E

Ideals and Types of Democracy

Government and its Purpose

Government

  • Government is composed of the formal and informal institutions, people, and processes used to create and conduct public policy.
  • “Who gets what, when, and how” - Harold Lasswell

Public Policy

  • Government doing the things that are necessary to maintain legitimate authority and control over society

Purposes of Government

  • Each nation must decide what the purpose of their government must be
  • The Preamble to the United States Constitution lays out the goals for the American government (“We the People…”)

Purposes Outlined in the Preamble

  • The “more perfect union” is the goal, while the following lists are used more as the target points that needed to be established - similar to a list, rather than a sentence.
  • Forming a “More Perfect Union”
    • Creating a strong union of the states while maintaining state sovereignty
  • Establishing Justice
    • Reasonable, fair, equal law
  • Insuring Domestic Tranquility
    • Preservation of public order
  • Providing for the Common Defense
    • Protection and maintenance of national defense
  • Promoting the General Welfare   
    • Providing public services and economic health of the nation
  • Securing the Blessings of Liberty
    • Promoting individual freedoms
    • They were secured “to ourselves and to our posterity”: maintaining the freedoms throughout not only that time, but for their descendants and into the future.

Forms of Government

Anarchy - Lack of government

Autocracy - Rule by one

  • Absolute Monarchy 
    • Ruler gains power through inheritance
    • No restrictions on power
  • Constitutional Monarchy 
    • i.e. England today
    • Ruler gains power through inheritance
    • Formal restrictions are imposed on the power
    • Often, these monarchs are restricted to a ceremonial status.
  • Dictatorship
    • Ruler seizes and maintains power by force
    • Opposition to regimes are restricted
    • No restrictions are imposed on the dictatorship

Oligarchy - Rule by a few

  • Aristocracy
    • Rule by the elite
    • Usually determined by social status or wealth
  • Theocracy
    • Rule by religious leaders

Democracy - Rule by the people

  • Direct Democracy
    • Citizens meet and make decisions about public policy issues
    • EVERY citizen in the society participated actively in the government
    • Most famously represented by Ancient Athens, but early New England used a form of direct democracy
  • Representative Democracy
    • Citizens choose officials (representatives)
    • Representatives make decisions about public policy

Foundations of American Democracy

Creating the Democracy

  • In 1776, colonists presented the Declaration of Independence to the British Crown to break away from Britain’s control
  • Following the American Revolutionary War, the U.S. government operated under the Articles of Confederation
    • The Articles of Confederation were ineffective in practice
    • Several mistakes were included in the articles
    • They created the Constitution as a replacement
  • Delegates gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 to draft a new constitution
  • Fierce debate occurred between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists when drafting a new constitution, and whether what was created should be implemented
    • Federalists were in favor of the Constitution
    • Anti-Federalists were against the Constitution and thought it needed more work
  • After the conflict, the states ratified the Constitution in 1788

Parts of the Constitution

  • The Constitution defined three branches of government, relations among the states, national and state powers, and the process to alter (amend) the Constitution
  • One important concept included is checks and balances
    • Keeps any one branch from becoming too powerful
  • The amendment process allowed for the Bill of Rights to be added in 1791

Federalism in America

  • Established by the Constitution
  • Federalism is a system of government that divides the power between national and state governments
  • As new national concerns have emerged, Congress has used its power to set policies to address those issues
  • States have used their powers to maintain jurisdiction over other issues
  • For example, public schools are a state power, rather than a federal power.

American Independence and Early National Government

The Years of the 1770s - The American Colonists and British government came into conflict over a series of taxes levied by King George III

  • Leaders of the 13 Colonies challenged British authority

Enlightenment Inspiration

  • Argued for natural, God-given rights
  • Social Contract
    • The agreement between a democratic government and the people
    • “The government should exist only if the people allow it to exist.”
    • The concept that the government serves the people, and if they don’t serve the people, then it should be removed

Taxation in the 1770s

  • Britain levied taxes on the colonists to pay for the debts created by the 7 Years War
    • The French & Indian War
  • The American Colonies had plenty of resources that could be turned into revenue
  • Mercantilism
    • A country making as much money as possible by exploiting the resources of its colonies (profiting off of the colonies without offering anything in return).
    • England wanted to conquer the land and exploit its resources without harming their own 
    • The addition of NEW taxes to the mercantilism they were doing on America was the largest spark of the Revolutionary War
  • 1764 - Sugar Act
    • Tax on sugar
  • 1765 - Stamp Act
    • Tax on legal documents
  • 1773 - Tea Act
    • Tax on tea
  • American colonists began to oppose taxes for practical and economic reasons

Taxation and the Colonies

  • “No taxation without representation”
    • Parliament argued that the colonists were “virtually represented”
    • Conceptualized that if the colonists were British, those in the Parliament were also British, and thus their ideals would be aligned
    • 90% of the British population did not have the right to vote - only the rich, wealthy, and important did.
  • In 1775, Colonist leaders send the Olive Branch Petition to King George
    • King George III rejected the petition
    • He refused to even read the letter

Influence of Enlightenment Thought

The Enlightenment

  • The Sons of Liberty and other advocates for freedom were inspired by political theories of the Enlightenment
    • John Locke
    • Jean-Jacques Rousseau
    • Baron de Montesquieu

John Locke

  • Believed that people could learn from experiences and improve
  • People had the  natural ability to govern their own affairs and look after the welfare of society
  • Natural rights of life, liberty, and property
  • It is the government’s duty to protect these rights, and the people’s duty to rise up if the government didn’t.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  • Influenced by the writings of John Locke
  • “Discourse on Inequality” (1754)
    • Thoughts on human state of nature
    • Private property is the original source of inequality
  • “The Social Contract” (1762)
    • Classical republicanism
    • Sovereignty through direct democracy
  • The only reason government exists is that the people allow it to exist

Baron de Montesquieu 

  • “The Spirit of the Laws” (1748)
  • If you give one person all the control, they have absolute authority, and it doesn’t work.
  • Separation of powers

Types of Democracy

Participatory Democracy

  • Depends on direct participation of many, if not most, people in a society
  • Not only government related matters, but public life as well
  • People vote directly on laws and other matters that affect them
  • Examples:
    • 5th Century Athenian Democracy
    • 20th and 21st century protest movements

Pluralist Democracy

  • Non-governmental groups organize to try to exert influence on political decision-making
  • Interest Groups
    • Policy advocates or labor unions

Elite Democracy

  • Elected representatives make decisions and act as trustees for the people who elected them
    • Recognizes an inequity in the spread of power among the populace and the elites
  • Individuals with the most time, education, money, and access to the government will take more action than those with less privilege

Declaring Independence

The Declaration of Independence

  • By summer of 1776, the Continental Congress commissioned a committee to draft an official statement to summarize the colonists’ views
    • Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston
  • This document became the Declaration of Independence
    • Justified a break from Britain and gave reasons for independence
    • Signed by the delegates on July 4, 1776