AP Gov Unit 1

Unitary Power Structure

Power is centralized in a single national government that maintains ultimate authority over all aspects of governance

Confederal Power Structure

A confederate system is a system of government where nations group or join, making it their central government while retaining most of their sovereignty.

Round one of American Government

Absolute Monarchy —> Confederal

Unicameral

Congress. One vote per state. One house (Senate) No president, no federal judicary, No scotus. It’s a egislature with a single chamber, where each member has one vote.

Shay’s Rebellion

States try to rebuild post revolutionary war. This means taxation. Daniel Shay mad abt taxes. Federal government didn’t deal with it well (Mostly massachusets) highlights issues with this government (lack of centralized military, couldn’t collect taxes). A series of protests in 1786-1787 by American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections and judgments for debt, led by Daniel Shays. It exposed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and prompted calls for a stronger federal government.

Problems with the confederation

• Lack of central power:

  The national government was too weak, with limited ability to enforce laws or collect taxes, leaving most power with individual states. 

• No power to tax:

  Congress couldn't directly tax citizens, making it difficult to fund national operations and pay off debts from the Revolutionary War. 

• No executive branch:

  The Articles lacked an executive leader like a president to implement laws and provide national leadership. 

• No judicial branch:

  There was no national court system to interpret laws and settle disputes between states. 

• Unbalanced representation:

  Each state had only one vote in Congress regardless of population, giving smaller states disproportionate power. 

• Inability to regulate interstate commerce:

  Congress couldn't control trade between states, leading to economic conflicts. 

• Difficulty amending the Articles:

  Changing the Articles required unanimous agreement from all states, making it nearly impossible to adapt to evolving needs. 

• Foreign policy challenges:

  The weak central government struggled to negotiate effectively with foreign nations. 

• Economic instability:

  Without the power to regulate currency or trade, the economy experienced inflation and instability. 

The confederation was

the first form of government. It was established by the Articles of Confederation, which created a loose alliance of states with a weak national government, leading to various issues such as lack of taxation and unbalanced representation.

Shay’s rebellion led to

The constitutional convention. Delegates decide to start over in the summer of 1787.

James Madison was

the father of Round 2 of American government because he showed up early and had a plan.

Madisonian Model

SOP
Checks and Balances

Human nature = selfish (Curtesy of Hobbes)

Masses have indirect control (AKA representation)

Proposals at the con con: NJ

Unicameral legislature, representation equal for every state.

Proposals at the con con: VA plan

Bicameral legislature, representation based on population

Senate

2 votes

House

Votes based on population

Great compromise or Conneticut Comprimise

Bicameral legislature (senate + house)

3/5th compromise

North states didn’t want to count slaves as people because it would inflate the south’s population. The 3/5th compromise was an agreement reached during the Constitutional Convention that allowed states to count three-fifths of their slave population for representation and taxation purposes.

Electoral college (part of the comprimise)

A body of electors established by the Constitution, which formally elects the President and Vice President of the United States. Two sides of electors: one from each state, proportional to its population and two for each state as Senate representation.

Slave importation (part of the comprimise)

Abolish v. not abolish. Stop importing slaves as of 1808.

The constitution made the central government

bigger, states smaller.

James madison was a

Federalist

Constitution gives power to

states and central government. Makes our democracy unique.

In the summer of 1787, post con con

states have to decide to ratify it. Copies of the constitution are made and distributed. That leads to two groups.

Federalist

Support the adoption of the constitution. Write 85 federalist papers geared twoard new york.

Antifederalist

Anti-Federalists argued that the proposed U.S. Constitution gave too much power to the federal government, potentially threatening individual liberties and state sovereignty, and that it lacked a Bill of Rights to explicitly protect citizen rights; they favored a weaker central government and stronger state power. 

John Locke’s contribution to the social contract theory

In state of nature: no government (government is a human construct) complete freedom we ar eborn with natural rights)

Natural rights

life liberty property

Social contract:

people form government to protect their natural rights. The government formed to protect life, liberty, property.

What is part of the social contracat theory

Dissolution: if the government doesn’t protect natural rgiths people must ctrl alt delete it.

Unitary System

A system in which sovereignty is wholly in the hands of the national government so that subnational political units are dependent on its will.

Limited government

The idea that certain restrictions should be placed on government to protect the natural rights of citizens

Nullification

A theory first advanced by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson that the states had the right to nullify a federal law that, in the states’ opinon, violated the constitution.

Enlightenmement philospher who argued that people are born with natural rights that include life liberty and property and if rulers betray the social contract the peopel have a right to replace them

John Locke

The current effort to scale back the size and activities of the national government and to shift responsibility for a wide range of domestic programs from Washington to the states

Devolution

Call for a bicameral legislation in which representation is based on each state’s population

Virgina Plan

Rights based on nature and providence rather than on preferences of people

Unalienable rights

Enlightenment philosopher who argued that people are born with natural rights that include life liberty and property

John Locke

Federal funds provided to states and localities

grants in aid

government in which all or most of its citizens participate directly in holding office or making policy

direct (participatory democracy

Leaders and reps acquire political power by means of a competitive struggle for the peoples vote

representative democracy

Political system in which people rule directly or indirectly

democracy

A law providing for the distribution of a fixed amount or share of federal tax reveneues to the states for spending on almost any governmetn purpose

revenue sharing

McCulloch v. Maryland

the case in which the Maryland legislature passed a law imposing a substantial tax on the operation of the Baltimore branch of the Second National Bank; the Supreme Court confirmed the right of Congress to utilize implied powers to carry out its expressed powers and validated the supremacy of the national government over the states

Mandates

rules imposed by the federal government on the states as conditions for obtaining federal grants or requirements that the states pay the costs of certain nationally defined programs

Initative

a procedure allowing voters to submit a proposed law to a popular vote by obtaining a required number of signatures

enumerated powers

a political system in which states or regional governments retain ultimate authority except for those powers that they expressly delegate to a central government

federal rules attatched to the grants that states receive

Conditions of aid

categorical grants

federal grants for specific purposes defined by federal law that usually require that the state or locality put up money to "match" some part of the federal grants, though the amount of matching funds can be quite small

block grants

grants of money from the federal government to states for programs in certain general areas rather than for specific kinds of programs