AP GOV Unit 1 Test Review

You should be able to explain how each term relates to: Stability of government, Promoting the common good, Protecting individual rights, Factions, Promote popular sovereignty, and The American experience from beginning of colonies to 1787

Republic

Republic

• Centered around representation whereas a democracy is centered around everyone having a voice

• Majorly influenced by Rome

Mixed Government

A political system that incorporates elements of democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy.

Monarchy, aristocracy & democracy

• Forms of gov:

  • Monarchy = king/queen

  • Aristocracy = privileged class

  • Democracy = people

• In a pure gov. they corrupt:

  • Monarchy → Tyranny

  • Aristocracy → Oligarchy

  • Polity/Democracy → Democracy

Constitution

• Founders learned from colonialism that a fundamental higher law should limit government.

• Many times the state constitutions can provide more protection than the federal one

Civic virtue

• Emphasized the importance of the “office” of citizens and the duties associated with it.

• Importance of Moral Education & the community’s job to teach it

• Classical/early perspective focused on setting limits on citizens' power rather than protecting their rights

• Ex. Cincinnatus was twice called on to serve as dictator & each time he voluntarily relinquished political power (Modeled for Washington)

Natural rights

• Locke believed that in a state of nature we still have rights we’re born with, including life, liberty, and property.

• The government’s job is to protect those rights

State of nature

• A philosophical concept describing a situation without any established government

• Hobbes believed in it, humans would give up their rights to a leader/leviathan out of fear of death

• Locke said we’d create social contracts to protect our natural rights

Consent of the governed

The principle that a government's legitimacy comes from the agreement of the people it governs.

Social contract theory

Locke says in a state of nature, people would give a government power in exchange for protection of rights

Classical republicanism

• “Common Good”

• Three features:

  • Small homogenous communities

  • Civil Virtue

  • Moral Education

Public vs Private Morality

• Judeo-Christian morality valued private morality, meaning the virtues of inner faith and obedience to God’s law

• Civic virtue/classical republicanism emphasized public morality, the virtues that are important for acting in the community

Nation-state

• A political entity characterized by a defined territory, a permanent population, and a government. Each is free to have their own rules/religion.

• The Peace of Westphalia

  • Ended the 30 years war by recognizing national sovereignty which in turn marked the start of nation states

  • People began to think of themselves as citizens of a particular nation or country, with public rights and duties

Common law

• William the Conqueror this as a way to standardize the laws in the kingdom (previously each place had different rules)

• Required judges to publish their decisions so that judges in the future would know how earlier cases had been decided (Earlier rulings are called Precedents or Stare Decisis)

Habeas Corpus

Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 made it so if the government cannot justify keeping an individual in custody, then the person must be set free.

Rule of law

• The principle that all individuals and institutions are accountable to the law.

• The British Constitution is focused on this + respect for established rules and procedures

Magna Carta

• King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta after trying to take back rights from his barons

• King promised not to increase taxes without respect for property rights / consulting representatives

• Principles important to US gov:

  • Rule of Law

  • Basic Rights

  • Government by agreement or contract

  • No taxation without representation

Right to revolution

• The belief that people have the right to overthrow a government that acts against their common interests.

• Part of the Locke’s ideas (Social Contract Theory & Natural Rights)

Suffrage

• The right to vote in political elections

• American colonists believed that the security of life and liberty depended on the security of property, and therefore they limited voting to those who possessed at least 50 acres of land

Constituent

A person who is represented by an elected official.

Charter

• A formal document that outlines the rights and privileges of a corporation or organization.

• The Crown chartered business ventures called joint-stock companies allowing people to settle America’s East Coast.

Sovereignty

• The ruling power

• Declaration of independence was used to reject the Crown’s on America

Writs of assistance

• Legal documents that allowed for the search of homes and businesses without specific warrants.

• As part of the end of salutary neglect on the colonies, Parliament imposed these

Long train of abuses

• A phrase used to describe a series of injustices that justify rebellion against a government.

• In the US declaration it included:

  • Destroying colonial legislatures/constitutions

  • Taxation without representation

  • Unfair trials

  • Keeping standing armies/quartering soldiers

Legislative supremacy

• A government in which the legislature has the most power. (This reflected the former colonists’ distrust of executive power)

• Ex. Giving legislatures the power to select the governor or to control the governor’s salary

• The Massachusetts Constitution differed by making a mixed gov with equal branches & checks and balances instead

Checks and balances, separation of powers

A system that ensures no one branch of government becomes too powerful by distributing authority among branches.

Aristotle

• Ancient Greek philosopher

• He believed in class balance and mixed government

• Said that although democracies may appear to begin well, they tend to end in tyranny when the poor attack the rich

Polybius

• Popularized the idea in Greece and Rome (which had a mixed gov) that a mixed constitution is a combination of monarchical, aristocratic, and democratic elements.

• This idea then got passed into the enlightenment

Cicero

• A Roman statesman and philosopher who contributed to the development of republicanism

• Viewed public life as the highest calling.

Montesquieu

• A French political philosopher known for his theory of separation of powers.

• Argued that the form of a society’s government corresponds to the social, economic, and geographic conditions of that society. Therefore the best government for any nation is one tailored to the unique circumstances of that nation.

John Locke

An English philosopher whose ideas on natural rights and government influenced modern democracy.

John Adams

An American Founding Father and advocate for independence and republicanism.

Thomas Jefferson

The principal author of the Declaration of Independence and third President of the United States.

George Mason

An American statesman known for his role in drafting the Virginia Declaration of Rights.

James Madison

The fourth President of the United States and a key architect of the Constitution.

Mixed Government

A system that combines elements of different forms of government.

Classical republicanism

A political philosophy emphasizing civic participation and the common good.

Social contract theory

The idea that individuals consent to form a government for mutual protection.

Reformation

A religious movement in the 16th century that led to the establishment of Protestant churches.

Enlightenment

An intellectual movement emphasizing reason, individualism, and skepticism of authority.

British government’s evolution

Magna Carta: 1215 - Established the principle of limited government.

Glorious Revolution: 1688 - Shifted power from monarchy to Parliament.

Act of Union: 1707 - Unified England and Scotland into Great Britain.

European religious violence

• Thirty Years' War

• Major Groups: Catholics, Protestants, Anabaptists

• Consequences: Population decline, social upheaval, territorial changes

• Caused the US principle of freedom of religion / colonies based on religious tolerance

Declaration of Independence

• It announced the final step in the colonists’ resistance to the British government by rejecting the sovereignty of the Crown

• A formal declaration was seen as necessary to justify their actions to other nations and gain support

British policy in the colonies

• Salutary neglect ended as Britain was paying back debts from the Seven Years’ War and trying to decrease taxes at home

• Proclamation Act, The Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Intolerable Act

• Lead to the declaration of independence

Capitalism

• Market-based economic system centered around private property

• Profit-driven with limited government intervention

Rights of Englishmen

• People in England had certain fundamental personal rights called “rights of Englishmen.”

• These rights were supposed to be extended to colonies

• They included:

  • The right to trial by a jury of one’s peers under the law of the land

  • Security in one’s home from unlawful entry

  • Limits on government’s power to tax