They drew several principles, which the government should possess in order to work properly. They believed in strong national government, which laws should be supreme to the state laws. They also argued that, the separation of powers between the national and state governments as well as between different branches of the government is indispensable to check the actions of each and to balance the powers given to them. In the American Constitutional system we can notice several basic principles based on the ideas of these philosophers, that is: the establishment of Federal system, the Separation of Powers among different branches of the government, the Checks and Balances among them, and the Supremacy Clause which regulates the relationship between the national and state governments.
The Federal System distributes constitutional powers among state governments and the national government. The main reasons for creating the federal system were to create the strong national government that would unify individual states for the general welfare of all citizens, and simultaneously to create the government that would not gain too much authority and would not introduce any kind of governmental tyranny. The Framers wanted to create the government, which power would be derived from the citizens and which would work for the good of the citizens. They did not want to create a system similar to the British one, a unitary system where the ruling authority controls every area of the government. That is why, the Constitution, namely the Tenth Amendment reserves certain powers to the national government and some to the state governments. At the same time, national and state governments have the right to control the actions of the other, and may intervene in case of abusing its powers by the one of them. Yet, another principle of the American Constitutional System makes national government supreme to the state governments.
