A Constitution for a Diverse Nation: Federalism and the Challenge of American Pluralism

The United States has been a diverse, pluralistic nation from its beginnings as founders including Benjamin Franklin and George Washington understood. Framers of the American Constitution recognized those differences by balancing a federal government handling foreign and military policy and internal commerce with other policies affecting local matters reserved to the states. That system offers a guide to resolving conflicts today from imposing national cultural policies on a culturally diverse country.