Initial Cases

While some form of federalism existed even during colonial times (through divided sovereign power) the reality is that at the founding of the nation federalism whether in practice or in theory was not particularly well defined in the United States. The issue was complicated even more with the failure of the Articles of Confederation. Many influential framers of the United States Constitution viewed the Articles as too restrictive of federal action. Those who favored the Articles tended to view them as flawed but fixable. While a new governing document (the United States Constitution) was ratified, neither side was initially willing to concede that much had changed from the Articles to the Constitution. In fact, the division over federalism was a prominent feature of early political encounters between the Federalists and the supporters of Thomas Jefferson (or eventually, Democratic-Republicans). 

As the Court gradually waded into issues relating to federalism issues, it did so under the guidance of Chief Justice John Marshall, a Federalist, and supporter of national authority. Yet even with those Supreme Court rulings, it was not until the Civil War that many issues relating to federalism were resolved.