Ironically, the way the phrase is applied depends on the time period. Historically, federalism meant what you're saying. That is to say Jay and Hamilton were Fe

Ironically, the way the phrase is applied depends on the time period. Historically, federalism meant what you're saying. That is to say Jay and Hamilton were Federalists, and advocated a strong federal government. In modern parlance Federalism generally means the opposite: being strongly in favor of states rights. You'll also see this called "new federalism". The explanation for this is that Federalism is about balance of power, and the phrase is generally used to indicate policy that would return a stronger balance. Currently (since the Civil War in particular) the federal government is extremely strong, whereas historically, in the time of the Federalist Papers, it was extremely weak.