When the framers designed the US Constitution they did not give the Federal government much power so power was balanced between States and Central Government. But the Federal government has gained more and more power over time. At the same time, the States were restricted over the years, when the Framers did not imagine doing so.
Both of these situations can be good or bad. For example, making the States respect the Bill of Rights was a good thing when individuals had their basic rights stripped on a State level. So making only the Federal government respect the Bill of Rights did not make much sense.
At the same time, the Federal Government has shown much power that was not designed and showed a few issues over the years, especially with the Executive Branch that had in a few opportunities overstepped its powers.
T<span>hose who favored centralization thought that the Articles of Confederation gave little power to the central government, and therefore the central government was unable to impose taxes, or execuse laws. They would have changed the articles so that they would have a stronger central government and levied taxes, but that was prevented because they needed a unanimous vote for that to pass, and that didn't happen. </span>
One of the main reasons Secretary of State William Seward purchased Alaska was that "<span>D. Alaska would reduce European possessions close to the United States," since it was purchased from Russia. </span>
