Government Topic 1

The State and Gov

^^State:^^  Can be defined as a body of people living in a defined territory, organized politically (with a government) and with the power to make and enforce the law without the consent of any higher authority

4 Characteristics of a State:

Population: Large or small, every state must be inhabited

Territory: Every state must have land, with known and recognized borders

Sovereignty: State has absolute power within its territory. It can decide its own foreign and domestic policies

Government: Mechanism through which a state makes and enforces policies

Historical theories of the origins of the state:

  • Force theory: Individual or group claimed control over a territory and forced the population to submit
  • Divine right of kinds theory: God created the state, making it sovereign
  • Evolutionary theory: Population is formed out of primitive families, The heads of these families become the government
  • Social contract theory: Population in a given territory gave up power to the government.

^^Citizen:^^ state of being vested with the rights, privileges, and duties of a citizen. The character of an individual viewed as a member of society; behavior in terms of the duties, obligations, and functions of a citizen

^^Government:^^ Institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies (government decisions). It is made up of those people who exercise its powers, all those who have authority and control over people

Basics

  • Ordered: Government regulates affairs among people, government maintains orer and predictability
  • Limited: Government is restricted in what it may do, every individual has certain rights government cannot take away
  • Representative: Government should serve the will of the people, people should have a voice in deciding what government can and cannot do
    • types: Democracy, Communist, Totalitarian, Theocracy, Oligarchy, Anarchy, Monarchy, Socialism, Autocracy, Republic

What does the government do?

  • Form a more perfect union (Keep the country together as one)
  • Establish justice (Provide laws and punishment in a fair manner)
  • Insure domestic tranquility (Keep peace)
  • Provide for the common defense (Protect the citizens - military)
  • Promote the general welfare (Look out for the general well being of all citizens)
  • Secure the blessings for liberty (Protect freedom now and for the future)

==The US has a democratic republic (indirect democracy)==

  • Citizens have the power to elect the individuals who have political power. In other words, individuals have a say in the way that they are governed.

Free Enterprise System: our economic system is not influenced at all by the government

AOC & Constitutional Convention

^^Articles of Confederation (AOC):^^ established in 1781 creating a friendship between the states forming a weak central government

Weaknesses

  • inability to tax, form/draft an army,
  • no unified currency
  • all 13 states had to amend the AOC
  • no supreme court

Shay’s Rebellion

  • a rebellion of farmers in Massachusetts after the Revolutionary War led by Daniel Shay
  • those that fought in the Revolutionary War were supposed to be paid, but the state was unable to pay and therefore rose taxes
  • response of the taxes and the farmer’s land being taken away
  • created fear of the weak central government which led to the Constitutional Convention
Constitutional Convention

May - September 1787

  • 55 delegates from 13 states
  • originally meant to AMEND the AOC but then later to decide on a new form of government

New Jersey vs Virginia Plans

New Jersey

  • Favored small states
  • Multiple presidents at once
  • One house of Congress
  • Votes based on equality (One state=One vote)

Virginia

  • Favored big states
  • One president
  • Two houses of Congress
  • Votes based on a state’s population (Bigger state=More votes)

Great Compromise :

  • One president of the USA
  • Two houses of Congress
  • Lower house based on population
  • Upper house based on equality
3/5th’s Compromise
  • Slavery was a huge conflict between the North and the South
  • Southern states refused to join the union if slavery was not to be allowed in the new Constitution

3/5ths Compromise

  • Counted slaves as 3/5ths of a person in terms of representation and taxation

Meaning

  • States with high slave population would be disproportionally represented, but not enough for northern states to be angry
Federalists V Anti-Federalists

^^Federalists:^^ prefer a strong national government, a division of power between the State and Fed, later compromised to have a bill of rights to protect individual freedom

  • Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay

^^Anti-Federalists:^^ preferred more power to the states, and wanted a bill of rights for each state

  • Patrick Henty, Sam Adams, John Hancock
6 Principles of the Constitution

^^Popular Sovereignty:^^ Government created by and for the people, peoples rule, a government that exists only with consent of the governed

^^Limited Government^^: Government is restricted in what it may do, and each individual has rights that government cannot take away

^^Federalism:^^ System of government in which a written constitution divides power between a central, or national, government and several regional governments, like the states

^^Seperation of Powers:^^ The central government is separated into three branches, the executive, legislative, and judicial branches

^^Checks and Balances:^^ System of overlapping the powers of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches to permit each branch to check the actions of the others

^^Flexibility:^^ The Constitution is a living document which means that it can be changed according to the changing needs of the country and times

7 Articles of the Constitution

Article 1: The Legislative Branch

  • gives congress its checks and balances
  • makes laws
  • Bicarmel legislature (2 senates for every state)

Article 2: The Executive Branch

  • gives the president and his cabinet powers
  • manages and administrates day to day activities
  • executes laws

Article 3: The Judicial Branch

  • gives fed. court its power
  • establishes the different courts
  • Supreme Court

Article 4: The States

  • defined the relationship between state and fed gov
  • all states are equal
  • Guarantees the states protection and fairness under the federal government
  • Explains the process of how any new states can be formed

Article 5: Amendments

  • lays out formal process for amendments
  • states and congress have the power to start the amendment process

Article 6: Debts, Supremacy & Oaths

  • The constitution is the supreme law of the land and every person is under it
  • Congress, state legislatures, executive offices, and judicial offices must take an oath to the constitution

Article 7: Ratification

  • formal ratification process
  • mentions delegates from the states who originally ratified the constitution
Federalism

^^Federalism:^^ System of government in which a written constitution divides power between a central, or national, government and several regional governments, like the states

^^Bill:^^ legislative proposal before congress, has possibility to become a law being by being signed by the president

^^Supreme Court:^^ Interpret the meaning of a law, to decide whether a law is relevant to a particular set of facts, or to rule on how a law should be applied

Legislative Branch Jobs

  • Comprised of Congress
  • Writes and passes all laws
  • Work together to write laws
  • Represents the interests of the constituents
  • Oversee other government agencies
  • Passes bills

Executive Branch Jobs

  • Main Job= enforce the laws
  • Make treaties with the approval of the Senate
  • Veto and sign bills
  • Represent our nation in talks with foreign countries
  • Enforce the laws that Congress passes
  • Grant pardons
  • Lead political party
  • Recognize foreign countries
  • Leader of the executive branch is the president of the USA
  • The president executes, enforces, and interprets all federal laws
  • Ordinance Power= Power to issue executive orders to carry our constitutional duties. Executive orders have the force of law
  • Appointment Power= Appoints cabinet members, ambassadors, diplomats, cabinet members, heads of agencies, federal judges, and military officers (Senate confirms or rejects nominations)

Cabinet Departments

  • State
  • Treasury
  • Defense
  • Justice
  • Interior
  • Agriculture
  • Commerce
  • Labor
  • Health and Human Services
  • Housing and Urban Develop[ment
  • Transportation
  • Energy
  • Education
  • Veterans Affairs
  • Homeland Security

Judicial Jurisdiction

Judicial: Power of a court to adjudicate cases and issue orders

Federal: Cases that arise under a federal law

  • Ex: A civil rights organization sues a restaurant chain for a policy of discouraging minorities from eating there

State Court: Mostly deals with state laws

  • Hears cases involving events that took place in the state where the court sits or if defendants reside in or are served with a summons and complaint in that state

Concurrent: cases that can be heard in fed or state courts

Appellate: to hear an appealed case

Double jeopardy: prosecutors retrying a case

Supreme: Affecting ambassadors and other public ministers and consuls

  • Disputes between the states
  • Issues that took place at sea
  • Controversies to which the USA is a party

Checks and Balances

  • Ensures that no one branch becomes too powerful
  • The three branches of government work together
Civil vs Criminal

^^Civil:^^ causing harm or violating someone else’s rights, the one believing their rights have been violated in any way is the Plaintiff

  • less evidence that the defendant is guilty
  • pushiments are typically fines, never can result in jail
  • appealed by both plaintiff and defendant

Criminal: a crime was committed, only the gov/state can charge a case against someone,

Punishments

  • fines, incarceration, execution

Cases can be appealed only by defendant