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- Politics is deciding do gets what when where and how
- Government is the rules and institutions that make up policymaking
- Democracy is rule by the people
- Can be direct or indirect
- D: All citizens are part of the government and have ability to engage in policymaking and therefore politics
- I: Republic, representative government where the people elect people to rule for them
- Demos=people
- Natural Rights:
- Life, Liberty and Property
- Derived from John Locke
- Essential rights of mankind, inalienable, if taken away we are not living lives as humans
- Agreement between the people and the government is the social contract
- State of Nature
- Life before government
- Anything could be done
- Humans decided that they could give up some of those freedoms to a higher power called a government, and agree to those rules to be safe
- Interested in protecting their natural inalienable rights
- Your obligation to follow the rules
- Government must protect rights and people must follow the laws
- Rights taken away if laws are broken
- If the people don’t approve of the government or the government isn’t protecting their rights, they have the right to revolt
- Popular sovereignty
- Legitimacy comes from the people
- Declaration of independence is a statement, not a governing document
- Based on the ideas of John Locke
- Contradicts Hobbes
- Says that the government needs to be strong and control everything to protect from brutish people
- Founders end up choosing the Locke path
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Declaration of Independence
- Outlines the goals of the American political structure and culture
- How do you protect liberty?
- Separation of powers
- Montesquieu
- To avoid tyranny you take the basic functions of government and split them up into different groups/branches/bodies like we have today
- If one person had all this power, it is a tyranny
- Federalism
- Powers are divided between the federal and state governments
- Theories of Democracy
- Participatory
- Why is it spreading participation?
- Joining civil service groups, clubs, etc.
- Groups outside of governmental control
- Widespread participation
- Pluralism
- Democracy works best so that the most possible people’s interests are served
- National groups like the NAACP that try to push policies and organize votes
- Elite
- Dinner With Democracy
- Dining with neighbors is people talking about themselves
- If you are a representative, you need to help ALL people, and there is a lot of pressure
- Less empathy and connection, more of a battle to keep job
- DOI → Goals in Question
- Articles of Confederation are the first answer
- Constitution becomes “the answer” to the goals set out in the DOI
- Putnam has a bleak view on participatory democracy
- Fearmongering by the media creates fear and negative social capital
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Articles of Confederation
- Creates a confederacy
- System of government with weak federal and strong state governments
- Direct reaction to British tyrannical government
- People in the south and north have distrust and different economies, cultures, etc
- Want to govern themselves but want the benefit of being one nation
- This is participatory government because it is a more intimate relationship in between the citizens and the government
- More likely to speak to lowest level that is closer to you
- Government is responsive to the people
- Creates a friendship between the states but has some centralized powers
- System of government designed to not do anything
- Congress → State governments actually have the power
- Congress only had select powers:
- Foreign policy, war, coin, weights, punish pirates, appoint officers, borrow money
- States could do everything else
- Taxation, enforcement of laws, courts, regulate trade in their state
- Unicameral congress that can only do what is said in the AoC
- For all legislative laws, 9/13 states had to approve
- But, it was up to the states to execute the laws
- To amend the AoC, it needed unanimously all 13 states
- Limited powers to prevent tyranny
- Central government cannot tax
- No way to raise money except for the national fund
- All taxation occurred at the state level
- States enforce all laws, there is no president
- No judicial branch, states decide everything
- Can’t regulate interstate commerce
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Shays Rebellion
- Debt from war (debtor)
- Could land in debtor prison, fought for the country but could be jailed
- Would lose his right to vote that he fought for
- Blame is on national government for not paying back war bonds
- Congress doesn’t have money to pay these bonds
- Economy is tanked because there is no money and too many currencies
- State government is dominated by rich men from Boston
- They have their own issues with debt at the state level and decide to tax people based on the amount of land they own
- Falls on farmers, who have no money
- County courts begin proceedings to seize farmers’ land because they can’t pay back their debt and taxes
- Shays and like-minded people rebel and begin seizing courthouses and stopping the functions of government
- Federal government/Congress do not have any power/money to quell the rebellion
- Wealthy people in Boston get together and hire a private army to put the rebellion down
- Not how government should function
- Wealthy planters would benefit off stronger government
- No taxation
- State controlled trade, no regulations
- Going into constitutional convention with ideas of strengthening the government
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Constitutional Convention
- Met in Philadelphia, 1787
- 55 Delegates behind closed doors
- Encourages free expression with no media contact
- Virginia Plan
- Developed by James Madison
- Calls for 3 branch bicameral
- Legislature based off of population of state
- Benefits larger states but represents the population better
- Rejects state sovereignty
- National government has supremacy over state governments
- New Jersey Plan
- Every state gets one vote no matter their population
- Unicameral legislature
- Gives additional powers to Congress
- Regulating commerce, raising revenue
- National Supremacy
- Connecticut Plan - Compromise
- Takes the two plans and combines them
- Bicameral legislature
- Senate: 2 votes per state
- House of Representatives: votes based off of population
- National Supremacy
- Congress gets additional powers
- A compromise between the large and small states
- Slavery
- A large portion of the southern population is slaves
- Aren’t considered citizens and can’t vote
- Southern states want the slaves to be included in the population count, but it is a fundamental hypocrisy
- Leads to 3/5 compromise, where a slave is worth 3/5 people
- Boosts Southern numbers and the amount of Southern representatives
- Slave Trade Compromise
- Cannot discuss or ban slave importation for 20 years
- Fugitive slave clause
- Regardless of what state a slave flees to, state lines can be passed to catch them
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Constitutional Principles
- Protect the way that the government can affect the people’s rights
- Separation of powers
- Legislative
- Executive
- Judicial
- Designed so that the federal government doesn’t become a tyranny
- Each branch checks and balances the power of the others
- Cannot act independently of each other
- Federalism
- Separation of powers between the state and federal governments
- Limited Government
- Government can only do what the law says
- Popular Sovereignty
- Government exists for the people and their power rests with the people