Asystem of government where sovereignty is held by a central government

A type of government in which a group of independent states (regions, provinces) create a central (national) government and grant limited power to that central government, while retaining their sovereignty and the right to abolish the central government.

religion played a major role in the american revolution by offering a moral sanction for opposition to the british--an assurance to the average american that revolution was justified in the sight of god. the revolution strengthened millennialist strains in american.