AP Gov Unit 1

Who is the father of the Constitution?

James Madison

Why did the Articles of Confederation fail?

1. Couldn’t regulate commerce

2. Little to no executive powers (President)

3. Couldn’t effectively manage debt due to not being able to control taxes

4. Couldn’t gather an army

5. Weak central government

6. No judicial branch to enforce the law or taxes

7. No national currency, hard to trade

What are the steps of impeachment?

Step 1: Simple Majority of House of Representatives votes to charge the President and impeach them

Step 2: Over 2/3 of the Senate must vote on whether the President is found guilty of the crime and should be removed, Chief Justice presides over this

What is the process to amend the Constitution?

Step 1: An amendment is proposed either by 2/3 of both houses of Congress or calling a convention of state legislatures with 2/3 of states

Step 2: Must be ratified by legislatures of ¾ of the states (Mass Majority)

What is bias?

Preference of one thing over another

What is explicit bias?

Conscious bias that we are aware of (Ex: Voting)

What is implicit bias?

Subconscious bias we are not aware of

What is confirmation bias?

People’s tendency to look for things which confirm their current beliefs/bias. Both affected by and feeds out implicit bias. Happens with beliefs we are strongly attached to.

What is the State of Nature?

A theoretical time before government

John Locke believed that this was a time when people were ruled solely by their conscience (he was a Christian philosopher). This was considered the Law of Nature.

Thomas Hobbes believed that people were, in fact, brutish at heart and that in the State of Nature people were nasty and all for themselves. Could use others, steal, their possessions, kill each other, had no moral code.

Law of Nature

Not total war, but total freedom. The State of Nature has the Law of Nature to govern it, and that law is reason. Reason states that you shouldn’t harm one’s life, liberty, or property.

Natural Rights

Belief that individuals are born equal (we are all human, we would all die if stabbed)/ Everyone has inalienable natural rights which if taken away, would cause the person to no longer be themselves. Locke believed these rights were God-given, meaning that God supports the victim if his natural rights are stolen because God gave them to him in the first place.

What did the Founding Fathers mean when they expressed the fact that the US would have “freedom of religion”?

They

Purpose of Government

To protect the rights of its citizens (natural rights)

What year was the Declaration of Independence made?

1776

What is America’s “social contract”?

The Constitution

Popular Sovereignty

Power belongs to the people (governed by the people)

The President is just another person who happens to represent you

What does democracy stand for?

Demo (People) Kratos (Rule)

What is direct democracy?

Everybody votes on every issue. Only works in small groups, takes a long time to get things done.

Is the US a Republic or a Democracy?

The US is a Republic because the Founding Fathers were elitists and wanted only educated wealthy to vote. Felt that the poor didn’t know what they wanted and a direct democracy would give them too much power.

What is a Representative Democracy / Republic?

A government where elected representatives make decisions

What is Participatory Democracy?

Emphasizes broad participation in politics and civil society. Everyone is involved, works in smaller environments like town hall meetings.

What is Pluralist Democracy?

Recognizes group-based activism by non-governmental interests striving for impact on political decision making (Ex: NRA (advocates for gun rights), Political Parties)

What is Elite Democracy?

Emphasizes limited participation in politics and civil society (Ex: Electoral College)

What are the qualifications to be considered a state?

1. Population

2. Territory

3. Sovereignty (Must be in control of your own state)

4. Government

Is Texas a State?

No, it does not have sovereignty. It cannot chose to leave the union or control its people fully as the federal government has some of that power.

What is a Nation?

A mindset or national identity. We are all citizens of the US. People could say they are part of the nation of Islam, which is not a country.

What is a unitary system?

National government has all the power

What is a confederation?

States have all the power

What is federalism?

National and state governments share the power

What were the federalist papers?

Arguments written in newspapers under the name publius in order to convince people to ratify the Constitution

Who wrote the most important federalist papers?

James Madison “father of the constitution” wrote Federalist 10 and 51

What was Federalist 10 about?

We should ratify the Constitution because a greater population is good under a republic because there can be multiple factions competing against each other in a plural democracy, preventing the tyranny of the majority from forming and ignoring minority opinions, as well as preventing one faction from becoming too powerful because there are so many

What is Federalist 51 about?

Emphasizes the idea of checks and balances

The separation of powers in the federal government will not succeed unless each branch has a reason to keep the other branches in check in order to maintain their own power

What is Article 7 of the Constitution?

9 / 13 states needed to make the constitution official (goes against 13/13 for articles of confederation amendment)

What is Large Republic?

Having more factions to combat tyranny of the majority

What is Brutus 1?

A paper in support of the anti-federalist party trying to convince people not to ratify the constitution because if the president was over too many people, they would be a king not a representative, and a large, centralized government is a danger to personal liberty because as a country gets to big, they ignore the minorities and their opinions, often becoming tyrannical as what happened with Athens and Rome

What was the 3/5 compromise?

Compromise over representation in the House of Representatives for southern slave states, wanted slaves to be property and not vote but still wanted them to count for population, 3/5 counted, win for the south

What was Shay’s Rebellion?

Daniel Shay was a farmer in debt due to bad crop season after the revolutionary war and having to rent everything b/c money he earned as a soldier was useless now due to not being a part of England and Massachusetts inflation, unfair system, farmers being put in prison due to not being able to pay loans for land, tools, etc. Decide to take down the court houses and at first they are successful due to Continental Congress not being able to convince states to help Massachusetts, not their problem they don’t want men to die for it, finally put down on the way to take the capital by a group of private mercenaries hired by a bank

What happened as a result of Shay’s Rebellion?

Constitutional Convention turned from revising the articles to making a new constitution, proved that the articles were weak and this needed to be done

What are the people at the Constitutional Convention called?

Framers (not founders)

What was the Virginia Plan?

Representation based on the population for each state, why should small states decide something for Virginia where more people live?

What was the New Jersey Plan?

Equal representation for every state. (Small states won’t get representation if it is based on population) similar to what is already in the Articles

What was the Connecticut / Great Compromise?

House of Representatives based on population, Senate equal representation (small and big states get represented in some way but neither gets what they want)

How many people are in the House of Representatives?

435

How many people are in the Senate?

100 (2 per each state)

What is the smallest amount of representatives in Congress a state can have?

3 (2 in senate and 1 in house)

How many