AP Government Required Documents

Federalist 10

• A strong, united republic would be more effective than the individual states at controlling “factions.”

• A large republic will help control factions because when more representatives are elected, there will be a greater number of opinions. It is far less likely that there will be one majority oppressing the rest of the people.

Brutus 1

• An antifederalist series of essays designed to encourage New Yorkers to reject the proposed Constitution.

• The immense power of the federal government requires the people to sacrifice their liberties.

• A bill of rights was necessary to protect the people from the government.

• Congress possesses far too much power: taxation, standing army, taxes, Elastic Clause.

• A free republic cannot exist in such a large territory as the United States.

• Judicial authoruty will broaden federal governments power.

Declaration of Independence

• All people are created equal.

• Governments are created to protect these rights.

• If the government does not protext these rights, then the people have the duty to change it.

• Imperfect government’s should not be destroyed, only ones that destruct Natural Rights

Articles of Confederation

• Confederation of states, with an extremely limited contral government.

• Limitations placed upon the central government rendered it ineffective at governing the continually growing American states.

• Each state remains sovereign.

• Unicameral legislature: each state one vote

• No President or judiciary

• Could not force taxation and no standing army

Constitution

• Outlined the federal government’s structure, powers, and limits to those power

• Judicial (Supreme Court), executive (President), and legislative (Congress) can limit each other

• Federal system of government

• Constitution as Supreme Law

Bill of Rights

• The first 10 Amendments to the Constitution

• Spells out Americans’ rights in relation to their government and gaurantees civil rights and liberties to the individual.

• 1-8: Individual Rights

• 9: Rights not listed are NOT denied to the People

• 10: Powers not given to the federal government nor denied to the states are State Powers

Amendments

• Expansions of Peoples’ rights

• 13: Abolished slavery

• 14: Granted citizenship to anyone born in the United States

• 15: Granted African American men the right to vote

• 19: Granted women the right to vote

• 22: Limited the number of terms served by the President

• 26: Made the minimum voting age 18

Federalist 51

• Proposes a govenrment broken into three branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial

• Each branch should be self-sufficient, but each should have some kind of power over the other in order for them to keep each other from taking over the government.

• The Legislative branch should be split further into the House of Representatives and the Senate because it is the most powerful branch.

• Members of the Judicial branch need to be chosen by the Presidnet with the Senate’s approval because they want qualified candidates for a position that lasts for life.

• This style of government also helps keep down the power of factions

Federalist 70

• Argues in favor of an “energetic executive”

• Argues that unity in the executive branch is a main ingredient for both energy and safety. Energy arises from the actions of a single person, characterized by, “decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch,” while safety arises from the unitary executive’s unconcealed accountability to the people.

• Justifies executive strength by claiming that the slow-moving Congress, a body designed for deliberation, will be best-balanced by a quick decisive exucutive.

• Maintains thast the governmental balance can only be achieved if each branch of government has enough autonomous power such that tyrannay of one branch over the others cannot occur.

• Makes the case for duration: a presidential term needs to be long enough to promote stability in the governemnt

• Support can be defined as a presidential salary, which insulates government officials from corruption by attracting capable, honest men to office

Federalist 78

• As “the weakest of the three departments of power” the Judiciary needs strengthening

• Without an independent judiciary, any rights reserved to the people by the Constitution “would amount to nothing,” since the legislature cannot be relied upon to police itself

• Lifetime appointments, guaranteed “during good behavior” to insure that judges can resist encroachments from the legislature.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

• King argues that he and his fellow demonstrations have a duty to fight for justice

• It is up to the oppressed to take charge and cdemand equality

• Segregation is used to debase one population while uplifting another which makes it immoral in the eyes of God. Unjust laws aren’t actuall laws and therefore do not actually have to be followed.

• King believes people are under a moral obligfation to oppose segregation by refusing to abide by the so-called laws that govern the practice.

• The civil rights movement will ultimately be successful because “the goal of America is freedom.”

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Established the concept of Judicual Review - the process by which the Court is in the position to declare laws unconstitutional.

• William Marbury sued in court for a Writ of Mandamus, which would force his commission to be named a federal judge to be delivered.

• The Court agreeded that holding back the commission was illegal, but did not grant a Writ of Mandamus.

• The Court ruled that the Judiciary Act of (1789), the legal grounds for the lawsuit, was unconstitutional. This was because it extended the jursidiction of the Court beyond what was stated in the Constitution.

• Congress had made a law which contradicted the Constitution, and becuase of the Supremacy Clause, the law could not stand.

Supremacy Clause

Establishes that the federal constitution, and federal law generally, take precdence over state laws.

Necessary and Proper Clause

Congress has legislative power “to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing powers…” Has been interpreted as giving implied powers to Congress in addition to enumerated powers.

McCullough v. MaryLand (1819)

Although the Constitution does not expressly state that Congress can charter a bank, the Necessary and Proper clause gave the Federal Govenrment powers not expressly stated.

• 1816: Congress chartered The Second Bank of the United States

• 1818: The state of Maryland passed legislation to impose taxes on the bank

• McCullough, the cashier at the bank, refused to pay the tax, and Maryland sued in court.

• The state courts held that the bank was unconstitutional because the Constitution did not state that the federal government could charter a bank

• The Court unanimously decided that Maryland could not taxd the Bank, as Congress had the power to charter the bank, and states could not tax a necessary entity of the Federal Government.

Schenck v. United States (1919)

The First Amendment does not protect speech that approaches creating a clear danger that Congress has power to prevent.

• During WWI, Charles Schenck distributed leaflets declearing the draft unconstitution and urged the public to disobey the draft.

• Schenck was charged with conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act of 1917, which made it a crime to convey information with the intent to interfere with the operation of the armed forces.

• The Court held that the Espionage Act did not violate the First Amendment.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• African American students had been denied admittance to certain public schools based on laws allowing public education to be segregated by race.

• They argued that such segreation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

• The Court ruled that separate but equal educational facilities for racial minorities is inherently unequal and violated the Equal Protection Clause.

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

The constitutional prohibition of laws establishing religion meant that government had no business drafting formal prayers.

• Demonstrated how the Court ruled in favor of individual liberties and established groundwork for many subsequent cases regarding schools and religious activities.

• The New York State Board of Regents authorized a short, voluntary prayer for recitation at the start of each school day. A group of organizations claimed that it violated the Establishment Clause.

• The Court ruled thatthe state cannot hold prayers in public schools, even if participation is not required and the prayer is not tied to a particular religion.

• The policy breached the constitutional wall of seperation between church and state.

Equal Protection Clause

(Fourteenth Amendment) The governing body state must treat an individual in the same manner as others in similar conditions and cirumstances.

Establishment Clause

(First Amendment) “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Established the right of federal courts to review redistricting issues which had been previously outside the courts jurisdiction.

• District lines were bad and caused some votes to have more weight than others.

• Charles W. Baker and other Tennessee citizens alleged that a 1901 law designed to apportion the seats for the state’s General Assembly was virtually ignored.

• Held that federal courts could hear cases alleging the a state’s drawing of electoral boundaries violates the Equal Protection Clause.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

The Sixth Amendment gaurantees the accused the right to the assistance of counsel in all criminal prosecutions and requires courts to provide counsel for defendants unable to hire counsel.

• Clarence Earl Gideon was charged in Florida with felony breaking and entering, but not appointed a lawyer to represent him due to Florida state law.

• Gideon represented himself, was found guilty, and sentence to prison time. He filed for Habeas Corpus, aruging the trial court’s decision violated his constitutional right to be represented by counsel.

• The court held that it was consistent with the constitution to require state courts to appoint attorneys for defendants who could not afford to retain counsel on their own.

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

Even students were entitiled to First Amendment rights at school.

• Students wore armbands to school, in support of a truce in the Vietnam War. The school sent many students home.

• The students sued the school district for violating the students’ right of expression.

• The Court ruled that the school’s prohibition against the wearing of armbands violated the students’ freedom of speech.

New York Times v. United States (1971)

• The Nixon ADministration attempted to prevent the NYT and Washington Post from publishing classified materials regarding the United States actions in Vietnam.

• The President argued that the prior restraint was necessary to protect national security.

• The Court found that the Nixon Administration’s effort to prevent the publication of what it termed “classified information” violated the First Amendment.

• Since publiction would not cause an inevitable, direct, and immediate event imperiling the safety of American forces, prior restraint was unjustified.

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

Established the precedent that an individual religious interests supersede a state’s interests in compulsory education.

• Jonas Yoder and Wallace Miller refused to send their children to school after 8th grade because they were Amish.

• the were prosecuted under a Wisconsin law that required all children to attend public schools until age 16.

• The Court ruled that the values and programs of secondary school contradicted the Amish religion.

Shaw v. Reno (1995)

• The US Attorney General rejected a North Carolina congressional reapportionment plan because the plan created only one black majority district. A second plan created two black majority district.

• Five North Carolina alleged that the only purpose of this was to secure the election of additional black representatives.

• The Court ruled that using racial reasons for redistricting is unconstitutional. US Congressional Disctricts cannot be “drawn” based solely or primarily on race.

United States v. Lopez (1995)

• A high school student was charged with firearm possession after carrying a concealed weapon into his school.

• The state charges were dismissed after federal agents charged Lopez with violating a federal criminal stature, the Gun-Free School Zone act of 1990.

• This act was deemed unconstitutional because it exceeded the power of Congress.

• Preserved the system of federalism.

McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

• Suits were filed against Chicago and Oak Park challenging their gun bans after the Supreme court held that the DC handgun ban violated the Second Amendment.

• The Fourteenth Amendment makes the Seconf Amendment right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self defense.

• The Supreme Court ruled in favor of McDonald.

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

Allowed unlimited election spending by corporations and labor unions

• The BCRA made it illegal for corporations to engage in electioneering communication near an election cycle.

• Citizens United made “Hillary: The Movie” and argued that the BCRA’s prohibition against electionaeerying was a violation of the First Amendment.

• The Court ruled that the First Amendment prohibits limits on corporate funding of independent broadcasts in candidiate elections.

Commerce Clause

Gives Congress broad power to regulate interstate commerce and restricts states from impairing interstate commerce.

Implied Powers

Powers that are not named explicitly, but are implied

Enumerated/Expressed Powers

The powers granted to the Federal government specifically said in the Constitution

Federalism

The division and sharing of power between the national and state governments.

Concurrent Powers

Both national and state governments have thse (ex. taxes)

Reserved Powers

Powers not given to the federal government, but rather given to the states

Fiscal Policies

Deal with the government’s taxing and spending

Block Grants

Money given for a broad purpose that states have broad latittude on how it’s spent

Categorical Grants

Money given for a specific purpose that comes with more restrictions on how the moey is spent

Free Exercise Clause

Protects citizens’ right to practice their religion as they please

Lobbying

An attempt by individuals or interest groups to influence the votes of legislators.