Gov HNs

first quiz of the year

causes of the revolution war

• Heavy taxes

• Increased centralized government

• French-Indian war made colonists realize how different they were from Great Britain

• weren’t being represented in the Great Britain government

John Locke

• person behind most of the philosophy of the revolution war

• what does a just government look like?

• limited government

• natural rights

• popular sovereignty

• social contract

• state of nature

  labor theory of property

limited government

• the government is limited in what it can do

• In order to not violate rights, they have limited power

Natural rights

• Initial list: life, liberty, property

  • changed after the passing of the declaration of independence

• God given rights that the government can’t take away

• Revolutionary for the time, because people believed that natural rights were given by the government

Popular sovereignty

• the people are the source of government power

social contract theory

• An implicit agreement among the people in a society to give up some freedoms in order to maintain social order

  • Purpose of the government is to make & enforce rules that protect the peoples rights

  • Government cannot improperly violate the peoples rights in the name of social order

  • If the government does violate rights, the people have the right to dissolve the government

state of nature

• Ideal of what what humans look/interact like in a state of nature (before the government)

• Everyone is equally free, all born equal, all born free, all born with certain natural rights

Labor theory of property

• If you mix labor with something, that becomes yours (assuming that you own the components)

liberalism

• based on constitutionally guaranteed rights of individuals being the primary concern

• personal/individually > public/community

republicanism

• theory that emphasizes participation of citizens for the common good of the community

  • stresses public rights and obligations of the people in support of their community

• is more rooted in the political + civic ideas of classical antiquity

  • European enlightenment put forward republican ideas

• needs of the community considered superior to the claims of the individual

Strengths of the Articles of Confederation

• treaty of Paris (1783)

• Northwest ordinance/land ordinance

• kept the states together

• federal aid to education (NW Ordinance)

Weakness of the Articles of Confederation

• no separate executive

• one vote per state

• no federal courts

• 9 states required to pass legislation (2/3)

• 13 states required to amend

• no power to tax

• couldn’t draft troops

• no standard national currency (States had their own as well)

• inability to repay french loans

• British retention of forts in the northwest

• no regulation of interstate commerce

• Spain’s denial of right of deposit at New Orleans

• boundary disputes between states

• little trade with Britain

• members often failed to attend congress

• inability to protect settlers from Indian attacks

• Barbary pirates raided shipping

• States taxed each other’s goods

structure of the Articles of Confederation

• 9 states required to pass legislation (⅔)

• 13 states required to amend

• One vote per state

• No federal courts

• No separate executive

• No power to tax 

• No standard national currency (sts had own as well)

Shay’s rebellion

• under the AOC —> the country was in debt and the national government had no way to raise money to repay this debt

  • the responsibility fell to the states who passed new taxes to try and raise money to meet these obligations

• A group of farmers and American Revolution war veterans in Massachusetts became increasingly angry at their state government

  • faced higher taxes they couldn’t pay, loss of property, and even the possibility of debtor’s prison

  • this group under shay’s leadership called for an end to the heavy burdens as well as demanding debt relief

  • 1787 —> the rebellion march into an armory and the government’s militia put down the rebellion

• caused the founding fathers to realize that a stronger government was needed

  • led to the adoption of the Constitution

Great (Connecticut) Compromise

• proportional representation in the House of Representatives and equal representation in the senate  

• Was a compromise between: small states and large states 

• Compromised by: (bicameral legislature 2 houses) 

  • Senate → equal number of senators (2 per state) 

    • Chosen by state legislatures

    • Changed by the 17th amendment → 1913 

      • Elected by popular vote

  • House of Representatives → based on population

    •  Popular vote

⅗ Compromise

• ⅗ slaves were counted to determine a state’s total population for legislative representation 

• Also applied to taxation 

• States were taxed on the number of population 

• Was a compromise between: the non-slave and slave states

Slave Trade Compromise

• it prohibited regulation changes to the slave trade for 20 years and it protected the interests of slave owners 

  • Congress can’t touch the international slave trade for 20 years 

  • But after 20 years, the international slave trade is abolished   

• Was a compromise between: north and southern states

Electoral College

• Was a compromise between: the election of the president by a vote in congress and the election of the president by a popular vote of the qualified citizens 

• Depending on how many electoral votes are in each state that determines the next president of the U.S. 

• Compromised by: the founding fathers