Federal

Federal

• from Latin foedus for "league or covenant"
  • league = a collection of people, groups or governments for some common purpose
  • covenant = an founding agreement
• thereby "federal" means "a league of states"
  • and the "federal government" is the central body (government) that governs those states as a whole
    • but only insofar as they share or yield powers to that central ("federal") government
    • states do not share or yield all their powers with the federal government
    • = "shared sovereignties"