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Federalism is an idea that protects civil liberties by sharing the power between national and state governments. In federalism, sovereignty is constitutionally divided between nation and state governments. American history shows that federalism was born not by the theory, but by the
compromise. Federalism has evolved without reaching a consensus on the relationship between state governments and federal government. American federalism can be divided into four eras. From 1787 when the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention made official the Constitution
of the United States, to 1789 when the United States introduced Bill of Rights, there were harsh debates between federalists and anti-federalists. Federalists were on the side of strong federal government, while anti-federalists worried about the excessive power exercised by the elected
monarchy. The second era is called dual federalism, which means that the federal government and the state governments are sharing independent sovereign equally. Under the theory of dual federalism, the federal government could exercise the power only if the Constitution clearly grants such, which leads to a result that the states or the people have a large amount of powers.
The Great Depression starting in 1929 changed the whole picture. President Franklin D. Roosevelt carried out aggressive polices, called New Deal, which required that national, state, and local government interact cooperatively and collectively to solve the common economic crisis. This
new idea, cooperative federalism, is totally different from dual federalism. In 1960s President Lyndon B. Johnson proposed a set of domestic programs called the Great Society, the goals of which were to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. The role of central government had expanded under the Great Society project. Federalism under the President Johnson is often called the creative federalism, which is basically the same as cooperative federalism.
The relationship between federal government and state governments has changed since 1980s when the Republic Party took both legislative and executive powers. The new governing party has tried to restore the value of dual federalism and transfer powers from federal government to state governments. The history of federalism in the United States clearly demonstrates that
federalism cannot be defined in a single sentence.