When the Constitution was written, the writers created a system of government known as federalism. That means some powers are shared between the state governments and the federal government.

There are some powers that belong only to the federal government. These powers are called the enumerated powers. They include making treaties, declaring war, and controlling interstate and foreign trade.

There also are some powers that belong only to the state governments. These are called the reserved powers. They include making decisions regarding education within a state and determining punishments for breaking state laws.

There are powers that are shared by both the state governments and the federal government. These are known as the concurrent powers. These include the power to tax, the power to borrow money, the power to build roads, and the power to create courts. We pay both state taxes and federal taxes. Both the state governments and the federal government can borrow money. The federal government has a huge debt. Some state governments are in debt also. We have federal interstate highways as well as state highways. Finally, we have federal courts that handle cases involving federal laws while state courts handle cases involving state laws.