Federalism is the foundation for the U.S. Constitution. Federalism is the sharing of powers between national and state governments. In America, the states existed first, and there form of government was a mess. The inbalance, weakness, and lack of structure led to the downfall of the Articles of Confederation. So, our fathers, of the Constitution that is, created a balanced and structured form of government based off of federalism. The Federalist Papers best explain how this system works from the essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. For example, it shows why each state has their own powers such as being able to choose what kind of ballots it uses. Then national government oversees the election results, but each state controls its own voting procedures. Checks and Balances.
With Federalism, the balance of power is key. Federal and State governments are constantly tugging at eachother for power, which seems bad but actually brings everything into an equilibrium. Many things have been put into place to increase and decrease the power of the federal governent. Federal mandates and categorical grants are two things that are important and have given the federal government more power. A federal mandate is a law, federal, that requires actions of the states, or else the federal government wont provide certain necesities to the states. Requiring states to change the drinking age to 21, or else they will lose special funds that are needed like highway funds, is a prime example. No matter if the mandate is funded by the federal government or not, the states and local governments really have no choice but to carry out the law, demonstrating cooperative federalism. The easiest way for states to comply with these mandates is when they are funded by the federal governemnt through grants. the grant which favors the national government more is called a categorical grant. A grant like this is more restrictive, which is a bummer for the states...