AP Government Unit 1: Foundations of American Democracy

Topic 1.1: Ideals of Democracy

limited government

• influenced by the Enlightenment

natural rights: ppl are born with certain rights that are given to them by the Creator

• from John Locke/Thomas Hobbes

  • both claimed a state of nature that humans had before any kind of government existed

  • hobbes believed ini the short bruttish etc thing

  • but Locke was a bit nicer lol: everyone born free

popular sovereignty: power to govern is in hands of people

social contract: the people give up some rights so that the gov to have natural rights to be protected

• people can overthrow the government if ykyk

• Rosseau

Spirit of the Law: by Montesquieu, republicanism means people elect officials to represent them in the government and the government should be divided by the three branches

Declaration of Independence: influenced by Enlightenment rah; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

Philadelphia Convention/Constitution Convention: worked to make the Constitution in 1787 by the Grand Committee

• checks and balances

Topic 1.2 Types of Democracy

participatory democracy: emphasizes broad participation in politics and civil society

• direct democracy

• seen as impossible as the nation grew (too many ppl to vote on everything)+ ppl are dumb

• shows up more in local policy i.e town halls

• initiative: when people put a measure on the ballot that they want passed

• referendum: when people oppose a law that is passed by the legislative; if enough ppl oppose it, they can vote it out

elite democracy: emphasize limited participation by a few, well-educated and informed statespeople who are qualified to direct the nation through law making on behalf of the people

• only specialists would rlly understand the gov and prevent the unwise from making stupid decisions

• prez appointing judges

• electoral college: handful of electors vote for prez

pluralist democracy: describes group-based activism by nongovernmental interests which work to impact political decision making

• interest groups: form around a specific cause to push for certain legislation favorable to their cause

• states are interest groups too— interest topic is their people

constitution has all three

• elite model: provides for elected representatives that legilate on behalf of the ppl

• pluralist model: in order to get a law passed, various interests, both states and otherwise, have to compromise to get it done

• participatory model: separation of power between the federal government and state governments

fed 10 vs brutus 1

• brutus 1 championed broard participatory model

  • feared the tyranny of a powerful central gov

  • wanted to keep majority of pwoer in the hands of the states

• fed 10 argued that such a fear was unfounded

  • with so much diversity in the population, all the factions would have to compete against one another

Foundational Documents: Declaration of Independence

by Thomas Jefferson

• Preamble explaining why they are rebelling

  • not meant to be private— larger purpose to rally troops to fight+get foreign allies on their side

• unalienable rights: life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness that originate from the Creator

  • cannot be taken away by government/king because the Creator gave it to them and the gov/king did not

  • ppl create govs to protect these rights (social contract)

• when gov becomes “destructive of these ends [rights” then ppl are allowed to abolish the gov

Foundational Documents: Federalist 10

by James Madison

• this is about FACTIONS

• factions: basically interest groups; want to dominate govs

• 2 ways to control factions: stop factions from forming or limit their effects

  • stop factions is dumb cuz that’s basically limiting freedom

    • as long as ppl have opinions it’s impossible to stop them from forming

  • so they have to limit their effects

    • they are limited through ding ding ding! a republican government

    • as the nation grows there will be more and more factions being formed lets say for example, the states

    • since there are so many factions they will need to compete and eventually come a compromise

      • this way, no one faction can ever completely take over (in theory ahahaha)

Foundational Documents: Brutus 1

by brutus we dont rlly know lolol

confederacy is goated

• necessary and proper clause and supremacy clause

  • the central authority would be so powerful that state govs will js be useless and have no power as the central gov can js crush them

    • i.e no one wants to have federal AND state taxes, so state govs will not get any/much taxes and js die as a result

    • similar idea with state vs federal courts

• quoting montesquieu cuz we love the enlightenment right

  • as america grows, it will be harder for the elected officials to understand their constituents as there will just be so many of htem

Topic 1.3 Government Power and Individual Rights

federalists: argued for the ratification of the Constitution and for a strong central government

• anti-federalists: argued against the ratification of the Constitution and believed in the Confederacy

most of this topic is js fed 10 and brutus 1 so js look at that

federalists won obvi

• BUT the anti-feds were able to argue for a Bill of Rights, which protects our freedoms

Topic 1.4 Challenges of the Articles of Confederation

• articles created to make some kind of central government in order to make treaties and stuff with other countries

• federal government only had one branch (only legislative

• in order to make an amendment, ALL states had to agree

• they were supa broke as they had no power to raise tax revenue

  • 5% tariff tried to get some money but dint work cuz rhode island said no

• no national currency

• no power to raise a national army

  • Shays’ Rebellion really showed the weakness of this part of the articles

    • a bunch of ex military ppl were having trouble paying back their debts cuz of inflation after the Revolution and petitioned for relief from these debts

    • they dint get relief —> still paying both taxes and debts —> rebellion

    • showed tht they rlly did need national army to put down conflicts like this

    • it was BECAUSE OF THIS EVENT that famous ppl like Washington himself started urging support for the Constitution

Foundational Documents: Articles of Confederation

weak af 🤯

• gives power to the states at the expense of the central government

  • all power remains in the state unless stated otherwise

• one legislative

  • each state has one vote in Congress

• no state can establish treaties, receive any embassies, etc with other countries

• no national army

  • each state has a militia at ready

• articles be the final arbitor in disputes between states

• 9/13 (SUPERMAJORITY) states must agree to make major decisions such as declare war

• every state must agree to make a change to the articles

Topic 1.5 The Ratification of the Constitution

• constitution convention woowoowoowoo became a committee to make a new constitution due to our boi alexander hamilton

• Great Compromise between the Virginia and New Jersey Plan

  • Virginia Plan: argued that representatives ought to be apportioned by population

    • bigger states would have more power

    • I like to remember how Virginia is a rather big state so it makes sense as to why they would want this

  • New Jersey Plan: argued that representatives ought to be apportioned equally: each state gets one vote

    • small states have an advantage

  • the compromise agreed upon a bicameral legislature

    • house of representatives: reps apportioned by population

    • senate: reps apportioned equally

• Electoral College: each state is given the same number of electors as they have representatives in Congress, and it is the electors who put the president in office

• 3/5ths Compromise: count three-fifths of the enslaved population for purposes of representation AND count three-fifths of the enslaved population for the purposed of taxation

  • northerners were like why tf do yall think slaves will be counted for representation when yal dont treat them like ppl 😭

  • southerners had sm slaves they rlly wanted to take more advantage of them than necessary lol

• importation of enslaved ppl: slave trade wouldnt’ be touched for another 20 years, after which it will be abolished

• proposal and ratification

  • either congress of special state conventions can propose an amendment

    • 2/3rds vote is needed to pass the amendment to the next stage

  • the proposed amendment must be ratified or accepted by 3/4ths of the states

    • can be done by state legislature or state ratifying conventions

  • if 3/4ths of states approve, it will become a amendment

Foundational Documents: The Constitution

Article I: the forms and powers of Congress

• longest: shows that this is supposed to be strongest branch— the one tht reps the ppl

• bicameral legislature: Senate and House ykyk

• enumerated powers: lay and collect taxes, borrow money, coin money, declare war, raise and support armies, maintain a navy\

• necessary and proper clause/elastic clause: Congress can make any other laws that are necessary and proper to uphold its duties stated in the enumerated powers

Article II: provisions for the executive branch

• prez elected through electoral college

• prez is the commander in chief

• prez executes/enforce laws

• prez signs laws

Article III: judicial branch

• supreme court has original jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction

• one Supreme Court and Congress can establish inferior courts, which they do the Judiciary Act of 1789

• judges interpret the law and judges if they are constitutional or not (judicial review established in Marbury v. Madison)

Article IV: the fed gov’s relationship to the states and the relationships of the states themselves

Article V: how the constitution gets amended

• 2/3rds of both Houses of Congress or state legislatures can propose

• 3/4ths of states have to agree to ratify

Article VI: the Supremacy Clause

• the Federal government trumps state governments

  • if a state gov’s law goes against a federal gov’s law the federal law triumphs

Bill of Rights: the first 10 amendments to the Constitution stating the specific rights of Americans

Topic 1.6: Principles of American Government

separation of powers: no one branch of government holds all the authority; powers are separated lolol

• legislative branch: congress makes laws

• executive branch: bureaucracy and prez enforce laws

• judicial branch: the Supreme Court+the smaller courts throughout the country

checks and balances: ability to “check” other branches to make sure they are not overstepping and stuff

• legislative branch can check executive branch with its power of advice and consent designated to the Senate (confirmation of Judges and Cabinet members)

• congress can also impeach the president

• executive has the power to veto Congress’ law by prez js not signing the law

  • congress can override the veto with 2/3rds vote

• judicial branch has power of judicial review, declaring laws null and void

interest groups: can pay professional lobbyists to meet with representatives to make them aware of the group’s causes and try to persuade them to vote in the group’s interests

average citizens can email bureaucratic agencies an stuff idkidk

Foundational Documents: Federalist 51

by James Madison

ppl suck so we need a government lol

separation of powers and checks and balances are created to keep each department in check

• each branch should have as much power independent of each other as possible as well as be as equal as possible

• each branch is further divided

  • i.e legislative branch is bicameral

• federalism: power divided between the federal and state governments

the way the powers are separated AND how each branch can keep each other in check, there’s a double security to keep tyranny from happening

Topic 1.7 The Relationship Between States and Federal Government

federalism: the sharing of power between the federal and state governments

exclusive powers: powers delegated to the federal government alone by the Constitution

reserved powers: powers kept by the states

• from the 10th amendment: powers not delegated by the Constitution to the federal government or prohibited to the states are reserved to the states

concurrent powers: powers in which states and fed gov share

• i.e taxes

fiscal federalism: federalism via money

• grants

  • categorical grants: give federal money to the states as long as they comply with specific standards

    • i.e civil rights act of 1964, elementary and secondary education act

• block grants: money given to the states by the fed gov to be spent in a broad category and the states determine exactly how that money is spent within those boundaries

  • can STILL have boundaries but they are more broad

  • states like this obviously

• mandate: the federal gov requires states to follow federal directives and gives money toward the carrying out of the mandate

  • i.e clean air act

• unfunded mandate: the fed gov sets a mandate and sets no funds to uphold it

  • i.e no child left behind act

  • RLLY not popular w states

• unfunded mandates reform act: curtailed the fed gov’s ability to issue unfunded mandates

Required Court Cases: McCulloch v. Maryland

• congress chartered the Second Bank of the US, establishing branches in different states

  • Maryland didn’t like that so they established a law that fined any banks not established by the state of Maryland

  • cashier of the bank refused to pay the fine and the case became a thing

• maryland argued that the establishment of a nat’l bank was unconstitution

  • article I section 8 did not say that Congress had the power to create a bank

• McCulloch argued that the bank was constitutional under the necessary and proper clause of Article I Section 8

• implied powers: powers implied but not explicitly said

  • establishing the national bank is one

• court ruled in favor of McCulloch under the necessary and proper clause

  • upholds the spirit of the Constitution even if the Constitution doesn’t state that Congress can do it

  • remember supremacy clause

• in this course, this case is the opposite of US v. Lopez as it is in favor of the federal government and upheld federal power

Required Court Cases: US v. Lopez

• in Texas high school senior Alfonso Lopez carried a 38 caliber pistol and ammunition to school

  • arrested cuz he violated a Texas law that prohibited people from bringing guns to school

  • but his state charges were dropped because there was federal law, the Gun-Free School Zones Act, which served the same purpose as the afforementioned Texas law

  • so he was charged under federal law instead

• this became a states vs federal government power issue because Congress claimed they could make the Gun-Free School Zones Act because of the Commerce Clause

  • commerce clause gives Congress the authority to regulate congress

• US argued that guns in schools lead to gun violence in schools leading to less ppl travelling through the area, which negatively effects commerce in that area

  • additionally this leads to the learning evnironment deteriorating —> less educated citizenry —> commerce is affected negatively

• Lopez argued that connected the commerce clause to gun violence is dumb and government overreach

• decision in favor of Lopez because well the overreach is overreaching and allowing these laws to occur basically means that Congress can do what it does

• this court case is the opposite of McCulloch v. Maryland because it protects the reserved powers of the states

Topic 1.8: Constitutional Interpretations of Federalism

10th amendment: reserved powers for the states

• regulation of trade within states for example

14th amendment: applied the Bill of Rights to the states

• not only did a citizen have protection of their rights against the federal government, but also the the state government

commerce clause: gives Congress the authority to regulate commerce among the states

necessary and proper clause ykyk

• used to make the First National Bank, arguing that it was necessary and proper for Congress to establish a national bank in order to uphold its duties to regulate interstate commerce, tax and coin money

full faith and credit clause (Article IV): each state must respect the other’s laws

• i.e driving to another state doesn’t revoke a driver’s license from home state

Topic 1.9: Federalism in Action

environmental regulation

• Paris Agreement

  • Obama was able to join the Paris Agreement through executive order (executive agreement which is in a later unit)

  • states had to oblige by the Agreement

  • but when Trump took over US was gone from the Agreement, but some states i.e California (woo i love my state) decide to still oblige by the Agreement despite us leaving it (twice now)

• marijuana

  • states started allowing recreational marijuana and letting their citizens break federal law

  • this is because Obama, who was a proponent for legalization of marijuana, just didn’t execute the federal law that illegalized marijuana