4/18/2012
The Evolution vs. Devolution of the U.S. Federal Government
Introduction
The extent of control the government has in the American people's lives and how well it represents those people is what sparked a revolution that gave birth to the United States, and the same debate also led a civil war that tore our country apart. As you can see this topic is one many Americans feel strongly about. These debates led to the distinction of the Federalist vs. the Anti- Federalist. The Federalist supported a strong central government that could deal with the issues that states might disagree on, essentially moving toward a unification of the states. The Anti-Federalist feared this central government would in time grow into a tyrannical body that the states had fought to get away from. Today the debate still rages on about whether our government should play an active role in our lives or sit on the sidelines.
Diagram of US Federal Government and American Unio...
The Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781. T...
2nd Senate compositionToday this argument is still being discussed but In terms of members of the Republican and Democratic parties. For the most part the Democrats would take the federalist role and the Republicans would argue the anti-federalist role. Since the times of our founding fathers there is a general consensus that our government has slowly evolved in the pro federalist direction. However it has been a tug of war battle with both sides gaining and losing power.
Evolution Landmark Events and Arguments
The pro evolution Federalists and Democrats would argue that our nation needs a strong centralized government to deal with the issues we face. Also argued is that states are far too fragmented and different ideologically to be constantly consulted on all the issues we must overcome. The founders saw this issue first hand when trying to raise an army to fight the...