The American Federal Experience: A Review

Abstract

The roots of federalism, the independence declaration, the articles of confederation, the establishment of individual states, the Continental Congress, the Federalist Convention, the Federalist Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Anti-Union essay are the nine pillars upon which the federalist movement in America rests. Together, they are a monument to the pursuit of good administration because they reflect a remarkable synthesis of intellectual influence, practical experience, and political theory and speech. Not because it is the prototype that made all subsequent federations carbon copies, but because many of its aspects retain significance for contemporary federal experiments, the American federal experience is inevitably brought up again and again in any comparative study of federalism and federation.