Words: 3249
Situations in which the members of a group would benefit by working together to produce some outcome, but each individual is better off refusing to cooperate and reaping the benefits from those who do the work. Democracy: a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. Direct democracy: A form of government in which all laws are created by a general vote of society. Economic individualism: The autonomy of individuals to manage their own financial decisions without government interference.
Factions: An interest group, a group of people who get together based on certain, similar ideas or interests. Free racket: An economic system based on competition among businesses without government interference. Economic individualism and free market remains central to our national identity. Free riders: The incentive to benefit from others’ work without making a contribution, which leads individuals in a collective action situation to refuse to work together. It is in everyone’s interests to let others pay the costs – in effort and resources – to tackle the problem.
Government and governments (what, types, what it does, ideas about, sources of conflict, etc): Government refers to the institutions and procedures through which people are ruled. The system for implementing decisions made through political proves. The different forms of government are monarchy, aristocracy and polity. Government largely exists to prevent chaos. The government create and enforce laws, creates money and regulates it, provides goods that wouldn’t exist on free market (Postal System), regulates the market, and protects your civil liberties. Things that cause conflict are economic stuff, culture stuff and ideology.
Ideology (conservative, liberal, etc): a cohesive set of ideas and beliefs that influence your view of the world. Indirect necromancy: Founded on the principle of elected officials representing a group of people. Also known as Representative Democracy. Monarchy: A form of government that is ruled by a single person; a king or queen for example. The term “monarchy’ was coined by Aristotle. Politics: Politics is all around us and very conflicting. The political process matters. The process that determines what government does. It concludes ways of behaving and making decisions that are common in everyday life.
Three key ideas: 1) Politics is conflicting 2) Political process matters 3) Politics is everywhere. Polity: A form of government that is ruled by many. The term “polity’ was coined by Aristotle. Public goods: Services or actions (such as protecting the environment) that, once provided to one person, become available to everyone. Government is typically needed to provide public goods because they be underreported by the free market. Republic: A republic is a limited form of government. A republic is a system of government that allows indirect representation of the popular will.
Power is invested in elected representatives. Separation of powers: Divides the government into the three branches; Judicial, executive and legislative and assigns distinct duties to each branch. Texas creed: Individualism, Liberty, Constitutionalism, Equality, and Democracy. Tragedy of the commons: a dilemma arising from the situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently and rationally consulting their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource even when it is clear that it is not in anyone’s long- term interest for this to happen.
Chapter 2 Articles of Confederation: Sent to the states for ratification in 1777, these were the first attempt at a new American government. It was later decided that the Articles restricted national government too much, and they were replaced by the Constitution. Form of confederacy government. Too much state power, weak national government. Bicameralism: Was part of the Great Compromise, also known as the Connecticut Compromise. Bicameralism is 2 houses of Congress.
The number of representatives in the lower house, or the House of Representatives, was based off the population of the state, therefore each state varied. The Upper House, or The Senate, had 2 representatives from each state no matter the size or population. Bill of rights: first 10 amendments of the Constitution, concerned about basic liberties. They protect individual rights and liberties. Constitution (various aspects): Constitutional Amendments and process: 2 ways: First, a national convention called by Congress by request of state legislators (has NEVER been used).
Second, a proposal for change by 2/3 vote in both houses of Congress then ratification by states: 2 options: 1) Vote in % of state legislatures (most common) OR 2) Vote by special ratifying conventions in % of the states (only used for the 21st amendment (repealing prohibition)) Constitutional Convention: started on May 25, 1787. By the end of August, 11 of the 55 invented an excuse to leave. The attendants scrapped the Articles of Confederation, created a stronger national government, had cantonal regulation of interstate commerce and created a republican form of government (interests of people represented through elected leaders).
They was a balanced government where no one interest would dominate. Declaration of Independence: Influenced by John Locker’s The Second Treatise on Government. The idea of social contract. Implemented the idea of social contract. Ideas colonists were “created equal, had certain natural powers and government got its power from the governed. ” Elastic clause: States that the Constitution and the laws and treaties of the US are the “supreme Law of the Land,’ meaning national laws take precedent over Tate laws if the two conflict. Electoral College: Most novel aspect of the Constitution.
Votes are cast indirectly to a slate of electors pledged to each party’s candidates. Each state get 1 vote for each House member and 1 vote for each Senator (the minimum # of electors is thus 3 per state). Enumerated powers: powers explicitly given and written down in the Constitution. Some examples of these powers are regulating commerce, regulating & creating money, and providing national defense. Federalism: The division of power across the local, state and national levels of government. Federalist 10: Written by James Madison, he talks about and describes the central problem for government as the need to control factions.
Federalist papers: Written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Sought to sway public opinion toward the Federalists’ position. Federalists and Anti Federalists: Federalists – Those at the Constitutional Convention who favored a strong national government and a system of separated powers; Antifundamentalist – Those at the Constitutional Convention who favored strong state governments and feared that a strong national government would be a threat to individual rights. Formal and informal constitution: Formal – stuff explicitly said in the Constitution.
Informal – stuff implied from the stuff explicitly in the Constitution (enumerated vs. implied powers). Full faith and credit clause: requires states to recognize something about courts and to accept them to be valid. If you have legal documentation in one state, it was to be accepted as legal documentation in another. Great Compromise: Also known as the Connecticut Compromise. Created a bicameral legislature, or a two house system. The Lower House, or the House of Representatives, consists of elected members based off of the population size of the state.
The Upper House, or the Senate, consists of 2 elected members from each state not dependent on the population size of the state (all states have 2 Senators). The House of Representatives serve 2 year terms, are closest to the people, and al bills must start in the HORROR. The Senate serve 6 year terms. Impeachment: A negative or checking power over the other branches that allows Congress to remove the president, vice president or other “officers of the United States” for abuses of power. Implied powers: Powers supported by the Constitution that are not expressly stated in it. Powers implied from the enumerated rowers given to the government.
Judicial review: The Supreme Court’s power to strike down a law or executive branch action that it finds unconstitutional. Power given to the courts in the case Mammary v. Madison by Chief Justice John Marshall. Limited government: A political system in which the powers of the government are restricted to prevent tyranny by protecting property and individual rights. Major ideas debated over constitution: Majority v. Minority rights: Factions must be set against one another to counter one another’s ambitions and prevent tyranny of any single majority faction. Protection loud also come from the “size principle. Mammary v Madison: Court case by Chief Justice John Marshall that ruled in order to enforce the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, the Court must determine which laws are unconstitutional, or Judicial review. Natural rights: In the Declaration of Independence, they are coined as “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. ” Rights that every individual naturally has as a human being. Necessary and proper clause: States that the Constitution and the laws and treaties of the US are the “supreme Law of the Land,’ meaning national laws take precedent over state laws if the two conflict.
New Jersey Plan: Small states preferred this plan. Contained a unicameral legislature, all states get one vote; however taxes on states were proportional to population size. In response to the Virginia Plan, smaller states at the Constitutional Convention proposed that each state should receive equal representation in the national legislature, regardless of size. Pluralism: The idea that having a variety of parties and interests within a government will strengthen the system, ensuring that no group possesses total control.
Proprietary Colony: a colony owned by an individual through a royal grant given from the king ring the time period. It was a borrowed tradition from the parliamentary system. Republican democracy: A form of government in which the interests of the people are represented through elected leaders. Republicanism: As understood by James Madison and the framers, the belief that a form of government in which the interest of the people are represented through elected leaders is the best form of government.
Reserved powers: As defined in the Tenth Amendment, powers that are not given to the national government by the Constitution, or not prohibited to the states, are reserved by the states or the people. Shays Rebellion: Daniel Shay and other farmers tried to take over the Massachusetts state government arsenal in order to force the state courts to stop prosecuting debtors and taking their land. Major role leading to the revision of the Articles of Confederation.
Social contract: an implicit agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits, for example by sacrificing some individual freedom for state protection. Supremacy clause (national supremacy clause): States that the Constitution and the laws and treaties of the United States are the supreme law of the land, meaning national laws cake precedent over state laws if the two conflict. Theocracy: Religious based government with a religious leader. The Puritans established a theocracy. Thomas Paine: Wrote Common Sense pamphlet explaining why America should break away from Great Britain.
Was a very popular and known book. Three-fifths compromise: The states’ decision during the Constitutional Convention to count each slave as three-fifths of a person in a state’s population for the purposes of determining the number of House members and the distribution of taxes. Virginia Plan: Big states preferred this one. Representation was proportional to the population size of each state. A plan proposed by the larger states during the Constitutional Convention that based representation in the national legislature on population. Strengthened the national government.
Chapter 3 10th amendment: Ensures that all powers not delegated to the national government are reserved to the states or to the people. 14th amendment: Guarantees that no state shall make or enforce any law depriving any person of “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law’, or denying any person the “equal protection of the laws”. Block grants: Federal aid provided to a state government to be spent within a certain policy area, but the state can decide how to spend the money within that area. Categorical grants: Grants that are for specific purposes. They have strings attached.
Federal aid to state or local governments that is provided for a specific purpose, such as a mass transit program within the transportation budget or a school lunch program within the education budget. Civil War Amendments: 13th – banned slavery; 14th – prohibited states from denying citizens due process or equal protection of the laws. All citizens had equal rights; 15th – gave newly freed male slaves the right to vote Coercive federalism: This practice involves the use of federal regulations, mandates, or conditions to force or entice the states to change their policies to match the national goals or policies established by Congress.
A form of federal government in which the federal government pressures the states to change their policies by using regulations, mandates, and conditions (often involving threats to withdraw federal funding). Commerce clause: The powers of Congress to regulate the economy granted in Article 1 of the Constitution. Competitive federalism: Competition among states to provide the best policies to attract businesses, create Jobs, and maintain a healthy social fabric. A form of federalism in which states compete to attract businesses and Jobs through the policies they adopt.
However, this can lead to “race to the bottom”. For example, they eliminate environmental or occupational restrictions/regulations in order to attract businesses. Concurrent power: Responsibilities for particular policy areas, such as transportation, that are shared by federal, state and local governments. Confederacy government: A form of government n which states hold power over a limited national government. This was the type of government in the US under the Articles of Confederation. States can veto the actions of the central government.
Cons about federalism: No national standards can create inequalities, dispersion of power can allow groups to protect interests which may be undemocratic and contrary to national trends, low visibility and information flow about local governments, bad competition (race to the bottom) between states. Cooperative federalism: “Marble cake federalism”. The boundaries of state and national responsibilities are not as well defined. A form of federalism in which national and state governments work together to provide services efficiently. Emerged in the sass’s.
Denied powers: Bill of Attained – law declaring another activity illegal and sticking you in Jail (cannot throw you in Jail without a trial), Ex Post Facto Laws – If I pass a law saying smoking is illegal starting tomorrow, then you smoke all day today, I cannot arrest you for smoking yesterday when it was legal; Power Denied Just to State Governments – states cannot make treaties or make their own money, cannot make their own army, cannot impair obligation of a contract (cannot stop a interact from being fulfilled); Powers Denied Just to National – cannot play favorites with states Drew Scott v.
Sanford: Drew Scott was a slave who had lived for many years with his owner in the free Wisconsin Territory but was living in Missouri, a slave state, when his master died. Scott petitioned for his freedom under the Missouri Compromise, which said that slavery was illegal in any free state. The Supreme Court ruled that slaves were not citizens but private property, therefore the Missouri Compromise violated the 5th Amendment because it deprived people (slave owners) of property without the due process of law. Dual federalism: “Layer cake federalism”.
The national and state governments are viewed as distinct, with little overlap in their activities or the services they provided. State and National governments are seen as distinct entities providing separate services. This model limits the power of the national government. Federalism: The division of power across the local, state and national governments. A form of government that divides sovereign power across at least two political units. Fiscal federalism: A form of federalism in which federal funds are allocated to the lower levels of government through transfer payments or rants.
Formula grant: money allocated in a predetermined manner based off of a formula. For example, the national government will give $10 for education for every child you have in school. Full faith and credit clause: Requires that each state’s laws be honored by the other states. For example, a legal marriage in one state must be recognized across state lines. General revenue sharing: Gibbons v. Ogden: Congress had broad power to regulate interstate commerce and struck down a New York law that had granted a monopoly to a private company operating steamboats in New York.
The Court said by granting the monopoly, New York was interfering with the interstate commerce. Good things about federalism: Diverse policies for a diverse population, minimizes policy conflict (interstate compacts), closer to the people, healthy dispersion of power creates more opportunities for participation, policy innovation at the state level, and state and local levels good training ground. Intergovernmental organizations: Organizations that seek to coordinate policy across member nations such as The UN and NATO.
Coordinate policies on things such as economic activity, security or environmental protection. McCullough v Maryland: The Federalists in power of the government established a national bank in Maryland. The state of Maryland in response attempted to tax the bank out of existence. The bank refused to pay the taxes. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the national government on the counts of Congress did have the power to create the bank and Maryland did not have the right to tax the bank.
This decision was made from the implication in the enumerated powers given to Congress. New federalism: Shifted some important powers back to the states through Nixon (limited amount) and predominantly by Reagan. Main idea: power was shifted back towards the states. Nullification: The idea that a state can choose to not recognize or refuse enforcement of a federal law passed by the United States Congress. Noon Calhoun, a South Carolina senator in 1832, said to ignore a tariff law passed by Congress).
Picket fence federalism: Emerged in the sass’s. A more refined and realistic form of cooperative federalism in which policy makers within a particular policy area work together across the levels of government. Each picket of the fence represents a different policy area, and the horizontal boards that hold the kicked together represent the different levels of the government. Police power: The power to enforce laws and provide for the public safety. Police power is a state and local government responsibility.
Powers given to different levels of government Privileges and immunities clause: Requires that states must treat onstage residents within their borders as they would treat their own residents. This was meant to promote commerce and travel between states. Remedial legislation: National laws that address discriminatory state laws. National legislation that fixes discriminatory state laws. Revenue sharing: Spillover effects: State’s rights and state power: Power to choose electors for the Electoral College, a central role in the process of amending the Constitution. 10th Amendment. Unfunded mandates: Federal laws that require the states to do certain things but do not provide state governments with funding to implement these policies. Require states to do certain things but force the states to come up with the money on their own. Unitary government: A system in which the national, centralized government holds ultimate authority. It is the most common form of government in the world.