American Government Exam 1

3 Major Theories of American Government

• Pluralist Theory

• Elite Theory

• Anti-pluralist Theory

Pluralist Theory

(modification of traditional democratic theory)- in the US, power is and should be divided

Elite Theory

(radical) power is in the hands of a corrupt elite and should be dispersed

Anti-pluralist Theory

(radical) In the US power is divided in society, but it should be concentrated (*the perspective the professor argues)

What triggered the American revolution?

• Taxation

Taxation

• Slogan: no taxation without representation

  • tax scheme was designed to make profit

  • as and act of protest, Americans started drinking coffee to avoid the tea tax

Battle of Lexington and Concord

was the first battle of American Independence

Battle of Saratoga

• The British wanted to divide NE from the rest of the colonies

  • Most important battle of the American Revolution

  • The British got to Saratoga and were surrounded by revolutionaries

  • Eventually, they surrendered and the revolutionaries got their weapons and took over the vast area

How did the Articles of Confederation work?

all 13 colonies needed to agree

Declaration of Independence came way after

15 months later

Shay’s Rebellion

• Cause: War was won and now America was in Recession

• this rebellion highlighted the need to create a stronger central government

Pluralism

The division of power among many groups and individuals in society (simply: power dispersal)

Constitution

federalists trying to get it passed

Federalist Paper 10 Argument

Madison argued central problem of government factions and what his solution was

Factions

when a group of people (minority/majority) come together to argue a controversial side of a topic

2 cures Madison rejected

1.     Make factious behavior illegal (eliminate liberty)

2.     Give everyone the same opinion

Controversy of passage of the U.S. Constitution

·      It wasn’t legal

·      Needed all 13 states, but they said only 9

Constitutionalism

limitation of government

Political Pluralism

dispersal of power (part of restraining government)

Federalism

The division of power between levels of government, specifically between the national government and state (form of pluralism)

Dual Model

(like a layer cake) the two levels of government stay separate; this model was hardly used, because both levels of government are not separate, rather mix together often

Cooperative Model

(like a marble cake) the two levels of government work together/intermingle

Picket-fence Model (more specific version of cooperative)

o   Most accurate description of federalism (“modified” cooperative model)

o   They do communicate with each other but don’t necessarily have the same goals (policy by policy)

Civil Liberties

constitutional and legal protections against government actions

Civil Rights

refers to equality claims (ex. race, gender, etc.); policies designed to protect people against discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals

Capitalism

• an economic system in which the bulk of the resource is owned and controlled privately, and the distribution of income and wealth tends to be highly unequal

  • The US had a very capitalistic economy

  • The opposite of capitalism is socialism

Socialism

an economic system in which the bulk of the resource is owned and/or controlled publicly and the distribution of income and wealth is relatively equal

Public opinion

• the distribution of the population’s beliefs about politics and policy issues

  • Measurement is through a random sample

Random Sample

• a small subset of a population that is selected and has an equal likelihood of being selected (ex. various social classes, gender…)

  • This can help us identify what a population may think (estimate)

Media

• Narrow stream perspectives

• Our news intends to be impartial

• Most sources have a centrist bias

• FOX (ex. conservative bias), CNN, and PBS (ex. liberal bias)

Diversion

• Argument: American politicians focused on cultural disputes

  • ex) transgenderism

• Diversion- distraction

Gridlock

• there is a difficulty passing laws that satisfy the needs of the people

  • Anti-pluralist theory argues this is a problem