AP Gov Unit 1: Ch. 1 & 2 – Flashcards

Basically, the tenth amendment says that all power not directly given to the federal/central government is given to the states.

Limited the power of the English monarchy. Limited government.

President is the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the U.S. and of the Militia of the several States. He shall have the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States. Expressed powers, right to make treaties.

Many people had argued against the new Constitution claiming that the US would be too large to govern as a democracy (republic) and had too many groups, or "factions," as political parties were then called. While Madison acknowledged that there were many differing factions, he also indicated that a democratic form of government, using the ideal of majority rule, would tame the factions and cause them to work together as much as possible. He claimed that the republican form of government created by the new Constitution would allow all the factions the room and venues to express themselves and to influence the workings of government by getting their members elected and/or appointed to offices. Minority groups would be protected because the factions would have to negotiate their differences. In this way, the republic would create a system of government in which the majority would rule but the ideas of the minority would have to be taken into consideration. Numerous factions would also mean that no one group would be able to take complete control of the government and this would give rise to what Madison called "politics," namely, the art of governing.

-Slavery was not addressed. -Nothing about national citizenship (no definition) -MOST silent on the issue of VOTING RIGHTS. -Each state had its own laws about who could vote. -Did states possess the right to withdraw from the US once they ratified the Constituion?

Elastic Clause, Necessary-Proper Clause (The Congress shall have Power To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by the Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Establishes the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Treaties, and laws made pursuant to the U.S. Constitution, shall be "the supreme law of the land."

National government has more power than the state government. Cause of the supremacy clause. The nat. gov can coin money, declare war, conduct foreign relations, oversee foreign trades. The state gov. ratifies amendments, manages public health and safety, oversees trade within the states, and education. National governemnt has way more power than state government.

-To give natural rights to the people. -Human Equality, Humans are equal in the sense that neither God or nature has appointed some to rule over others. -Government by consent The colonists consented to be governed by British law as long as the central authority protected their rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

The Northern states do not want to count slaves as their population, but would rather treat them as property. The Southern states want to count as slaves as people to get more representation in Congress.

Considered it of little importance. It would do more harm than good by giving the national government power over the states in enforcing those rights.Because the constitution was made for the people by the people so they thought why would the people need to protect their rights from themselves.

A defense of large governments to prevent factions.

the plan that gave rise to the establishment of the Senate and the House of Representatives in America.

Last thing that happened that realized that the articles of confederation needed to be change. Not enough showed up to Annapolis convention and had another one to Philadelphia convention. Throw the ARticles out and start over again.

Officially, the purpose of the convention was to revise the Articles of Confederation. Many feel that this was a drastic understatement, and that the real goal of many of its key proponents was to replace the Articles of Confederation and create a strong federal government. Not what happened. Created U.S. constitution.

Violating all these liberties were then guaranteed to us in the Bill of Rights. Justifying why we had a riht to try to over throw the government and break away from England. Breaking us away from the natural rights. King abused "life, liberty, and property"

Changed Locke's property to pursuit of happiness. Property allows you to rely on government.

According to the Natural Rights Philosophy the purpose of govt. is to protect the rights of individuals. Each individual possesses inalienable rights to "life, liberty, state, and estate". To secure their natural rights, people would agree through a "social contract" to leave the state of nature and form a civil society. Individual rights, popular sovereignty/government by consent, limited government.

Authority is when a person actually does something, perform actions. Power is when you hold the ability to do something. Power is the possession of authority, control, or influence.The difference between power and authority is, the fact that power is ability to do or the capability to do. Authority means that one has the control or the credit to command a situation.

"Rule of the people" A form of governent in which all citizens exercise political power, either directly or indirectly through elected representatives.

United does not have direct democracy. There is a representative democracy. If every American would be allowed to vote on every bill, law to pass instead of representatives passing it, it would be direct.

The belief that competition among all affected interests shapes public policy. No single eite, no social class, no bureaucratic arrangment, can control political resources.

Wanted strong central government but not too strong and some states' rights.

It is the type of democracy used by the U.S. and Britain and many other democratic countries, and functions primarily through the election of representatives who make larger policy decisions for their constituents. Thus, a representative democracy is the marriage of hierarchical government and one ruled by popular sovereignty.

Check Debate, 1D notebook

System of separate institutions that share powers. Authority started by 3 branches of govenrment. First, the legislative branch can pass a law. The way the executive branch checks that is by either agreeing with it or vetoing it. Second, the judicial branch apprehends the laws. The executive branch checks that by choosing all the justices in the court. Third, the executive branch can veto a bill. The legislative branch checks that by looking at it again and possibly cancelling the veto.

---Congress had no power to tax. They could only request that state governments pay certain amounts to support hte costs of the national government. This system did not work. ---Also, Congress could make agreements with foreign nations but it had NO power ot force state govenrments to honor these agreements. SOME CITIZENS imported goods from OTHER NATIONS and then REFUSED TO PAY FOR THEM. ---Congress had no power to make laws regulating trade among the states. ----Congress had no pwoer to make laws directly regulating the behavior of citizens. Citizens can only be governed by their state governments.

Informal ways we change it, it acts of Congress/President that are unconstitutional. The cabinet members (nothing in Constituion) about appointing member and how it informally changes caused senate has to approve. Formal ways is 2/3 of both houses of Conress vote to propose an amendment. Two-thirds of the state legislatures ask Congerss to call a nationa lconventio to propose amendments. Then 3/4 of the state legislatures approve it. Ratifying conventions in 3/4 of the states approve it.

House of Reprsentatives

The various and unequal distribution of property. "Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society." A lot of the reason that everyone is entitled to life, liberty, and property.

To reduce factions. *Look at debate papers* To protect minorities. Created federalism to give the states some power and the government some power. Checks and balance to seaprate the powers.

The Great Compromise

The 3/5 compromise was compromise between the Northern and Southern states in whcih 3/5 of the slave population was counted for the reason of taxation and the representation in Congress. This would allow some part of the slave population to be counted as population rather than property. The Slave Trade Compromise would continue for 20y ears after the Constitution went into effect. Once the 20years were up, the national government would be allowed to ban the importation of slaves to the Unites States.

The original idea was for the most knowledgeable and informed individuals from each State to select the president based solely on merit and without regard to State of origin or political party. Thought that the general population was not intelligent enough, news could not be spread.

When man began to use his reason to discover the world, casting off the superstition and fear of the medieval world. The effort to discover the natural laws which governed the universe led to scientific, political and social advances. Started applying scientific theory to government. Political thinkers began to use the same type of format for political thinking.

James Madison addresses the problem posed by "faction" to a democracy. Today, we would call a "faction" a special-interest group. Madison posed what was a radical idea at the time. Most Americans subscribed to the idea that republican government could not be extended to a large area, but Madison recognized that, with the right constitutional controls, liberty actually was more secure in a large, federal state. This was because, in such a state, the number of factions would be extremely large, and they would tend to fight each other and cancel each other out. This he contrasted with a state like Rhode Island, in which a corrupt paper-money power had benefited from local debtors' unrest to gain power and then use government to cheat Rhode Island's neighbors. Of course, Madison's argument resonated with anyone who had been the victim of Rhode Island's frauds.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether or not the framers established a republican form of government. No other form is suited to the particular genius of the American people; only a republican form of government can carry forward the principles fought for in the Revolution or demonstrate that self-government is both possible and practical.

The purpose of this essay is to help the readers understand how the structure of the proposed government makes liberty possible. Each branch should be, in Madison's opinion, mostly independent. To assure such independence, no one branch should have too much power in selecting members of the other two branches. If this principle were strictly followed, it would mean that the citizens should select the president, the legislators, and the judges. But the framers recognized certain practical difficulties in making every office elective. In particular, the judicial branch would suffer because the average person is not aware of the qualifications judges should possess. Judges should have great ability, but also be free of political pressures. Since federal judges are appointed for life, their thinking will not be influenced by the president who appoints them, nor the senators whose consent the president will seek.

Line-item veto passed a bill signed with law the president could draw a line in a bill that to do with money and elimnate it. Declaer unconstitutional. Money is for legislative house of representative. Money should originate in the house.