pols 206 exam 1

What is government?

Institutions and procedures through which land and people are ruled. Can be simple, like a tribal council.

Autocracy

Single ruler

Oligarchy

Small group of landowners, military officer, religious leader, wealthy merchant rules

Democracy

Permits citizens to play a significant part in the governmental process

Constitutional limit

formal and effective limits placed on the powers of government

Authoritarian limit

no formal limits are placed on the governments may be effectively limited by social institutions

Totalitarian limit

no formal or effective limits on governments power of any kind

What is politics ?

Politics can take many forms. There are conflicts and struggle over leadership, structure, and policies.

5 Principles of Politics

o All political behavior has a purpose

o Institution structure politics

o Collective action

o Outcomes are the product

o History matters

Rationality Principle

All political behavior has a purpose.

Institution Principle

stucture politics, they are the rules and procedures that provide incentives for political behavior

the four ways institutions provide authority

jurisdiction, agenda and veto power, decisiveness, and delegation

jurisdiction

the domain over which decisions may be made

agenda and veto power

gatekeeping power and the power to say "no"

decisiveness

rules for decision making

delegation

transmission of authority

Collective Action Principle

All politics is collective action. Gets more difficult with the more people that are involved.

Policy Principle

political outcomes are the products of individual preferences and institutional procedures

History Principle

Decisions and actions in the past affect political choices and outcomes today. how we got here matters.

Path Dependency

the idea that certain possibilities are made more or less likely because of the historical path taken

The Enlightenment

an intellectual movement in europe during the 18th century that led to a whole new worldview

Origins of American Political thought

-476 CE- fall of western Roman Empire

-500 CE-1500CE - middle/dark ages in western Europe

-1095-1291- European Crusades

-1543 scientific revolution

Scientific Revolution

The Enlightenment grew largely out of the new methods and discoveries achieved in the Scientific revolution

Francis bacon and the scientific method

-the scientific method

-observation and experimentation

-testable hypothesis

isaac newton and the scientific method

-used the scientific method to make a range of discoveries

-newtons achievements using the scientific method helped inspire enlightenment thinkers

Enlightenment principles

-Religion, tradition, and superstition were limited with independent thought

-Accept knowledge based on observation, logic, and reason, not faith

-Scientific and academic thought would be secular

-Morality could be achieved through reason rather than the teaching of the church

Voltaire (1694-1778)

-most famous philosophe

-wrote plays, essays, poetry, philosophy, books

-attacked the relics of the medieval social order

-championed social, political and religious tolerance

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

-contemplated the nature of society, government and the individuals relationship to both

-created the social contract

-what obligations do we owe to society and what does society owe to us

Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

-The spirit of Laws

-Inspired by the idea of three distinct branches of government with a separation of powers

-Didn't believe checks and balances would be sufficient to protect liberty

Adam Smith (1723-1790)

-An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

-Created capitalism

-Concept of "hidden hand"

John Locke (1632-1704

'State of nature'

-Tabula rasa (blank slate)

-Two Treatises on Government

-3 basic human rights- life, liberty, property

The variety of interests in colonial america

New England merchants

Southern planters

Royalists

Shopkeepers, artisans, laborers

Small farmers

british taxes and colonial intrests

-Taxing began in the 1750's in order to pay for imperial defenses. -Levies were on stamps and goods like sugar and molasses were types of taxes

Events that led up to the Declaration of Independence

Boston Tea party 1773

First Continental Congress 1774

Lexington and Concord 1775

Second Continental Congress 1776

Boston Tea Party

A 1773 protest against British taxes in which Boston colonists disguised as Mohawks dumped valuable tea into Boston Harbor.

First Continental Congress

The First Continental Congress convened on September 5, 1774, to protest the Intolerable Acts. The congress endorsed the Suffolk Resolves, voted for a boycott of British imports, and sent a petition to King George III, conceding to Parliament the power of regulation of commerce but stringently objecting to its arbitrary taxation and unfair judicial system.

Lexington and Concord, 1775

Site of the first shots of the American Revolution.

Second Continental Congress (1776)

It met in 1776 and drafted and signed the Declaration of Independence, which justified the Revolutionary War and declared that the colonies should be independent of Britain.

Declaration of Independence

-"All men are created equal"

-governments derive their legitamacy from the consent ofthe governed

-declares that when a government o longer serves the need of the people, the people have a right to revolt

-does not create a government

Articles of Confederation

-the first american constitution

-america is really 13 sovereign states with a weak central government:

No standing army

Weak executive

No independent judiciary

No ability to tax and spend

Problems of International standing

Shay's Rebellion brought the AOC to an end

What is an American?

-Patriotism

-Freedom

-Individualism

-Freedom of opportunity

Key issues to the constitutional convention

-revise or scrap the articles of confederation

-national power vs state power

-how much democracy?

-slavery

some answers to the constitutional convention

-the great compromise

-the virginia plan vs new jersey (Connecticut compromise)

-the 3/5ths compromise

Constitutional Convention

A meeting in Philadelphia in 1787 that produced a new constitution. the few issues were whether to revise or scrap the Articles of Confederation, National vs State power, how much democracy, and slavery

The Great Compromise

1787; This compromise was between the large and small states of the colonies. The Great Compromise resolved that there would be representation by population in the House of Representatives, and equal representation would exist in the Senate. Each state, regardless of size, would have 2 senators. All tax bills and revenues would originate in the House. This compromise combined the needs of both large and small states and formed a fair and sensible resolution to their problems.

Connecticut Compromise

Compromise agreement by states at the Constitutional Convention for a bicameral legislature with a lower house in which representation would be based on population and an upper house in which each state would have two senators.

3/5 Compromise

-each slave would count for 3/5 of a person for taxation and representation purposes

Constitution

-the conventon produced a constitution with seven articles

-first 3 articles outline the structure and power of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches

-other articles relate to national power, the amendment process, and the ratification process