AP Gov UNIT 1 Stuff

Notes self-taken from Heimler's History AP Government UNIT 1 REVIEW [Everything You NEED to Know!]

NATURAL RIGHTS

Rights people possess by natural law apart from the government

POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY

By nature, the power to govern is in the hands of the people

SOCIAL CONTRACT

In order to protect their natural rights, people willingly give some of that power away to the government

REPUBLICANISM

People elect leaders to represent them and create laws in the public interest

LIMITED GOVERNMENT

A government that is prevented from tyranny through a system of checks and balances and the distribution of power among several acting members

TYPES OF DEMOCRACY

Participatory Democracy

• Emphasizes broad participation in the political process by most, if not all, members of a society

Pluralist Democracy

• Groups of people associate with interest groups who then compete to influence policy

Elite Democracy

• Emphasizes more limited participation in policymaking on the assumption that government is complicated and therefore the most educated people need to run it

Elite Democracy

• Elected representatives legislate on behalf of their people

Pluralist Democracy

• First Amendment’s freedom of assembly

• Allows political parties and interest groups to flourish

Participatory Democracy

• First Amendment’s freedoms of speech and press

• Allows people to express their political opinions

• Amendments that expanded voting rights like the 15th and 19th amendments, prohibiting race and sex as barriers to voting

FEDERALIST 10 VS. BRUTUS 1

Brutus 1

• Championed a broad, participatory model

• Feared the curtailment of personal liberties reflected in a larger republic like the United States

Federalist 10

• Argued that with so many competing factors in a large republic, liberty would be upheld by their competition

• Pluralist democracy

FEDERALIST 10

• Madison concerned about mischief of factions in a republic

• Factions: groups of people who believe their interests are more important than any other interest

• Madison presented two solutions to the issue of factions

1. Take away the causes of factions

2. Try to manage their effects

• Argued double protection against the tyranny of factions

1. Separation of powers in the federal government

2. Sharing of power between the federal and state governments

BRUTUS 1

• Argued about the dangers of a large, centralized government

• Argued a large, centralized government could not adequately represent the views of the people because it would be largely separated from them

PROBLEMS WITH THE ARTICLES

• Only one branch of the federal government (Congress)

• No president and no federal court

• Congress had no power to raise revenue through taxes

• Congress had no power to raise an army

GREAT COMPROMISE

A compromise on how the people would be represented in the new Congress

Virginia Plan

• Congressional representatives should be apportioned by population

• Big states would have more representatives and thus have more power

New Jersey Plan

• Each state should be represented equally with one vote per state

• Small states have a disproportionate amount of power

BICAMERAL

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

People represented by population

SENATE

Two votes per state

ELECTORAL COLLEGE

• Each state is given the number of electors that corresponds to the number of congressional representatives that have in the House

• State legislatures have all the power to decide who those people are

THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE

Three-fifths of the enslaved population would count towards representation

ARTICLE V

• Two stage process to amend the Constitution:

  • Proposal and ratification

• An amendment can be proposed either by Congress or by the states at a special convention

• Two-thirds vote is needed to become official

• Amendment is sent to the states for ratification

• Three-quarters of state legislatures or state ratifying convention need to agree

  • If they do, the amendment becomes law

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

PROPOSING AND MAKING LAWS

STAKEHOLDERS

There are plenty of access points for people to speak into those laws and just so you know those people are called ____________. People can write letters or emails to the representatives or if they’re wanting to punish themselves they can watch c-span which airs congressional proceedings

ADVICE AND CONSENT

Any appointments that the president makes to the presidential cabinet or the supreme court or any other federal office has to be approved by the Senate.

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

EXECUTING AND ENFORCING LAWS

VETO

A good example of the Executive Branch’s checking power. If Congress passes a law the president doesn’t like, the president can ____ it and it becomes null and void, unless of course congress overrides that ____ with a two-thirds vote, so you know much checking.

JUDICIAL BRANCH

DETERMINING THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF LAWS

JUDICIAL REVIEW

This power is an example of the checking power of the Judicial Branch. Now, this power isn’t technically in the Constitution but it was developed out of the nature of the court. It basically means that it’s the Court’s prerogative to judge the laws passed by Congress and signed by the president on the merits of their constitutionality, and if the court finds a law to be unconditional you burn.

FEDERALISM

The sharing of power between national and state governments

EXCLUSIVE FEDERALISM

• Specifically delegated by the Constitution to the federal government

Example:

• Only Congress can make treaties with other sovereign nations

RESERVED FEDERALISM

• Kept by states

• Explained in the 10th Amendment

Examples:

• Police powers, hospitals, education, etc.

CONCURRENT FEDERALISM

• Shared by both federal and state

Example:

• Income Tax

FISCAL FEDERALISM

The way the federalism has been most prominently manifested. When you’re talking about fiscal matters you’re talking about the boom boom $$. So power is power has largely been shared through money and that means congress is able to establish national standards and then direct funds to states that comply with those standards and then withhold funding from state that do not.

FISCAL FEDERALISM

Grants

1. Categorical grants

   • Given to states as long as the states comply with specific federal standards

2. Block Grants

   • Given to states for a relatively broad purpose and the states can spend that money as they see fit

MANDATES

Another way fiscal federalism plays out. Require states to follow federal directives but often compliance with these directives is beyond a state’s budget capacity, so the federal government sets the rules and then provides money to help those states comply.

UNFUNDED MANDATE

That’s exactly what it sounds like; The federal government issues the mandates and then provides no funding whatsoever to help the states achieve it. (however these were largely struck down during the Devolution Revolution of the 1980’s under president Reagan).

THE BALANCE OF POWER

• Tenth Amendment

  • Lays down the basis for reserved powers (powers kept by the states)

• Fourteenth Amendment

  • Applies the Bill of Rights, or the first ten amendments, to the states

  • Empowers the federal government to make sure citizens’ liberties are also upheld by the states

• Commerce Clause

  • Allows Congress to regulate commerce among the states

• Necessary and Proper Clause

  • AKA the Elastic Clause

MCCULLOCH V MARYLAND

• Supreme Court ruled that the necessary and proper clause implied certain powers given to the federal government even if they were not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution

• Supreme Court argued that the supremacy clause in the Constitution meant that where the two conflicted, federal law trumps state law

UNITED STATES V LOPEZ

• Congress had used the commerce clause to ban guns on school property, the Court decided that carrying guns to school is in no way related to interstate commerce

• Supreme Court ruled that Congress had overstepped its bounds into state authority, thus providing a win for state power