<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article's lead section does not adequately summarize key points of its contents . Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article . Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page . (July 2016) </Td> </Tr> <P> Federalism in the United States is the constitutional relationship between U.S. state governments and the Federal government of the United States . Since the founding of the country, and particularly with the end of the American Civil War, power shifted away from the states and towards the national government . The progression of federalism includes dual, state - centered, and new federalism . </P> <P> Federalism was a political solution for the problems with the Articles of Confederation which gave little practical authority to the federal government . For example, the Articles allowed the Continental Congress the power to sign treaties and declare war, but it could not raise taxes to pay for an army and all major decisions required a unanimous vote . </P> <P> The movement was greatly strengthened by the reaction to Shays' Rebellion of 1786--1787, which was an armed uprising of yeoman farmers in western Massachusetts . The rebellion was fueled by a poor economy that was created, in part, by the inability of the federal government to deal effectively with the debt from the American Revolutionary War . Moreover, the federal government had proven incapable of raising an army to quell the rebellion, so that Massachusetts had been forced to raise its own . </P>

In the united states federalism is a system of government in which