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The United States Constitution designates some powers to be given to the federal government, but both the federal and state governments have attained their own powers, as the government has been shaped. When the Constitution was written, the Founding Fathers knew they needed a Constitution that would prevent a monarchy and ensure a democracy. The separation of powers and checks and balances outlined by the Constitution that keep the 3 branches in the federal government intertwined thus preventing an oversurge of power, and the single amendment mentioning the state governments balances the two out, ensuring that one cannot exceed the other. There are three main types of power in the United States government, the enumerated, reserved, and concurrent powers.   

Enumerated Powers- powers only and specifically granted to the federal government (2)

Reserved Powers- powers as defined by the 10th Constitutional amendment that guarantees states the powers not already designated to the federal government to be reserved for the states (1)

Concurrent Powers-powers that are guaranteed to both the state and federal govenment on their respective government levels (3)

(graph comparing the powers)

Table of the powers designated to the federal, to the state governments, and to both:

Enumerated Powers	Reserved Powers	Concurrent Powers
Control over federal government	Control of local governments	Has control over both state and federal gov't
Military	Police Protection	Makes and enforces laws
Contrals Federal Courts	Controls State level Courts	Establishes Courts, takes private property for public purposes
Deals with Currency and Bankruptcy		Borrows and spends money
Copyright and Patents		Charter Banks and Corporations
Sea Crimes
Declaration of War
Controls the District of Columbia	Individual State control
Reserves the right to the "Necessary and Proper Clause"	10th Amendment- powers reserved to the states
	State level Education
		Transportation

The federal and state governments share powers in similar areas, and in some they don't share any. The powers granted to the states are the ones that are not paralleled to powers in the federal government as the 10th amendment states. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to it by the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Advantages of separate government powers

Though the role of the federal government within the states is a controversial one, there are many advantages of this more specified separation of powers. Firstly, the diversity among states requires a specified set of laws, rules and benefits, those that only a state government could provide. The more individual governments working for small areas for the common interests of the people, the more that can be individually catered to the people of that respective county or town. If a federal government obtained all the powers designated to the states, it would only be able to metaphorically, cater to one side of the coin.

History of reserved powers 

The idea for powers specifically guaranteed to the states dates back to the Articles of Confederation, which modeled an earlier form of the United States government. The Articles stated, " Every state retains its sovereignty, freedom, independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled." However, the Articles of Confederation, in terms of the federal government, were weak, and did not permit the government to tax the states and frankly, gave too much power to the states. The next document, which was much stronger with regards to the federal government and only reserved one section for the states, Amendment 10. Amendment 10 stated that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The anti- federalists and federalists disagreed with the amount of powers that should be delegated to the state and federal government. With regards to the Constitution, the federalists believed in the power of enumerated powers, while the anti-federalists believed in the reserved powers.  To appease the Anti-Federalists the reserved powers were included in the Constitution. (1)

Purpose of the enumerated powers

The purpose of the enumerated powers, or the powers designated to the Congress, in Article 1 of the Constitution mainly is to provide structure and stability for the United States government, and nation.  For a more complete list of federal governmental powers of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, refer back to the Checks and Balances and Separation of Powers page. (2)

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Works Cited:

(1) G. Hornberger, Jacob "The Bill of Rights: Reserved Powers" Sept. 12, 2005 <http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0505a.asp>(2001-2009)

(2) Constantine Gutzman, K.R. "Enumerated Powers" <http://www.answers.com/topic/enumerated-powers> (2010)

(3) Answers Corp. "Concurrent Powers"<http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_concurrent_powers> (2010)