Constitutional Law

Federalism can be defined as when the national government and other government units share the power to govern a country. Federalism can be said to contradict the meaning of unitary government that holds the power centrally. Another type would be confederation which the states can be said to be clearly dominant. The United States habitants can be said to be under multiple jurisdictions, yet their constitutions focus on the relationship between the states and the government that can be said to be federal. The relationship of the federal government and the states can be said to have been an issue of debate over the years (Smith, 2004).

The American constitution appeared to take longer than expected since all the states had to approve or ratify the constitution. There existed a huge debate and compromise that led to the delay. This debate would be said to have created two groups of people, the anti-federalists and the federalists (Sutton, 2002). They all had arguments they wanted to be considered before approving the debate in court. The main reason as to why the anti-federalists could not ratify the constitution would be because of the bill of rights. Amidst all other complains, the anti-federalists gave the most effective would be the lack of bill of rights. They would complain considering the government would dismiss the rights the American people had fought for in the past. The federalist, on the other hand, would answer all questions the anti-federalists asked especially about the bill of rights. They would prefer that no rights would be listed since they would be too many to choose from which ones to list. The federalists had won and by the year 1788, where they involved the drafting of the bill of rights. This led to the ratification of the constitution; hence the federalists would be said to have the best arguments since they drafted the bill of rights. The bill of rights has largely contributed to the rights of citizens being observed and respected (Belilia, 2011).

The anti-federalists appeared to come to terms with the federalists after the drafting of the bill of rights. The rights of the citizens had been addressed, and they could come together as one nation.