civics - unit 1

national/central government

they can declare war and make peace with those countries, make treaties with other countries, borrow money from other countries, post-office, raise an army and a navy, set up a national currency for all of the states, and set up weights and measures

did not have power to tax the states at all, they cannot enforce the laws because there was no executive branch or president, could not regulate trade between states, have to ask for troops just like the government has to ask for money, and 9/13 states needed to approve so that the law could pass

what were some of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?

3/5 Compromise

3/5 of all the slave states were counted as votes and the northern states wanted them to pay taxes

connecticut (great) compromise

compromise between New Jersey and Virginia Plan which creates House of Representatives and the Senate

house of representatives

population = ___

senate

___ = 2 per state

presidency compromise

using the electoral college to vote on who the government should be

commerce and slave trade compromise

won’t talk about slave trade for 20 years - after that time = over; southern states do not want to tax exports while northern states do

compromise

___ = government will only tax imports

shays’ rebellion and outcome

they were sent to fight and when they came back, they were overtaxed and were not paid for fighting the war. this person burned down townhouses and this proved that the Articles of Confederation was too weak

monarchy

king/queen ruler

oligarchy

group of people ruling (does not matter size of group)

democracy

power of government comes from the people and government does what people want it to do

autocracy

1 person in full control (also could be a monarchy and/or dictatorship)

every democracy had to have these in order to be a successful democracy, freedoms, multiple political parties, majority rule, minority rights (make the decisions), compromise, transparency, and free and fair elections

what are the tenets of democracy?

population, sovereignty, government, and land

what are the 4 requirements to become a state?

force theory

when somebody comes in and takes control of a population and their territory

evolution

happens overtime/develops naturally, sometimes started from family

divine rights of kings

God has chosen leader, land, population (sacred state)

social contract

people give up rights/freedoms to the government to protect them

functions of government

what is located in the preamble of the constitution?

virginia plan

the bigger states liked this plan because everything in this plan was based on population and you had more power with that plan (2 chambers)

new jersey plan

smaller states liked this plan because everything in this plan was based on equality (1 chamber)

federalists

want the constitution! did not feel a need for the bill of rights

anti-federalists

DO NOT want the constitution, government is too strong and it takes away rights of the people, and they wanted to add in a Bill of Rights

presidential system

chief executive is directly voted on by the people

parliamentary system

chief executive is directly voted on by the legislative branch and they get to have a say on who is the prime minister

federal system

separation of powers between the national government and localized (state) governments. they work together to balance things out

confederal system

the state governments have more power and they give certain powers to the national government

unitary system

each have their own government, but parliament is mainly in control