Federalism

 

One of the earliest concerns that our founders had when formatting the new constitution was the balance of power between the state and national government. While the federalists were convinced that the country needed a more centralized national government to lead the young nation, anti-federalists were concerned about individual rights  and the power of the individual states. This gave birth to federalism and the division of power between the state and national government. Certain powers were going to have to have to be specifically assigned to the national government, and these powers were referred to as enumerated or delegated powers. Since the Articles of the Constitution did not specifically assign powers to the states, the 10th amendment was added to the bill of rights which stated that powers not given to the national government were reserved for the states. There were, however, some instances in which the state and national government shared powers, and these were called concurrent powers. On the rare occasion when a law from the national and state governments would be in conflict with each other, the supremacy clause stated that the federal law would be the superior.

Within this form of government there would exist several levels of government. The lawmaking process provided steps for a bill to become a law. Executive authority gave the power of the executive branch to one elected official over the specified area for that official. For example, the president has executive power over the nation while a mayor has executive power over a town, city, or village. Also, in the state government, the lawmakers have different qualifications and terms for their  offices than that of the national government.

Both the state and federal government have a constitution which is the supreme law of the land in their respective regions. In both the U.S. and Florida constitution, the Preamble begins with we the people. The executive branch also contains within it a cabinet, but the members to the President's cabinet are appointed, while the governor's cabinet members are elected. Very similar to the role of vice president in the national government, the state of Florida has a Lt Governor that works under the governor. The Florida House of Representatives contains 120 members while its Senate contains up to 40. Another difference that exists within the structure of the Florida Government is that the court system contains four levels, unlike the U.S. which contains 3. Some notable differences in the constitution are the elected cabinet members in Florida, English being listed as the official language and the Florida constitution is easier to amend.It only requires 60% of the voters for an amendment to be ratified and the Florida Constitution is more detailed.

Florida contains two other levels of government within the state, county and municipal governments. In these local bodies, laws are discussed and passed by a board or council.  They also contain their own local executive that enforces the laws.

Finally, each level of government has its own set of obligations and services. The National government deals with things like defense and foreign policy while the state takes on state educational requirements. The Local governments run the local school district.