Federalism

The United States has a federalist system. This means that there are individual states, each with its own government, and there is a federal, or national, government. The Constitution gives certain powers to the federal government, other powers to the state governments, and yet other powers to both. For example, only the national government can print money, the states establish their own school systems, and both the national and the state governments can collect taxes.

Randee Falk: Spotlight on the USA, Oxford University Press, 1993, page 4