Unit #1: Foundations of American Democracy

• Power is held by the people (the people choose the governing officials)

• Cornerstones include: free speech, access to the ballot box, minority rights, etc.

The rights to life, liberty, and property which cannot be taken away by the government. Considered a birthright

The purpose of the government is to serve the people and they are given power by the people to rule fairly and justly. Example: We vote in officials in elections and in turn, those politicians pass laws and bills to better our lives as citizens.

• life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

• under the law of natural rights

• when Americans assert their rights, they are doing so based on revolutionary ideals (which were inspired by the enlightenment)

• democracy, natural & unalienable rights, popular sovereignty, republicanism, liberty, pursuit of happiness, religious freedom

• Emphasizes the role of groups in the policymaking process — competing groups are HEALTHY b/c they provide a political connection to the government

• these groups can affect government policy

• the competition prevents one single group from dominating

• most political analysts say this is the best for a society

• power is disproportionally concentrated in the largest and richest sectors of our world

• “MONEY TALKS“ so, these groups have the most influence

A democratic system with elected representatives in which the Constitution is supreme law above all

Political society considered as a community of citizens linked by common interests and collective activity for social order.

• Social, political and economic freedoms

• Freedom from interference by a government

• Freedom to pursue one's dreams

• Conflicts with government imposed order

Rebellion led by Daniel Shays of farmers in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787, protesting mortgage foreclosures. It highlighted the weakness in the Article of COnfederation which led skeptics to replace it.

A design of government that distributes powers across institutions to avoid making one branch too powerful on its own.

The idea that the government's right to rule comes from the people

Adopted by Congress in 1777, it created a loos ""league of friendship among the states. Every state got one vote in Congress. States controlled exports and imports. One house legislature (congress) and no independent executive or judiciary.

YES I CAN

• James Madison

• 3 branch government with a bicameral legislature

• Larger states had more representation in both chambers

• Lower house: elected directly by the people

• Upper house: nominated by state legislatures and chosen by the lower house

Two house legislature

• Upper House (Senate): selected by state legislatures, 2 per state

• Lower house (House of Representatives): elected by citizens, representation based on population of state

A theory that widespread political participation is essential for democratic government

• citizens can join groups outside of government control

• strong civil society

• prepares citizens for the democratic process

Agreement that each slave counted as three-fifths of a person in determining representation in the House for representation and taxation purposes (negated by the 13th amendment)

• The proposal at the Constitutional Convention that called for each state to be allotted one vote regardless of the given state's size

• Championed by smaller states

Plan to have a popularly elected bicameral legislature based on state population and a state-selected Senate, with two members for each state

A meeting in Philadelphia in 1787 of 55 delegates from 12 colonies to amend the Articles of Confederation

(Article 1 Section 9) congress could not restrict the slave trade until 1808

Powers not specifically mentioned in the constitution but are rather _______

Powers retained by the states under the constitution (amendment 10)

Constitution and other national treaties and laws is the supreme law of the land

• Mainly being led by the newly emerging middle class (they were represented by farmers working class citizens in these so-called common people)

• The main people in this group, where George mason and Richard Henry Lee

• Brutus

• They argued that the enlightenment principles that were instilled in the declaration of independence would all be erased by the new constitution

Requires states to recognize the laws, records, and judicial decisions of other states

Document written by James Madison that advocated for a large constitutional republic and feared danger of faction

Written James Madison and states that people are selfish, so we need separation of power and check balances to tyranny

The country is too large to be governed as a republic and the Constitution gave too much power to the national government. They claimed the Constitution is a threat to the rights and freedoms of citizens, so it should not be ratified. Brutus said the Greek and Roman republics became tyrannical as their territory grew. He states that a true free republic comes from the people, not representatives of the people.

Powers that only the national government may exercise

Ex. The right to declare war (Article I Section 8 (enumerated powers of Congress)

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

group of self-interested individuals who use the government to get what they want, trampling the rights of others in the process

Refer to those powers granted to the national government in the Constitution, especially to Congress --> Article 1 section 8

Grants Congress the power to "regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the several states, and with the Indian tribes."

When the federal government apportions tax money to the states with no strings attached (ended because too costly)

A form of grant-in-aid that gives the state more control over how to disperse federal funds and is more popular with Republican presidents. It is a tactic of devolution (returning more authority to state and local governments)

Provided to states with specific provisions on their use

Provides that persons born in the United States are citizens and prohibits states from denying persons due process or equal protection under the law

The national government requires states to pay for programs without providing food

The process through which the supreme court applies fundamental rights in the Bill of Rights to the states on a case-by-case basis

When people in one state return a defendant to another state where the crime originally happened

• collect taxes, pay debts, and provide for the common defense in general welfare

• Borrow money

• Regulate commerce among the states in with foreign countries

• Coin, money

• declare war

• Raise an army/national guard/navy

• Establish federal courts, in addition to the Supreme Court

• typically upper class men such as bankers or rich property owners

• They champion a strong central government, and wanted the ratification of the constitution

• stresses liberty and unalienable rights, making the people sovereign as a whole — completely rejects the ideas of a monarchy, aristocracy, inherited power…basically everything that Britain was lmao

• This was first practiced by the founding fathers in the 1700s

Taxation without representation, unjust trials, forced quartering of British soldiers in private homes, abolition of colonial assemblies, and a policy of mercantilism

The federalist papers were a series of articles written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison, and other federalists. These articles were published to the public, an outline the necessity of a strong central government, and strongly encouraged the ratification of the young constitution.

• This concept was established as a compromise between election of the president by a vote in Congress and election of the president by a popular vote of qualified citizens

• Consists of presidential electors in each state who’s number is determined in the states population