1.1

Origins and The Enlightenment

Classical Origins

• societies like ancient greece and ancient rome had rare forms of early democracy

  • ancient greece: athenian democracy

    • the assembly: officials of the democracy were in part elected by the assembly and in large part chosen by lottery in a process called sortition

    • citizenship: white, native-born, land-owning man

  • ancient rome: republic in rome

    • the senate: representative of the roman people and the repository of roman sovereignty

    • consuls: held the highest elected political office of the roman republic

• english heritage: determined by the era of time

  • magna carta (1215): nobles vs. king john; limited monarchy to guarantee nobles rights and protections

  • parliament

    • house of lords

    • house of commons

  • petition of right (1628): applied protections of magna carta to rest of english citizens; restricted the monarchy further

  • english bill of rights (1689): consisted of the following conditions:

    • free parliamentary elections

    • speedy trials

    • prohibit cruel and unusual punishment

    • petition the monarch

    • no taxation without consent of parliament

The Enlightenment (16th-18th Centuries)

• age of reason: inspired by scientific revolution; empiricism and logic applied to human behavior

  • break from tradition, hereditary, and fundamentalism

• natural laws: applied to society (natural rights); each individual born with natural rights (life, liberty, and property)

• social contracts: established relationships between citizens and governments; based on mutual consent

Enlightenment from England

• thomas hobbes: believed in a “strong but not absolute” government; started social contract

  • leviathan (1651): state of nature (“the war of all against all”)

  • social contract theory: people submit to government but have the right to overthrow

• john locke: added on natural rights

  • second treatise on civil government (1689): right to revolution; consent of the governed; enforced state of nature (life, liberty, and land)

• baron de montesquieu: spirit of the laws (1748); separation of powers; checks and balances

• voltaire: advocated individual freedoms; criticized traditional institutions

• rousseau: believed in government being based on consent of governed (popular sovereignty)

Colonial America

Colonial Governments

• house of burgesses (1619): representative form of government in virginia

• mayflower compact (1620): social contract for common good/survival

• fundamental orders of connecticut (1639): first written constitution; outlined individual rights

Colonial Resistance

• navigation acts: proclamation of 1763, sugar act (1764), stamp act (1765)

• ideological arguments: no taxation without representation; virtual representation

• first continental congress: declaration of right and grievances; petition to the king

• second continental congress: olive branch petition; declaration of independence (1776); articles of confederation (1777, 1781)

  • olive branch petition: written to persuade king george III of england to respond to the concerns of the american colonists and to settle their differences amicably

  • declaration of independence: based largely on locke’s ideas; primarily written by thomas jefferson

    • political theory, list of grievances, colonial unity for independence

New Constitution

New State Constitutions

Articles of Confederation vs. Constitution

New Constitution Establishments

• constitutional convention: called to revise a.o.c

  • washington elected as president

  • grand committee established (one person per state)

• new government w/ 3 branches

  • powers of each branch listed

• established a representative republic

  • reps are selected by public every 2 years

1.2

Types of Democracy

Representative Democracy

• a system where citizens of a country vote for government representatives to handle legislation and rule the country on their behalf

• rep democracies can take several forms along the following scale:

  • participatory democracy ↔ pluralist democracy ↔ elite democracy

Participatory (Direct) Democracy

• a system where the citizens (not representatives) propose laws (initiatives) and vote directly for laws (referendums)

  • initiatives: citizens of a state can place an item on the ballot for popular vote

  • referendums: citizens can attempt to defeat or uphold a law of the legislature via petitions

  • both can occur at state, county, or municipality level

    • states can be classified as:

      • both initiatives and referendums

      • initiatives for constitutional amendments only

      • referendums only

      • neither initiatives or referendums

• large populations make this difficult at a national level

  • primarily used a local and state levels

• emphasizes broad participation in politics and civil society

Pluralist Democracy

• a system where no one group dominates politics and organized (interest) groups compete to influence policy

  • recognizes group-based activism by non-governmental interests striving for impact on decision-making

• interest groups try to influence local, state, and federal level policy makers

• the variety and number of interest groups make decision-making process slow

• constitution protects against undue influence via bicameral legislature, electoral college, etc.

Elite Democracy

• a system where elected representatives make decisions in their role as trustees

  • the reps have the skills, education, and ability to protect against unwise popular policies

• house, senate, and cabinet are all examples of elite democracy

Tensions Over Democracy Models

• both federal and state democracies have interest groups that operate at all (national, state, and local) levels to influence policy making

Representative Democracy in US Today

• participatory

  • initiatives

    • in 26 states

  • referendums examples

    • control wages, covid, voting rights for felons

• pluralist

  • raise money, support candidates, and monitor government

  • advertise to push (candidate) agenda

• elite

  • people in government have most (time, money, education, access)

1.3

Federalist and Brutus Papers

• written by alexander hamilton, john jay, and james madison

  • 85 essays supporting ratification of constitution

• need to know federalist papers:

  • federalist #10: factions

  • federalist #51: checks and balances

  • federalist #70: chief executive

  • federalist #78: national judiciary

• need to know brutus paper:

  • brutus #1: republic is too big and non-democratic

    • factions will destroy the nation

    • citizens won’t know their reps

    • bill of rights must be added

• federalists: supported ratification of constitution; led by james madison

  • published federalist papers to convince americans to ratify constitution

  • in favor of strong national government and weaker state governments

  • didn’t want a bill of rights to limit right only to those listed

  • usually large landowners, wealthy merchants, and professionals

  • indirect election of officials and longer terms served

• anti-federalists: opposed ratification of constitution; led by patrick henry

  • published brutus papers to discourage americans from ratifying the constitution

  • supported strong states rights and weak national government

  • insisted on adding bill of rights

  • usually small farmers, shopkeepers, and laborers

  • direct election for reps and shorter terms served