And the State govts. The federal level handles maintenance of military forces printing money granting copyrights. Difference Between Unitary Government And Federal Government Difference Between The US federal government has four mandates which can not be take away from it under the US constitution. . A federal system of government is a union of partially self-governing states or regions under a central government with powers usually assigned to each by a constitution. Since there is no division of powers and all the powers belong to the central government there is no special need for a written constitution. A law is created by the courts signed by the president and interpreted by. The states are subordinate to the national government in such areas as management of foreign affairs and regulation of interstate. The following are the important characteristics of federalism also known as federal form of government. Supremacy o...