AP GOV UNIT 1

LEARNING OBJECTIVES    

1.1 Describe the balance between governmental power and individual

rights.

1.2 Describe American political culture.

1.3 Explain and compare models of representative democracy.

1.1

Bridget Mergens → wanted to open Christian bible study club and was denied so she took things to court, filing for lawsuit

  • she was represented by the National Legal Foundation (Christian advocacy group)

  • legal basis → violated the Equal Access Act of 1984 (a U.S. federal law that prohibits federally funded public schools from discriminating against student-initiated, student-led meetings based on the religious, political, or philosophical content of the speech).

  • Supreme Court ruled in her favor

  • Board of Education Westside Community Schools v. Mergens

High school students at Boyd County, Kentucky wanted to start a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club which was turned down by school officials

  • they were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

  • ACLU sent a letter to the board referring to the Equal Access Act of 1984, and the club was approved

  • Even though it was approved, the club was met with a lot of student backlash and hate

  • Board meeting was held that disbanded all non-curricular clubs for the remainder of the year however other clubs still used the high school facilities to meet up

  • members of GSA went to court, backed up by the ACLU → announced a settlement that all clubs should be treated equally and staff and students should have anti-harassment training

The Equal Access Act of 1984 (EAA) states, “It shall be unlawful for

any public secondary school which receives Federal financial

assistance . . . to deny equal access or a fair opportunity to, or

discriminate against, any students who wish to conduct a meeting . . .

on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content

of the speech at such meetings.”

After reading the passage, please respond to parts A, B, and C.

A. Describe the purpose of the EAA.

The purpose of the EAA is to ensure equal rights to students that want to open clubs centered upon religion, politics, philosophy, etc. Publicly funded schools are not allowed to discriminate or deny equal access/opportunity to these students that wish to do this.

B. Describe how Bridget Mergens and the Gay-Straight Alliance

(GSA) at Boyd County High School used the EAA to assert their

rights.

Both Bridget Mergens and the Gay-Straight Alliance used the Equal Access Act to secure their rights in opening the clubs that they want. They utilized this federal law to proclaim what is right, backed up by independent organizations such as the ACLU and the NLF.

C. Explain one way in which the efforts of Bridget Mergens and the

GSA, and the actions of officials at their schools, illustrate the

tension between protecting liberty and establishing order.

Bridget Mergens and the GSA questioned and challenged the school’s denial of opening their clubs— practicing the art of liberty even if it meant being met with rising tensions in court. The school officials wanted to maintain order, and they were permeated with the fear that controversy would result to disorder, however, by doing this— they denied the students of liberty and freedom of speech.

Summary: Tensions between liberty and order in school settings (students protesting for equal access and freedom of speech to open their clubs), schools worrying that controversy will cause protest and disorder within the school. Individuals use political tools to secure their rights, basing their claims under the federal law of Equal Access.

1.2

When drafting the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson drew upon various ideas from the colonies and Great Britain

  • Democracy (derived from the philosophical works of ancient Greece and Rome) demos (people), kratos (power) → power to the people

  • John Locke: prominent influence on the ideologies of Dec. of Independence → argued that people are born with natural rights (right of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness) that the “kings” or government or any type of authority can not give or take away.

    • argued against a divine, god given, right of kings to rule with absolute power (concentrated power to one individual)

    • said that government should be built upon a social contract → people give the government the right to rule over them to ensure an orderly society, but if the government cannot do that, they have to right to impeach them or replace them.

      • Government should not be violating people’s natural rights, if they do then the people have the right to replace that unjust government with a just one.

  • Montesquieu: figure that influenced the ideologies of the Dec. of Independence

    • proposed that power in the government should be distributed between different branches so that no one branch could become too powerful

  • David Hume

    • called out the tendency of government abusing their power; believing that a just government should be designed to keep the greedy and ambitious from using political power to their own advances

  • American Political Culture: shared set of beliefs, customs, traditions and values that define the relationship of Americans to their government

  • Rodger Smith → argued that there are multiple contradictory political traditions

    • republicanism, although emphasizing participatory rights and the focus on common good, have histories of enforcing social hierarchies based upon gender and race.

    Anatomy of Declaration of Independence

    • Preamble: discussed how the British government were no longer of rule or supreme rule

    • deviating from the first statement, he Thomas Jefferson referred to John Locke stating people’s natural rights → right of life, liberty and property.

    • Jefferson changed property in the official saying of John Locke to pursuit of happiness, which critiqued the acts of slavery as “property” could be referred to as owning a slave. Pursuit of happiness can be interpreted as the freedom of do whatever that makes you feel happy or satisfied with your life

    • Last part is a list of grievances against the King of England; charges that the colonists were not being represented in the government, unfair taxes, and complaints.

    • Declaration ends with statement separating the colonies from Great Britain with a pledge to protect “our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor”

    • July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence with approved and became the foundation of establishing principles of American Democracy

Popular Sovereignty: what American political culture is based on— idea that the government’s right to rule comes from the people

  •    works in conjunction with social contract

Republicanism: authority of the government comes from the people

  • REMEMBER: “R” in republic refers to representation— instead of democracy where everyone votes on every matter, republicanism allows citizens to select a representative to assert their interests in national policymaking.

  • in American republic, representatives are held accountable in free and fair elections; members of U.S House of Representatives stand for election every two years; U.S Senator for six; President every four years

Inalienable Rights: same rights are self evident— meaning that these are rights that the government can not take away like natural rights.

Liberty: social, political and economic freedoms— freedom to pursue one’s dreams.    

  • tensions between two freedoms example: Bridget Mergens and the Westside Community Schools board

    • Mergens wanted to exercise her social freedom by starting a religious club exploring her faith

    • By allowing the club, school officials risked violating other student’s freedoms from having a government endorse a particular religious faith on them

Pursuit of Happiness and American Dream: belief that individuals should be able to pursue or achieve their goals through hard work, sacrifice and their own talents.

1.3

Participatory democracy: widespread participation in politics → emphasizes the importance of citizen involvement    (broad)

Civil Society groups: independent associations outside of the government’s control

Pluralist Theory: emphasizes the role of groups in the policymaking process.

  • Bridget Mergens relied on the National Legal Foundation —> civil society group that advocates for Christian beliefs and protects their interests

  • Students at Boyd HS relied on the ACLU —> civil society that defends and protects civil rights and liberties

These civil societies or interest groups advocate for their own interests, making them crucial in the influence of policymaking as they can hire lobbyists to get their ideologies into congress and law.

  • these groups have ways to influence the government like contacting government officials, donating to campaigns, filing lawsuits, etc. These lines can blur in terms of legality.

Elitist Theory: emphasizes how a small minority with most of the economic power controls the government and politics, and elected officials are too heavily influenced by wealthy interest groups; elites have a disproportionate advantage or influence on policymaking process.

  • big business with large amounts of wealth can influence government

  • those who believe in the elitist theory are AGAINST it— influence is not fairly distributed amongst citizens in society

  • top 1 percent of wealth holders have too much control over policymaking

  • while poor Americans benefit from social grams like Medicaid, rich people and business get far more benefits from tax exemptions and lax government regulations