At the time the constitution was written virtually all the world's governments were either:

At that time the one of the two systems, First one is the federal system where there is a sharing of power between the central government (powerful central government) and the states that have their own legislature and self-rule. Second one is the unitary system where all the power rests with the central government and the states or territories have no legislative power whatsoever. 

The nickname would be : " robber bandits" i believe