Federalism is the division of power between a national government and the state governments. Some powers belong to Washington, some to the states, some are shared. The word comes from the Latin foedus, a league or covenant.
The framers chose it as a middle path. The first attempt at American government, the Articles of Confederation, made the states too strong and the center too weak to function. The Constitution swung back, creating a stronger national government, but left the states real, independent power.
The Tenth Amendment captures the bargain: powers not given to the federal government, nor forbidden to the states, are reserved to the states or the people. The federal government is supposed to be one of limited, listed powers; the rest stays local.
Where exactly that line falls has driven the nation's deepest conflicts, from slavery and civil war to civil rights, healthcare, and beyond. Nearly every great American argument has a federalism question buried in it: who gets to decide, the nation or the state?
