American Government Lecture Notes Flashcards

Social Contract & Natural Rights

  • Social contract: Sacrificing some freedoms for government protection.
  • Natural rights: Life, liberty, property (granted by God, protected by government).
  • Republicanism: Individualism, natural rights, popular sovereignty, civic participation. Representative democracy.
  • Popular sovereignty: Government power from the consent of the governed (elections, protests).

Enlightenment Philosophers

  • Thomas Hobbes: Monarch with absolute power for protection, rule of law.
  • John Locke: Protect natural rights, empiricism (tabula rasa), right to revolution.
  • Charles de Montesquieu: Separation of powers, checks and balances.
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Act for the greater good.
  • Voltaire: Freedom of thought, speech, religion, and politics.
  • Denis Diderot: Advocate of freedom of expression and universal education access, criticized divine right, traditional values, and religion

Forms of Representative Democracy

  • Participatory democracy: Broad participation.
  • Pluralist democracy: Group-based activism.
  • Elite democracy: Power to educated/wealthy.

Declaration of Independence

  • Formal declaration of war.
  • Written by Thomas Jefferson.
  • List of grievances against King George III.
  • Template for other nations declaring independence.

Articles of Confederation: Weaknesses

  • Could not impose taxes.
  • No national military or currency.
  • No Supreme Court or executive branch.
  • No control over interstate trade.
  • Unanimous votes needed to amend.
  • Shays’ Rebellion exposed weaknesses.

Constitutional Convention & Compromises

  • Virginia Plan: Bicameral legislature (population).
  • New Jersey Plan: Unicameral legislature (one vote per state).
  • Great Compromise: Bicameral legislature (House by population, Senate equal).
  • Three-Fifths Compromise: Enslaved people counted as 3/5 for representation.

Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists

  • Federalists: Supported Constitution, strong central government (The Federalist Papers).
  • Anti-Federalists: Opposed Constitution, preferred state governments, wanted Bill of Rights (Brutus No. 1).
  • Electoral College: Elected officials from each state based on population to elect the president.

Federalist Papers

  • Federalist No. 10: Dangers of factions and how to protect minority interest groups are addressed by James Madison; argues large republic prevents single faction control.
  • Federalist No. 51: Separation of powers would make the government efficient, dividing responsibilities and tasks is argued by James Madison.
  • Federalist No. 70: The executive branch should only have one member: the president is argued by Alexander Hamilton.
  • Federalist No. 78: Power of judicial branch addressed by Alexander Hamilton; argued that it would have the least power but judicial review power.

Constitution: Articles & Federalism

  • Articles I-III: Establish legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
  • Article I, Section 8: Necessary and proper clause (elastic clause).
  • Supremacy clause: Constitution and federal laws supreme over state laws.
  • Federalism: Shared power between national and state/local governments.
  • McCulloch v. Maryland: States cannot tax national bank.
  • United States v. Lopez: Commerce clause doesn't allow regulation of carrying guns.

Powers Under Federalism

  • Delegated (enumerated) powers: National government powers e.g., printing money, regulating trade, declaring war.
  • Reserved powers: State powers e.g., issuing licenses, conducting elections, education.
  • Concurrent powers: Shared powers e.g., levying taxes, building roads.
  • Denied powers: Restrictions on both national and state governments.

Federal Government Programs & Grants

  • Administered through states, paid for through grants-in-aid.
  • Categorical grants: Aid with strict rules.
  • Block grants: Aid with state discretion.

Separation of Powers & Checks and Balances

  • Legislative (makes laws), executive (enforces laws), judicial (interprets laws).
  • Checks and balances: Prevents one branch from becoming dominant; different branches work together and share power.

Amendment Process

  • Proposed by 2/3 of both houses of Congress.
  • Ratified by 3/4 of state legislatures or conventions.
  • State governments must have a state constitution approved by Congress

Interactions Among Branches of Government Congress

  • Congress: Bicameral legislature (House & Senate).
  • House: 435 members, apportioned by state population.
  • Senate: 100 members, 2 per state.

Congressional Structure

  • Census: Taken every 10 years to count population and determine the number of congressional districts each state has.
  • Redistricting: Done by state legislature.
  • Gerrymandering: Drawing district boundaries for party advantage.
  • Baker v. Carr: Government can force states to redistrict every 10 years.
  • Shaw v. Reno: State was using racial bias in its redistricting.

Congressional Districts and Representation

  • 1982 amended to make states create majority-minority districts (concentrating minority populations into districts).
  • Packing: isolating minorities in a district.
    *Cracking: dividing minorities across many districts.

Congressional powers unique to the houses

  • House of Representatives can start spending bills and tax laws.
  • Senate can approve presidential nominations to court and ambassadors to other countries; must also ratify all treaties the president sig.

Non-legislative Tasks of Congress

  • Investigation: can be conducted by either a standing or committee and may last months while members gather evidence and witnesses.

Legislative Process

  • Bills can only be proposed by a Congress member (the sponsor of the bill).
  • Rules Committee: determines how long a bill will be debated and whether open or closed rules for amending bills are allowed;considered most powerful committee in House.
  • Filibuster: used to delay bill’s vote and tie up Senate’s work, usually by a senator making a very long speech.
  • Cloture: the vote which is the only way to end a filibuster, requires votes of 60 members.
  • Conference committee: committee each house’s version of a bill is sent to which come from the committees of each house that wrote the bill.
  • Bill is pocket vetoed if president doesn’t sign every bill into law and congressional session ends during 10 days.
  • Line-item veto: given to President Clinton in 1996 by Congress, allowed the president to veto certain parts of a bill.

Legislation by Committee

  • Majority party of each house holds all committee chairs.
  • Assignments determined by House and Senate leaders + both parties’ caucus.
  • Most die because of lack of interest.
  • Types of committees:
    • Standing committees: permanent, specialized.
    • Joint committees: made up of members of both houses.
    • Select committees: temporary committees created in each house for a special reason.
    • Conference committee: temporary committees made up of members from committees of both houses who wrote a bill.

House of Representatives

  • Majority leader is in charge of party members, determines party policy and agenda.

Senate

  • President of the Senate is the vice president, only official responsibility.

Legislation

  • Northwest Ordinance (1787, 1789): created by the Articles of Confederation, provided guidelines for settling new territories and creating new states, reaffirmed in the Constitution in 1789.
  • Pendleton Act (1883): got rid of the spoils system for government job selection, set up exam-based merit system for candidates.
  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890): gave Congress the power to regulate and disassemble monopolies in the US, abused to break up labor unions.
  • Hatch Act (1939): let government employees vote in elections but prevented them from participating in partisan politics.
  • Freedom of Information Act (1966): let the public view government documents.
  • Air Quality Act (1967) and Clean Air Acts (1960s-1990s): regulated environmental impacts by establishing standards for factories and cars.
  • Federal Election Campaign Acts (1971, 1974): created the FEC and required contributions and expenditures to be disclosed, created limits on presidential election expenditures and contributions, created subsidies for presidential candidates.
  • War Powers Act (1973): put limits on presidential power to use troops overseas, created time limit, gave Congress power to withdraw troops.
  • Budget and Impoundment Control Act (1974): created Congressional Budget Office and congressional budget committees, gave Congress authority to prevent president from refusing to fund congressional initiatives.
  • Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Bill (1985): created budget reduction targets to balance the budget; failed to eliminate loopholes.
  • No Child Left Behind Act (2001): states must adopt education accountability standards, requires annual progress testing, and sanctions schools that fail to meet the yearly progress goals.
  • Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (1995): Congressional Budget Office must analyze impact of unfunded mandates on states, must have separate congressional vote on bills that impose them.
  • Espionage Act (1917), Sedition Act (1918): greatly reduced rights of Americans during war and increased federal government’s power to control public activity; repealed by Congress in 1921.
  • Immigration Act (1924): limited number of immigrants entering the US and set strict standards for entry.
  • Voting Rights Act (1965): eliminated literacy tests, let federal officials register voters, prevented states from changing voting procedures without the government’s approval; let federal officials count ballots and make citizens vote.
  • Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967): prevented age discrimination in jobs unless job is affected by age.
  • Civil Rights Act or Fair Housing Act (1968): Title II prevented discrimination in public places based on race, color, national origin, or religion, Title VII banned employment discrimination based on gender.
  • Title IX Education Act (1972): banded gender discrimination in federally funded education.
  • Americans with Disabilities Act (1990): protected disabled Americans’ rights and required accommodations to public facilities; prohibited job discrimination if accommodation could be made, required access to facilities for the disabled, allowed non-paid leave of absence without fear of firing.
  • National Voter Registration Act (1993): AKA The Motor Voter Act, allowed people to register to vote when receiving driver’s licenses.
  • Patriot Act (2001): known as the USA-PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act.
  • Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002): banned soft money to national political parties and raised hard money limits to 2,000 dollars.
  • New Deal Legislation (1933-1939): expands role of government in society and the economy.
  • Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996): signaled change in national role with states, tried to increase role of personal responsibility in welfare recipients, shifted many responsibilities to state governments for welfare provision, ended federal entitlement status of welfare, replaced with block grants to states

President's Formal & Informal powers

  • Formal Powers: Article II, Section 2; Administrative head of government; Commander in chief of the armed forces.
    *Informal Powers: Buil morale, influence party’s agenda and strategy, persuade policy and communicate to Congress and the country.

Executive Office of the President

  • Made up of agencies involved in the White House, divided into domestic, foreign, and military areas.

The Cabinet

  • Gives Congress the ability to remove president for crimes.
  • Gives congress the ability to remove the president for crimes.
    Only 8 have every been removed.

American Legal Principles

  • Equal justice under the law.
  • Due process of law.
  • Adversarial system.
  • Presumption of innocence.

Types of Law

  • Civil law solves conflicts over custody, contracts, property, or issue of liability.
  • Criminal law involves crimes that harm others.

Structure and Jurisdiction

  • Federal courts responsible for interpreting/settling disputes from federal law.
  • State courts responsible for interpreting/settling disputes from state law.
  • Three levels of federal courts:
    • District Courts, civil and criminal cases and decide liability in civil cases with monetary losses.
      Circuit Courts of Appeals is inferior to Supreme Court.
      Supreme court court of last resort, Supreme Court almost never hears cases appealed from the Circuit Courts.

The Politics of the Judiciary

  • All judges are appointed by the president for life.
    appointments/confirmations.

Process By Which Cases Reach the Supreme Court

  • petitioner must have interest in case outcome (have standing)

The Bureaucracy

*15 cabinet secretaries and heads of independent agencies appointed by president and approved by Senate.

Regulatory Agencies and Commissions

*Federal Trade Commission: prevents fraud in marketplace, prevents price fixing and deceptive advertising

Who Controls the Bureaucracy?

*presidents and boards/commissions vary regularly.

Regulatory agencies set rules and regulations that industry must follow

Deregulation

Civil Service and Maintaining Neutrality

*civil service examination, publishes job opening lists, and hires based on merit.

  • revision of 1993 is less restrictive- bureaucrats can join political parties, make campaign contributions, and display political advertising.

Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

*Civil liberties: protections from the abuse of government power,
# The bill of rights

*None of the rights in the Bill of Rights is absolute.
rights of individuals against society’s needs.

First Amendment

  • Schenck v. United States: Speech posed a “clear and present danger” to the US. violation of the Espionage Act of 1917.
  • Tinker v. Des Moines: that children in public schools were protected by the First Amendment
  • the newspapers could publish the Pentagon Papers because the government had not had the proof necessary to enact prior restraint

Freedom of Religion

  • MLK arrested in Birmingham for organizing marches and sit-ins to protest segregation.
    *Engel v. Vitale: school prayer violated First Amendment´s establishment cause

The Second Amendment

  • states cannot impede their citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms

The Fourth Amendment

  • Police must go before a judge to justify a search of private property
  • Evidence Police cant use if found illegally through searching property.

The Fifth Amendment

  • Defendant cannot be forced to testify at a trial
  • Gideon v. Wainwright unanimous decision that Florida violated 6th Amendment right to an attorney.

implied right to privacy in Griswold v. Connecticut

The Social Welfare

  • Public assistance programs: welfare help families whose total income is below federally determined minimum required to provide for family SNAP benefits provides food stamps to improve diet and buying power of the poor