Federalism as we know it today, is a form of government in which a constitution divides powers between a central government and subdivisional governments. In America the central government is the Federal government and the subdivision is the states. Just to have a central government and local governments does not make it federalism you must have division of powers between these two and neither the central or the sub governments receives its powers from the other, their power is derived from one source which is the constitution. The purpose of federalism was to provide further protection against tyranny, which threatened peoples, liberties. Also it was formed to prevent the formation of a concentrated power in one area of government, so the development of federalism came about. It was created for this purpose but in today"s society does it still serve this purpose?Federalism does still serve its same purpose it was meant to serve. To look to the states is to prove they still exist and still hold power in government. After all America has endured over the past couple of decades, such as depression, war, which served to reduce domestic freedom necessary to prevent the formation of a centralized government, this shows their vitality as political institutions. Each day states actively contribute to the achievement of American goals and continue to show effort in defining these goals. Many can say that the states have lost power over the federal government, because of some rights taken away over the years. They actually haven"t loss power but gained some. Over the years there has been an extensive and continuing reorganization of state governments leading to increased executive responsibility greater central budgetary control and growing expertise of state personnel.With states having their own governments and constitutions they give people more freedom that the regular constitution may limit.