“Our particular security lies in the possession of a written Constitution. Let's not make it a blank paper by construction. » - Thomas Jefferson, 1803 The American Constitution framed one of the newest and most incredible political structures the world has ever known. Ironically, the greatest strength of the American national government lay in its ability to limit its own power; the Constitution was developed with the aim of maximizing individual freedoms while restricting national power. The Constitution accomplished this goal by unifying its wildly diverse states into a single body, with a central government that governed in cooperation with state and local authorities. Through sets of extremely precise and nuanced legal guidelines, the Constitution unequivocally describes exactly what powers and responsibilities are. the federal government would have done so and how it should interact with the powers of the state government and state law. This relationship and understanding within American politics is known as federalism. And although federalism gave the growing federal government real powers, even beyond the powers of the states, over time and into our modern era, federal power has been considerable. This is mainly explained by the evolution of the interpretation of certain constitutional provisions. Interpretation of the Constitution depends on at least three factors: who is the president, who is in the government, and what are the prevailing morals of the people. The most exemplary changes in the direction of federalism today are the Commerce Clause or the Supremacy Clause, which have been used to greatly expand the scope of federal power. The Commerce Clause gave Congress “power to regulate commerce among foreign nations.” .... middle of paper ...... in order to unite the 13 colonies into one body. A united country, which allowed social, political and commercial activities to take place unhindered by a reckless or biased legal system. But over time, the Constitution and the Supreme Court charged with preserving and expounding it began to use the clauses and provisions of the document to combat partisan political issues and made the Constitution a political tool for different purposes . These endings weren't always bad, they were often quite good. But the rightful place for such functions was within the other two branches of government in which elected representatives were expected to make such policy decisions. Federal power has expanded considerably, not without resistance from within and without. The meaning of federalism remains to be determined in the ever-changing American political world..