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Video Notes: Government, Revolutions, and the Constitution — Vocabulary Flashcards

Collective Action Dilemmas and Governmental Solutions

  • Context and motivation
    • American impressions: total national debt > GDP; around 40 million Americans live below the poverty line; approval ratings declined.
    • Why do we need government?
    • Founders: “we the people…” as the source of political legitimacy.
    • Political scientists: government alleviates uncertainty about the state of nature, helps establish the rules of the game, and mitigates collective action dilemmas.
  • Collective action dilemmas: what they are
    • A set of problems when organizing groups of self-interested, rational individuals with limited resources to achieve jointly desired ends.
    • Core features: coordination of effort, incentivizing cooperation, and sharing benefits/costs.
  • Examples of collective action problems
    • Coordination dilemmas: coordinating on a common course of action (e.g., driving on the correct side of the road).
    • Prisoner’s dilemma: defect or cooperate; individual rationality leads to collective suboptimality.
    • Free riding: benefiting from others’ compliance while avoiding one’s own costs.
    • Distribution of public goods: non-excludable goods shared by all (e.g., clean air); benefit spills over regardless of contribution.
  • How to solve collective action dilemmas
    • Establish rules and/or laws to set expectations and limits:
    • Constitutions: a set of rules prescribing the political process within a state; boundaries for the government (autonomy) and decision rules.
    • Monitor behavior: police, military, cameras, and other surveillance tools.
    • Impose sanctions: raise transaction costs and conformity costs (the cost of compromising).
    • Key relationship: there is an inverse relationship between the cost of compliance and the ease of enforcing conformity.
    • Government must be unique: legitimacy and power.
    • Legitimacy: widespread acceptance that something is necessary, rightful, and binding.
    • Power (Weber): the ability that a person will realize their will, even in the face of resistance.
  • Forms of government and autonomy
    • Governmental autonomy: the ability to make rules, monitor behavior, and impose sanctions.
    • Variations in autonomy by form of government:
    • Monarchy/tyranny: sovereignty embodied in one individual.
    • Aristocracy/oligarchy: power concentrated in a few.
    • Polity/democracy: power concentrated in many.
  • Decision rules: thresholds for victory/defeat
    • Plurality: wins by having the most votes (no requirement to reach a majority).
    • Majority: threshold is ext{Maj threshold} = ig\lfloor \frac{N}{2} \big\rfloor + 1; i.e., 50\%+1 of votes.
    • Supermajority: threshold greater than a simple majority but less than unanimity; represented as ext{Supermajority threshold} = \big\lfloor \alpha N \big\rfloor + 1, \quad 0.5 < \alpha < 1; example: two-thirds with \alpha = \frac{2}{3}.
    • Unanimity: requires all votes, i.e., the threshold is N (100%).
  • Rights and liberties
    • Natural rights (Locke)
    • People in the state of nature possess natural rights: life, liberty, and property.
    • Origin: John Locke, Two Treatises of Civil Government.
    • Civil rights: protections granted to citizens by government (e.g., race, gender).
    • Civil liberties: protections granted to citizens from government intrusion.
    • The Preamble to the Declaration of Independence and the idea that legitimacy comes from a social compact.
  • Alternatives to government (historical and ideological options)
    • Anarchy: diverse movement spectrum
    • Anarcho-syndicalism: left-leaning anarchism.
    • Anarcho-capitalism: right-leaning anarchism.
    • Communism: summarized by the line, “The theory of the communists may be summed up in the single sentence: abolition of private property,” with common ownership of land, means of production, and instruments of labor.
    • Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie → dictatorship of the proletariat; principle, “from each according to [their] ability, to each according to [their] needs.”
  • Outline for today (context for the day’s study)
    • 1. The American Revolution
    • 2. The Founding
    • 3. The structure of American Government, past and present

The American Revolution and Path to Independence

  • Factors leading to revolution
    • Seven Years’ War (1756–1763): global conflict; costly; shifted European power relations; contributed to fiscal pressures in Britain and colonial grievances.
    • “No taxation without representation” (1765–1774): a rallying cry against British fiscal policy.
    • Key acts and events: Stamp Act; Townshend Acts; Boston Massacre; Tea Act; Intolerable (Coercive) Acts.
    • Colonial grievance: colonies lacked political and economic power relative to Britain.
  • Diversity in the colonies
    • Varied languages, religions, and origins; British imperial perspective treated colonies as revenue sources rather than diverse communities.
    • Regional economic differences: New England (wealthy), Mid-Atlantic (working class), South (slavery-based economy).
  • The breaking point
    • The First Continental Congress (1774): boycott of British goods; planned reconvening if grievances unmet.
    • The Second Continental Congress (1776): attempted reconciliation; king George denies.
    • The Declaration of Independence (1776).
    • The Articles of Confederation (1777).
  • The American Revolution (1765–1791)
    • War begins: April 19, 1775; ends September 3, 1783.
    • First battle: Lexington and Concord; led to provincial Congresses.
    • Olive Branch Petition (July 5, 1775): king George denies and articulates new demands.
    • Turning point: Saratoga Campaign (1777): American victory; French enter war in support of the US; Spain allies with France (1779).
    • End of the war: Treaty of Paris (1783) and related diplomatic outcomes.

The Articles of Confederation (1777–1789) and the Framer’s First Constitutional Experiment

  • Core features of the Articles
    • Established a limited national government; states retain sovereignty.
    • No executive, no national judiciary, and a unicameral legislature.
    • Congress could regulate foreign affairs and war, but limited domestic authority.
    • States retained most powers: commerce and taxation; currency issues arose due to the lack of a common national policy.
    • Amendments required unanimity; ratification completed in 1781.
  • Structural weaknesses and consequences
    • Weak centralized government; no standing military; trade conflicts between states; currency inhomogeneity.
    • Ratification process exposed serious limitations; Shays’ Rebellion (1786–1787) highlighted the fragility of the new nation’s governance and the need for reform.
  • The move toward a new framework: the Constitutional Convention (1787)
    • Motivation: revise the Articles vs. establishing a new framework.
    • Debated propositions:
    • Virginia Plan (Madison): strong central government with two chambers; national veto power; a national executive and judiciary.
    • New Jersey Plan (Paterson): preserved a unicameral legislature with equal state representation; limited national powers; weaker judiciary.
    • The British Plan (Hamilton): lifetime presidency with strong centralized control; concerns about independence of the other branches.
  • The Great Compromise (connects to the Fed. era)
    • Resolved disputes over representation; created a bicameral Congress with:
    • Senate: representation by states (originally chosen by state legislatures).
    • House: representation by population (always elected).
    • Addressed debates over the scope and limits of the national government.

The Constitution and the Founding Framework

  • The branches of government
    • Executive Branch: President elected by the Electoral College.
    • Legislative Branch: Senate (state-based representation) and House of Representatives (population-based representation).
    • Judicial Branch: National judiciary with the power of judicial review.
  • Ideas guiding the framers
    • Separation of powers: distinct responsibilities across branches.
    • Checks and balances: each branch can constrain the others.
    • Federalism: division of powers between national and state governments.
  • Ratification timeline and key milestones
    • 6/21/1788: New Hampshire’s ratification made the Constitution the law of the land, replacing the Articles of Confederation.
  • Slavery and representation
    • Three-Fifths Compromise (Southern states): slaves counted as 3/5 of a person for purposes of apportionment in the House and the Electoral College.
    • Rationale: To balance political power between free and slave states in the House and electoral calculations.
    • Fugitive Slave Clause: Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 requires runaway slaves to be returned to their enslavers; northern states’ obligations to enforce surrender.
    • The legacy of slavery: ongoing legacy and legal status in the early republic.
  • Ratification dynamics and the ongoing debate
    • Ratification was challenging and prolonged; Federalists vs Anti-Federalists
    • The Federalists: property owners, creditors, merchants, and nationalists; favored strong central government; feared tyranny of the majority; argued for a robust national framework with checks and balances; believed a Bill of Rights was unnecessary in the first instance but supported later additions for legitimacy.
    • The Anti-Federalists: small farmers, debtors, and shopkeepers; favored state power and a weak central government; feared tyranny of the minority; advocated for a Bill of Rights to protect individual liberties.

The Founding Era: Constitutional Structure and Civic Debates

  • The idea of government legitimacy and the role of consent
    • “We the People” as the source of political legitimacy; consent of the governed as a foundational principle.
    • Debates over the balance of power between national and state authorities and between different branches.
  • The enduring debate on representation and rights
    • How to reconcile unequal populations (slavery) with equal state representation; how to protect civil liberties while enabling government action.
  • The ongoing relevance of the Bill of Rights
    • Federalist/Anti-Federalist tensions culminated in the addition of the first ten amendments to protect individual rights against potential governmental overreach.

Connections to Foundational Principles and Real-World Relevance

  • Foundational principles
    • Legitimacy, power, autonomy, and decision rules underpin modern democratic governance.
    • The tension between majority rule and minority rights remains central to constitutional design.
  • Real-world relevance
    • The structure of government shapes policy outcomes, crisis responses, and governance capabilities.
    • Debates over federal vs state powers continue to influence contemporary political conflicts, constitutional interpretation, and reform efforts.
  • Ethical, philosophical, and practical implications
    • The Three-Fifths Compromise and fugitive slave clause illustrate how constitutional design can entrench injustices; recognizing the historical context is essential for understanding the foundations of civil rights debates.
    • The balance between efficient governance and protections for individual liberties remains a core ethical question in public policy.

Numerical references, formulas, and explicit terms

  • Thresholds for decision rules (reiterated for study clarity):
    • Plurality: wins with the most votes; no fixed majority requirement.
    • Majority: ext{Maj threshold} = \left\lfloor \frac{N}{2} \right\rfloor + 1. (i.e., 50\%+1 of votes.)
    • Supermajority: \text{Supermajority threshold} = \left\lfloor \alpha N \right\rfloor + 1, \quad 0.5 < \alpha < 1; example: \alpha = \frac{2}{3} (two-thirds).
    • Unanimity: \text{Unanimity threshold} = N. (100% of votes.)
  • Three-Fifths Compromise
    • Representation for apportionment: each enslaved person counted as \frac{3}{5} of a person for purposes of determining representation in the House and in the Electoral College.
    • Text reference: the compromise affected federal representation and political power distribution between free and slave states.
  • Constitutional text references
    • Fugitive Slave Clause: Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 – returns enslaved people who escape to free states to their owners.
  • Key historical dates to remember
    • Seven Years’ War: 1756–1763
    • First Continental Congress: 1774
    • Second Continental Congress: 1775–1776
    • Declaration of Independence: 1776
    • Articles of Confederation ratified: 1781
    • Shay’s Rebellion: 1786–1787
    • Constitutional Convention: 1787
    • New Hampshire ratification: 1788-06-21
    • Constitution becomes law of the land
    • The Treaty of Paris (end of war): 1783
    • The French alliance during the Revolution: 1778 onward (French entry in 1778; Spain allied 1779)

Summary connections

  • The notes connect collective action theory to the practical design of political institutions in the U.S. founding era.
  • The evolution from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution reflects a shift from a weak central government with near-total state sovereignty to a balanced federal system with separation of powers and checks and balances."