Actually, a lot of the confusion vis a vis the US system comes from how the US has changed over the decades, with bonus points for, in roughly this order of importance, the Civil War, the Income Tax amendment, FDR's term (combining the New Deal and WWII), and LBJ's Great Society. Yep, it does happen to map chronologically as well.
Namely, the very name of the country indicates how it was originally pictured and set up; "The United States". In post-Revolutionary times, up through the Civil War, individual states were much more important and significant. It wasn't particularly unusual for someone to, say, think of themself as a Virginian first and an American second. That explains the weird composition of the Senate (and even why there are two legislative bodies), the Electoral College, and even who was nominated for President and Vice-President at various times.
But, particularly due to the events mentioned above, as well as increased mobility in general, states these days are pretty much just subdivisions of the federal government.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
yati
no subject
Date: 2008-10-29 03:14 am (UTC)Namely, the very name of the country indicates how it was originally pictured and set up; "The United States". In post-Revolutionary times, up through the Civil War, individual states were much more important and significant. It wasn't particularly unusual for someone to, say, think of themself as a Virginian first and an American second. That explains the weird composition of the Senate (and even why there are two legislative bodies), the Electoral College, and even who was nominated for President and Vice-President at various times.
But, particularly due to the events mentioned above, as well as increased mobility in general, states these days are pretty much just subdivisions of the federal government.