The Constitution and the early federal system: A system of governments different in nature

The Framers reaffirmed their faith in republicanism during the constitutional convention by creating a federal system that preserved state governments and empowered a limited federal government. The federal system, rather than a conservative reaction against purported excesses of republicanism, actually guaranteed the continued viability of the states as important centers of governance.; The states retained the plenary power of governments rooted in a social compact. The Revolution brought about a shift in power from royal authority to the people. With power rooted in the people, state governments were reoriented around the people's branch, the legislature. These governments governed responsibly in the course of pursuing policies that aimed to win the war, care for their citizens at home and begin to reorganize their societies around republican principles.; The federal system enshrined in the Constitution included a new limited government of delegated powers that was to be added to the pre-existing state governments. The federal government was the product of drafters motivated to preserve republicanism. In the search for a compromise between the goal of empowering a national government and the value of protecting republican state governments, the Founders created a fundamentally new kind of government that was powerful but only within a limited realm. The Bill of Rights with the inclusion of the Xth Amendment only strengthened the protections for state governments within the federal system.; Debate during the ratification debates and over the Judiciary Act of 1789 assumed that the federal government was a government of limited and delegated powers. Federalists and Anti-federalists agreed that the Constitution created a federal government of delegated powers that would have different concerns from state governments. Their argument was whether the allocation of powers within the federal system was proper and whether the barriers to hem the federal government in were sufficient. Congressmen, when crafting the Judiciary Act of 1789, made policy decisions within a constitutional framework that only mandated a blueprint for federal courts and federal jurisdiction.; The federal courts operated pursuant to constitutional directives that defined the government of which they were a part as a government of limited and delegated powers. Federal courts highlighted the difference in the scope and nature of federal power because federal courts had constitutional and statutory directives to use state judicial powers in some settings and federal judicial power in other settings. Federal courts adjudicated as if they were part of fully empowered governments of inherent authority when they used state judicial powers; the same federal courts adjudicated as part of a federal government of limited and delegated powers when utilizing federal judicial powers.