Imagine that you are a founding father, in charge of creating a new country. Your original form of government, the Articles of Confederation, is too weak. The government under the Articles of Confederation was helpless against Shays’ Rebellion in the state of Massachusetts. You have to create a new government that isn’t too powerful, but also isn’t too weak. What would you do?

states

explanation:

as the old saying goes, all politics are local. state and federal governments affect our daily lives in numerous ways. yet, in our federal system, there is supposed to be a balance between federal and state power. as james madison envisioned it in federalist no. 51, “the power surrendered by the people” would be “divided between two distinct governments,” creating a balance of power that would enable the “different governments [to] control each other.”