A Running Commentary

It is ironic that the word “federal” immediately brings to mind the national government, when in fact it indicates a collective of sovereign states. Following the Revolutionary War, Americans were painfully afraid that a powerful national government would repeat the English tyranny they’d just escaped. So the Founding Fathers initially formed The Articles of Confederation, a system so weak that the States could effectively overrule or ignore the national government. Naturally this proved unworkable as how, for example, can a national government protect the interest of a nation if it is powerless to raise an army or taxes to pay for it?

The Constitution established a modified system where by the national government became sovereign on certain issues. Such powers included raising an army and making war, setting international treaties and tariffs, and taxation rights to funds these endeavors. However, any power not expressly given to the national government is “expressly reserved” to the States. In other words, there are many issues that are state issues and over which the national government has no jurisdiction. This is why most lawsuits cannot be appealed beyond the highest court of a particular state. Unless an area of law is given to the national government by the Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court has no authority.

Despite even this limited structure, many 18th century Americans remained deeply concerned about the specter of a powerful national government. The Constitution itself was only barely ratified because of these fears, and it took powerful lobbying like Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay’s Federalist Papers to win public support. Only the addition of The Bill of Rights as the Constitution’s first 10 amendments actually allowed it to pass. And it is upon those rights, especially the freedoms of speech, assembly, and association, that political parties find foundation for their primary systems.

“Part 3: Representative Reasoning” to follow