One of the main problems that can be seen in history is how much power the federal government and state governments should hold. This can be seen changing over time, to the balance of power we have today.
With the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution, the states had most of the power and the power of the federal government was very limited. A lot of people preferred this then, as they had just got out of the hands of Great Britain and did not want a repeat of that. People wanted to experience real freedom and did not want to be held back by the federal government, especially if it started abusing its power onto the citizens.
Not everyone supported the Articles of Confederation though. Federalists wanted to have a strong federal government, as they felt having a weak one was hurting the country as a whole and drifting the states apart. More people started to believe this as the Articles of Confederation continued to limit the power of the federal government.
When the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was called, the original goal was just to amend the Articles of Confederation. This did not happen though, as a new constitution, the United States Constitution, was created in its place. This new constitution gave power to the federal government and to the states. This balance of power is still used today, along with the separation of powers and checks and balances.
