Portal:Federalism and Democracy

Federalism and Democracy

America became a federal republic in 1787 when the Constitution was ratified. "Republic", as we use the word, is "a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.". It can be more succinctly called a Representative Democracy. In our context, Federalism is "the principle of a federal union between the American colonies after the Revolution and of the formation and adoption of a constitution." And, in case you wonder, "federal" is "of or relating to a state formed by the consolidation of several states which retain limited residuary powers of government under the common sovereignty of the new state." There are other definitions of these terms, but these are the definitions that apply to the United States of America. So, The United States of America is a constitutional republic governed by officials that are democratically elected. America was not the first constitutional republic, but it was quite new in important ways. It drew on examples that came before it and on a variety of liberal thought that had existed in Europe (going back to Aristotle) and in America. It drew heavily on the English examples of constitutional monarchy, the English Constitution, and Common Law (started by Henry II, King of England 1154 - 1189). America's founders were in a rather unique position - having an unusual collection of very agile intellects (Adams, Franklin, Hamilton, Jay, Madison, Otis, Paine, and others), a history of previous examples to inform them, the recent history of events in America and England, and a blank (well, almost blank) page to write on. The result wasn't perfect, but it was the most perfect such union ever created - by whatever measure you wish to pick. This portal is the place to assign articles discussing the attributes of our constitutional republic. Articles about our Constitution belong here. Articles about the very important concept of 'rule of law' belong here. There may seem be some overlap between this and the category: America's Founding, but

Morgan's Raiders entering Washington, Ohio in August, 1863 placeholder image - need one that is relevant to this page

Categories Click on arrows to see subcategories and articles. Article titles are in italics. ► Federalism and Democracy no pages or subcategories Things you can do Here are some things you can do: Write a good introduction to this category. Suggest a good image Thing 3

TBD TBD 1 TBD 2 Articles