So, in regard for the question “What is Federalism? Can you give an example of how it works?” I found this topic to vast, so I am going to attempt to explain what the baseline definition would be when our founding fathers created this ideal. Federalism is the idea that the government would distribute power from a central entity to several jurisdictions. Essentially this means that they wanted a nation government and a state government. This would give the individual states or “the people” the ability to govern themselves without fear of an overly powerful governing authority. It was designed to counteract the authoritarian rule the United States experienced under the governing of England.

The best example of federalism would be that of dual federalism. This holds both national and state governments equal in right and authority. This type of federalism was developed in conjunction with the 10^th Amendment which helped to outline the jurisdictions between the national and state governments. For a simple example of dual federalism jurisdictions. The National government would oversee foreign policy, currency, and national infrastructure such as interstates. While the state government would be responsible things like laws education and public health.

Now with all this said we have seen several variations of federalism in the United States over the course of time. Keep in mind these are the earliest examples of what federalism is and how it worked. I was able for a rather interesting video that helped with the concept as I’m sure my rambling didn’t help.