POLITICAL SCIENCE DISCUSSION 1

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IntroductoryLecture.pptx
Ch_2_Constitution_.pptx
Ch_3_Federalism.pptx

IntroductoryLecture.pptx

U.S. Government

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Introductory Lecture

Keys to Course Success

Being prepared (having done the reading)

Answering discussion questions thoughtfully

Emailing me if you have concerns or questions

Coming to office hours if you need concept clarification

What is government?

What would life be like without government?

Why do we need government?

What do you think government should be like?

Ways of Resolving Major Questions

Politics

Process of influencing actions and policies of a government.

Nation, state, locality, or community

Describes processes

Government

System of rules and institutions that defines and shapes the contours of public action.

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Politics

Includes civil society and institutions of rule

Confers mutual advantages

We give up something in exchange for something

Distribution of power

Who gets what and how?

What about why they get things?

People Matter, But So Do Ideas

Inalienable Rights

Rights that exist before and above any government powers

“Self-Evident” truths included in Declaration of Independence

Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness

Liberty

Commitment to social, political, and economic freedoms.

Freedom from interference by government

Freedom to pursue one’s dreams

Equality

Equality of opportunity vs. Equality of outcome

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Privileges vs. inalienable rights

Privileges can be granted and taken away by government

Rights cannot be taken away

Desire to safeguard individual’s rights led to complex structure of American political institutions in the Constitution of the United States (Chapter 2).

Liberty

Commitment to social, political and economic freedoms.

Freedom from interference by government

Freedom to pursue one’s dreams

Degree to which American government should focus on freedom from or freedom to remains hotly debated topic in American Politics.

Equality – social, political and economic

Difference between Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Outcome

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Democracy

Democracy (from Greek “demos”, meaning “people” and “kratos”, or power)

Power is held by the people

Had been instituted in the city-states of ancient Greece, particularly Athens.

Athenian democracy was far from universal

Full citizenship was restricted to free males who owned property

Direct democracy vs representative democracy

Direct Democracy: Citizens vote directly on public policies

Representative Democracy: voters select representatives who then vote on matters of public policies.

Modern definition of democracy

A system of government where power is held by people in that society

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On Natural Rights

Natural Rights

Rights that people have inherently (born with)

Not granted by any government

Social Contract

Agreement by which people give to their governments the ability to rule over them to have an orderly and functioning society.

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David Hume

Explored idea that there could be a science of politics

Modern study of political science

Given historical tendency of leaders to abuse power, a just government should be carefully designed

Applying lessons of science and history to keep greedy and ambitious from using political power to their own advantage.

Major contributor to the discipline of Political Science

Systematic study of the ways in which individuals and institutions shape political outcomes

Really a science?

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Natural Rights and the Social Contract

American Revolution was based heavily on ideas of modern political thought and the European Enlightenment

Reason and science were applied to better understand the physical and social worlds

John Locke

argued against divine or God-given right of kings to rule with absolute power

argued people are born with natural rights which kings cannot give or take away

legitimate government was one that involves a social contract in which people give government the ability to rule over them in order to have an orderly and functioning society

if government breaks social contract by violating natural rights then people have the right to replace the unjust government

Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu

affirmed ideas of natural rights and social contract in institutional form

Separation of Powers (branches of government)

Checks and Balances

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Natural Law and the Declaration of Independence: The Case Against Bad Government

Opening paragraphs of Declaration of Independence lay out philosophy of natural rights forming basis for justification of pursuing independence

Middle section lists grievances and complaints against the King

Last section apples ideals of natural rights to the justification of independence for the entire world

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Deletion of charges against the King on the issue of slavery.

First section of deleted charges accused King of violating natural rights by allowing the slave trade to continue.

Jefferson was, himself, a slave owner and wrestled with the contradiction of asserting natural rights while operating a plantation with slaves.

Second deleted section charged the King with trying to incite slave rebellions in the colonies.

Spoke directly to the fears of many Southern plantation owners.

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American Revolution

Militarily and politically, the American Revolution wasn’t technically a revolution.

King George III not overthrown

British Empire remained intact

Was a revolution of ideas

Idea of a government based upon natural rights and individual liberty

Influenced later revolutions around the world

Building, rebuilding and reshaping political institutions that structure the protection and expression of American natural rights in a representative democracy.

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INSTITUTIONS MATTER, TOO

Political institutions structure how citizens may be involved in government and politics.

Rules, laws, and structures that channel and shape political action

Types of government vary by who has power and how power is used/administered

Differing forms of government distribute power in differing ways

Totalitarian regimes

Monarchies

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Differing forms of government distribute power in differing ways

Totalitarian – admit no limitations on their own power, no competing centers of political power.

Authoritarian – suppress the voices of citizens to maintain grip on power but may have some economic or social institutions not under government control that serve to moderate government’s power

Monarchies – ruled by royal figures and admit no external challenge to claims of ruler

Oligarchies – ruled by small group of powerful elites with no challenge to claims of power

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INSTITUTIONS MATTER, TOO

Constitution

Most important institution in American political life is the United States Constitution.

Forms the basis of the nation’s government and creates a host of political institutions through which conflict over political power is resolved.

Places textual and institutional limits on power and actions of government.

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America is a Constitutional Republic

The United States is institutionally and fundamentally a Constitutional Republic.

Americans elect representatives to make most of the laws and policies in the nations instead of voting on them directly.

Limits are placed upon the power of government to infringe upon people’s rights.

Constitution is recognized as the highest and most supreme law of the land.

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Ch_2_Constitution_.pptx

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES: Practical Politics and a New Vision of Representative Government

Chapter 2

Colonization and Revolution

Colonial Independence and Autonomy

First permanent settlement created at Jamestown, Virginia (April 1607). Not first attempt, but was most enduring.

Heavy and long-lasting impact on indigenous native peoples and imported slaves.

Colonists who established Jamestown were backed, funded, and supported by the Virginia Company.

Private company chartered to exploit resources of North America for benefit of Great Britain and the company’s investors.

Hoped to find gold, harvest forest products, and find possible trade routes.

Initial political and economic structure of colonies allowed them to develop and operate independently from Britain.

Virginia developed their own elected legislative assembly in 1619 called House of Burgesses

Started a tradition of self-government and independence that was common to all of the 13 colonies.

With independence came a resistance to being told what to do

AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Enlarging scope of British Involvement in Colonies

Revenue Act 1764 (also called Sugar Act)

Stamp Act of 1765

Townshend Acts of 1767

Intolerable Acts implemented following Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party as retribution for American dissent

Revenue Act 1764 (also called Sugar Act)

A law passed by Great Britain in 1764 that taxed sugar and molasses and concerned and angered New England merchants

Townsend Acts of 1767

taxed goods that were imported from Great retain and were unpopular in the colonies.

Stamp Act of 1765

A highly unpopular law designed to raise revenue by requiring the purchase of stamps for newspapers, legal papers and other documents.

Colonists were concerned about what else might be taxed and increasingly resisted and protested British interference.

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Institutionalizing Independence

By 1775, Revolutionary war begins at Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts.

Second Continental Congress would remain government of the United States until 1781 when a new government of American design would take over.

Three groups of citizens during Revolutionary War

Loyalists – opposed independence

Radicals (patriots) – supported armed conflict with England

Moderates – agreed a show of force might be necessary only to serve the ultimate end of a negotiated settlement.

Other divisions between slave and non-slave holding states, large and small colonies and urban and rural colonists.

Opponents of independence had many valid arguments

Full war would probably result in loss

Hopelessly outclassed militarily

Failure would mean execution for treason

Many elites worried independence, even if it could not be obtained, would possibly lead to chaos and anarchy.

Mob violence had not been forgotten

Radical Arguments

Were already in armed conflict with Great Britain with some success

Public opinion was moving in their direction thanks to Paine’s “Common Sense”

Radicals had actions of British Government and its administrators to thank for shifting balance in their direction.

June 7, 1776 Richard Henry Lee of Virginia offers motion in Congress declaring “that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states…”

Congress Acts on Lee’s arguments on July 2nd 1776 and approves Declaration of Independence on July 4th.

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Establishing Foundations

Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union: A constituting document calling for the creation of a union of 13 sovereign states in which the states, not the union, were supreme.

Constitution: A document that defines and creates a people politically, sets out the fundamental principles of governance, and creates the rules and institutions through which a people choose to self-govern.

Republic: A government ruled by representatives of the people.

Movement For Constitutional Convention

Conditions in the United States following the American Revolution raised concerns about the new nation, and how advocates for a stronger national government seized these concerns to propose a new form of government.

James Madison wanted to form a republic that would last.

Kingdoms and Empires had endured but, without exception, all previous republics had eventually died.

Constitutional Foundations

Prior to and during the Constitutional Convention, many Americans did not want to replace the Articles of Confederation for a variety of reasons.

Some feared a national government that would be too-strong.

Those in smaller, less populous states feared the potential for replacement of equal state representation with representation based on population (giving advantage to more populous states).

Proponents of the new government seized on crises and the potential for crises, domestic and foreign, to push their agenda forward.

Shay’s Rebellion

Led by “regulators” against government leaders (particularly judges and courts) in reaction to loss of property to rich elites after Revolutionary War.

Constitutional Foundations

The Constitution was shaped by the strategic political choices of those involved in its drafting.

The delegates to the Grand Convention were not charged with drafting a new Constitution, but only to propose possible changes to the Articles of Confederation.

Since each state wanted something different from the new Constitution, debates regarding apportionment of delegates and power of the national vs. state governments were central to a series of debates over what form of government would ultimately result.

Foundations

Constitutional Convention: a meeting held in Philadelphia in 1787 where state delegates met to fix the Articles of Confederation.

Great Compromise: Drawing upon both the Virginia and New Jersey Plans, an agreement for a plan of government that settled issues of state representation by calling for a bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives elected proportionately and a Senate elected equally.

New Jersey Plan: a plan of government that preserved much of the Articles of Confederation, including the unicameral legislature with equal votes for each states, but that strengthened the confederal government.

Virginia Plan: a plan of government calling for a strong national government with three branches of government, and a bicameral legislature with legislators elected using proportional representation.

Constitutional Government

The idea of separation of powers influenced the decision to create three separate, but connected, branches of the federal government.

Three separate and distinct branches of government

Executive – Carries out laws

Legislative – Makes laws on behalf of the people

Judicial – Interprets laws

The Issue of Slavery

Constitution contains several provisions that allowed the founders to “skip past“ the issue of slavery

Constitutional ban on prohibition of slavery for 20 years (until 1808).

Three-Fifths Compromise

ensured that slaves – called “other persons“ in the Constitution – would count as three-fifths of a person for their state’s representation.

Slaves would not vote or be represented, but their numbers would boost the influence of the slave states in which they were held in captivity because by being counted among the population, slave holding states would be allotted more members of congress.

Constitutional requirement for any slave who leaves a slave state and goes to a free state be returned to the state from which they left. Treated slaves as property to be returned, not people.

Ratification Details

The proposed Constitution had to be ratified by nine of the 13 states in order to replace the Articles of Confederation.

Proponents and opponents of the Constitution tried to rally others to their side and convince individuals of their positions.

THE FIGHT FOR RATIFICATION

In New York, pro-ratification articles called The Federalist Papers offered insightful analysis of the principles of American government.

Constitution adopted in 1788 after ninth state approved (New Hampshire).

Last state (Rhode Island) approved in 1790

Congress presented Bill of Rights for Constitution after ratification; states adopted Bill of Rights in 1791.

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Ratification

The ratification campaigns in the states involved appeals to fear, but also the need to make convincing arguments about the proper structure of government.

Uncertainty about how powerful the proposed federal government would eventually become informed many of the debates between Federalists and Antifederalists.

CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

Framers provided two methods for amending Constitution:

Amendment introduced to Congress and, if approved by a 2/3 vote of both houses, submitted to the states for ratification

National convention called by Congress to propose amendment if requested by 2/3 of state legislatures

To be adopted, amendments must be ratified by 3/4 of the states.

The Framers intended Constitution to be adaptable to change, but difficult to amend.