Federalism is ""the distribution of power in an organization (as a government) between a central authority and the constituent units" (Webster's New American Dictionary, p. 190). Within Federalism as a government system, a group (i.e., of people, states, or provinces) is characteristically bound together, and governed by a head with centralized authority. Such an authority may be, for example, a king; a president; a pope or other church or religious leader; a prime minister, or another kind of leader with similar, centralized, authority. Federalism consists of a stronger federal (i.e., governed by centralized authority) government, along with weaker provincial or state governments, whose authority is more localized and does not extend beyond a given, designated locality. Proponents of such a form of government are called Federalists. I will discuss ways that the concept and practice of Federalism within the United States arguably affects the practice of American democracy. .

             As a political philosophy and/or governmental structure and/or practice, Federalism is, essentially, a system within which leadership is divided, constitutionally, between that of a centralized authority (e.g., a king; president, or similar authority) and smaller designated units (e.g., states like in the United States of America, or provinces like in Canada and various European countries today) ("Federalism", Wikipedia). "The Federalist party occupies a unique position in American history" (Carman et al., p. 271), the United States was in fact founded by Federalists (Carman et al.), although it is much less of a Federalist nation today than it was then, with more power today going to individual states and localities than it did in the earliest days of the United States (Carman et al.). .

             The Founding Fathers of the United States, who were also the authors of the U.S. Constitution, were all members of the Federalist Party (Carman).