VOCABULARY WORDS
VOCABULARY
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amendment—a change in the constitution.
bicameral—having or consisting of two
legislative chambers or houses.
bill of attainder —a person could be called
guilty and be put to death without a jury,
without a court hearing, and without real
proof of guilt.
Cabinet—the heads of the President’s
executive departments.
census—a count of the people.
VOCABULARY
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checks and balances —a system in which political
power is divided among the three branches of
government, with each having some control over the
others.
domestic—having to do with home; affairs within
the country.
due process —federal and state governments
cannot deprive an individual of life, liberty, or
property by unfair or unreasonable actions.
elector—one who elects; persons elected by the
voters to vote for President and Vice-president.
ex post facto —a law which punishes a person for
something which was not against the law when the
person did it.
VOCABULARY
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filibuster—a tactic, often a lengthy speech or
debate, designed to delay the Senate’s vote on a
bill.
habeas corpus—“you shall have the body”; a court
order that requires a judge to evaluate whether
there is sufficient cause for keeping a person in
jail.
impeach—to accuse a government officer of doing
wrong.
judicial review —the power of the courts to
establish the constitutionality of national, state, or
local acts of government.
jurisdiction—the right to rule; refers to a court
which has the right to rule over other courts.
VOCABULARY
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majority—when the number of votes for one side
are more than half of all the votes.
naturalize—to give the rights of a U.S. citizen to a
person who was born in another country.
pardon—to excuse a person completely from
punishment of a crime.
popular sovereignty —the fundamental principle
that the power to govern belongs to the people and
that government must be based on the consent of
the governed.
quorum—the number of members needed to be able
to go ahead and do business.
VOCABULARY
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reprieve—a delay of punishment; the
President delays a person’s death.
revenue—money coming into the government,
usually in the form of taxes.
suffrage—the right to vote.
treason—fighting or working against your
own nation.
veto—the power to stop or say not to
something in government; to turn down a bill.
PRINCIPLES OF
GOVERNMENT
Government and the State
Forms of Government
Basic Concepts of Democracy
What is Government?
• The institution through which a society makes
and enforces its public policies.
• It is made up of those people who exercise its
powers
• Governments have power to make and carry out
public policies
• Every government exercises three basic kinds
of power: legislative, executive and judicial
• They are often confined to a constitution, or body of
fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures
and processes of a government
Types of Government
• Dictatorship
• Those who rule cannot be held responsible to the will
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of the people
The responsibility to exercise the power is left up to
a single person or small group of people
Sometimes identified as either autocracies or
oligarchies
Autocracy: single person holds all power
Oligarchy: small self-appointed elite rule
Modern dictatorships are more totalitarian—
exercising complete power over nearly every aspect
of human affairs
Types of Government
• Democracy
• Supreme authority lies with the people
• Majority rules
• Direct or Indirect
• Direct = pure democracy
• Does not exist at the national level
• Indirect = representative democracy
• American form of government
Types of Government
• Unitary
• All powers held by the government belong to a
central agency
• Examples: GB Parliament
• Don’t confuse with a dictatorship: the central
government does not hold all power necessarily, and
in this way it is more democratic
• Federal Government
• Powers divided between central government and local
governments
• The division of powers is essential
• Each of the 50 states is Unitary, not Federal, in
form
Types of Government
• Presidential Government
• Separation of powers between executive and legislative
• The U.S. is the World’s leading presidential government
• Parliamentary Government
• Executive is a prime minister or premier
• The PM and Cabinet are members of the legislature
• The Legislature controls the executive
• The PM only retains power if a majority of the parliament
sides with him
• If not, he may receive a vote of “no confidence” and a new
PM may be elected
• Avoids the problems of a presidential government
• Most common form of government in the world today
OUR POLITICAL
BEGINNINGS
Beginnings of American Government
Coming of independence
Critical Period
Basic Concepts
• 3 Ideas that define our system
• Ordered Government
• Limited Government
• Representative Government
• Where did these Ideas Come From?
• Magna Carta
• Petition of Rights
• Bill of Rights
Pivotal Documents
• Magna Carta
• Trial by jury
• Due Process
• Private Property
• English Bill of
Rights
• No cruel punishment
• No excessive bail or
fines
• Right to bear arms
• Right to petition
• Petition of Right
• Challenged the idea of
Divine Right of Kings
• No Martial Law may be
imposed
• No unlawful
imprisonment
• Virginia Bill of Rights
• No unreasonable
searches and seizures
• Freedom of speech
• Freedom of the press
• Freedom of religion
English Colonies
• Each of the colonies were built for
different reasons, and so they all had
different plans, but they all were shaped by
their English heritage
• Each was established on the basis of a
charter, a written grant from the king
• This led to the development of three types
of colonies: royal, proprietary, and charter
Royal Colonies
• Subject to the direct control of the Crown
• By 1775 there were 8 Royal Colonies
• The king appointed the governor
• A council was also named by the king
• The colony elected its own legislature to
create a bicameral legislature
• Laws passed by the legislature had to be
approved by the governor and the Crown
Proprietary Colonies
• Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware
• Organized by a proprietor, or person whom
the King had granted land
• William Penn and Lord Baltimore were the
proprietors
• The Proprietor chose the governor and each
colony had its own legislatures
Charter Colonies
• Connecticut and Rhode Island
• Largely self-governing
• Governors were elected each year by the
white male property owners
• The Crown’s approval was not needed
The Coming of Independence
• By the 1700s the relationship between the
colonies and the Crown had become Federal
• Many freedoms were granted to the
colonies prior to 1760—giving them the idea
that they could govern themselves
• George III came to power and changed it
all
• New Direct Taxes were installed as well as
many of their freedoms were taken away
Growing Colonial Unity
• New England Confederation—”league of
friendship”
• The Albany Plan—Benjamin Franklin
• 1754 seven northern colonies
• Purpose: to discuss the problems of colonial
trade and the danger of attacks by French and
Indians
• Franklin proposed the annual congress of
delegates to meet yearly
• Turned down by the colonists and the Crown
Growing Colonial Unity
• Stamp Act Congress
• Stamp Act passed in 1765
• 9 Colonies met to pass a declaration of rights
and grievances
• Stamp Act repealed
• First time majority of colonies worked together
• Protests will stir from the passage of new acts
following the repeal of the Stamp Act
First Continental Congress
• Spring 1774—Parliament passed new acts to
punish Boston for the Tea Party
• Delegates from every colony except Georgia
met in Philadelphia in September 1774
• They debated plans for action
• The members of the delegation called for
the boycott of all trade with England
• They promised to meet again the following
May
Second Continental Congress
• May 1775
• By this time, the Revolution had begun
• The battles of Lexington and Concord had been
fought three weeks earlier on April 19
• Every colony sent representatives
• John Hancock was elected president
• Washington was appointed Commander in Chief of
the military
• 2nd Continental Congress served as our nations
first government—no constitutional basis
• Adopted the Declaration of Independence 1776
• Adopted the Articles of Confederation 1781
Declaration
“Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought
to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved
from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political
connection between them and the State of Great Britain is,
and ought to be, totally dissolved.”
--Richard Henry Lee, Virginia
• Continental Congress formed a committee to
debate this resolution
• On July 2nd, the resolution was passed, and the
Declaration of Independence was signed
• July 4th, all signatures were received and the
declaration was announced
• 56 men from 13 colonies had signed away their
allegiance and gave birth to a new nation
First State Constitutions
• By January 1776 (before the Declaration had
even been written), several colonies began
adopting state constitutions to replace their
royal charters
• Massachusetts has the oldest present-day
State Constitution (1780)
• Most common features:
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Popular sovereignty
Limited government
Civil rights and liberties
Separation of powers
Checks and balances
Articles of Confederation
• Approved November 15, 1777
• 13 states were needed to ratify
• One vote per state
• Congress could not lay and collect taxes or
duties
• No executive branch
• No national court system
• All had to agree on amendments
• 9/13 majority required to pass laws
• Established only a “firm league of friendship”
• States retained a majority of the power
Critical Period
• The A of C served as our nations government
for the duration of the war
• With the Central government unable to act,
States grew increasingly jealous and suspicious
of one another
• States taxed one another, printed their own
money, and even banned some trade
• Delegates finally decided to meet in Annapolis
in September 1786, but attendance was poor
so they set another meeting for the following
May
• By February 1787, seven states had
designated delegates to attend the convention
Creating the Constitution
• 12 of the 13 states sent delegates (RI did
not)
• Met May 25, 1787 through the summer
• They worked in secrecy
• Originally only planned to modify current A
of C
• James Madison believed it a lost cause and
worked hard to convince everyone the same
• Several compromises were made to piece
together the final outcome
Compromises
• VA Plan
• 3 separate branches
• Legislature would be bicameral
• H of R based on population and/or amount of money
provided toward central government
• Senate = 2 votes no matter the size
• Congress retained all powers it had under A of C
• Congress would elect the executive and judiciary
• Veto power granted to executive and judiciary
• All officers take an oath to support the Union
• This plan would set the ground work for much
of the convention, but some smaller states
believed it was too radical
Compromises
• NJ Plan
• Unicameral Congress
• Each State equally represented
• Added limited powers to tax and regulate
interstate commerce
• Called for a federal executive of more than one
person—chosen by Congress
• Judiciary appointed by executive
• Major question revolving around the two
plans: How would the states be
represented?
Compromises
• Connecticut Compromise
• Congress = 2 houses, based on population, and
equal representation
• 3 branches of government
• This was so pivotal in the writing of the
Constitution that it has often been called
the Great Compromise
Compromises
• 3/5th’s
• How to settle the dispute with population
counting and slaves?
• Northern states (who had largely freed their
slaves) did not want slaves to be counted toward
population, but they wanted the South to pay
taxes on their “property”
• Southern States wanted the opposite
• Compromised: 3 out of every 5 slaves counted
toward population and taxes would be paid
Compromises
• Commerce and Slave Trade
• Congress was forbidden to tax exports from
States
• Also forbidden to mess with slave trade for a
period of 20 years—1807 would be the last year
the slave trade existed in the U.S.
Sources of the Constitution
• Ideas for compromises and parts of the
Constitution came from these writings, and
more:
• William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws
of England
• Baron de Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws
• Jean Jacques Rousseau’s Social Contract
• John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government
• The Framer’s also drew on their own
experiences
Federalist and Ant-Federalist
• Federalists:
• Stressed the
weaknesses of the A
of C
• Argued for
ratification “as is”
• Federalist Papers
written by James
Madison, John Jay,
Alexander Hamilton
• Anti-Federalist:
• Attacked nearly every
part of the new document
• Objected to the
ratification process and
the absence of God
• Objected to the denial of
States to print their own
money, the increased
powers of the central
government
• Biggest concern: no bill of
rights
Compromise and Ratification
• Compromised: Federalists promised a bill of
rights if all would ratify the Constitution
• Anti-Federalists agreed
• September 13, 1788—11 out of 13 states had
ratified
• Congress chose New York as the location of
the new government
• The President was elected the following
winter/spring
• The new Congress met on March 4, 1789
• Washington was elected unanimously by the
electors and was sworn in on April 30, 1789
THE
CONSTITUTION
BASIC PRINCIPLES
• Our Constitution,
together with the
Bill of Rights, is a
blueprint for
government, the
rules that must be
followed.
BASIC PRINCIPLES
• More importantly, the Constitution and
the amendments protect our basic
values: democracy, justice, equality, and,
of course the delicate balance between
liberty and order.
AMAZING FACTS
• The Constitution is
the Supreme Law of
the Land and consists
of about 4,500 words
• It is the OLDEST
written document of
its kind in the world
today
• While so much has
changed in the last
224 years the
Constitution has
changed very little
AMAZING FACTS
• Established on November 26,
1789, the first national
"Thanksgiving Day" was
originally created by George
Washington as a way of "giving
thanks" for the Constitution.
• More than 11,000 amendments
have been introduced in
Congress. Thirty three have
gone to the states to be
ratified and twenty seven have
received the necessary
approval from the states to
actually become amendments
to the Constitution.
• It is considered so valuable that
it is stored in a bullet-proof
case, with helium and water
added to protect the paper. At
night, it is kept in a vault
designed to withstand a nuclear
explosion. Only page one and
four are on display daily. The
Constitution is called the “living
document” because it can be
changed by amendments to meet
any challenges that may arise.
• One of the amendments in the
original Bill of Rights that the
states considered was a
requirement that each
representative in the House of
Representatives only represent
50,000 people.
BASIC PRINCIPLES
• The Constitution reflects the Founders’
belief that controls had to be placed on
both the governed and the governors.
• The Founders carefully crafted the
Constitution to rest on basic principles that
reflect a near-perfect balance: popular
sovereignty, separation of powers, checks
and balances, limited government and
federalism.
POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY
• The Founders
believed that
government must be
based on the
consent of the
governed.
• In other words, the
people must agree
on who their rulers
will be.
•The Founders wanted the people to be the
most important source of governmental
power; therefore, they incorporated Popular
Sovereignty into the Constitution
SEPARATION OF POWERS
• One way the Constitution prevents one
person or group from controlling the
government is to separate the powers
among the 3 Branches—it was called the
Separation of Powers.
Congress
-make the laws-
President
-enforces laws-
Courts
-interprets laws-
CHECKS AND BALANCES
“Ambition must be made to counteract
ambition”—James Madison
• The framers didn’t believe that
separation of powers was enough to
prevent both oppression by rulers and
tyranny of the majority.
LIMITED GOVERNMENT
• Our government does not hold all the
power and it does only those things that
we allow it to do.
FEDERALISM
• Reflects the Founders’ desire to balance
liberty and order.
• The Articles of Confederation gave too
much power to the States and not
enough to the central government
• Federalism spreads—and splits—the
powers between national and state
governments.
STRUCTURE
• 3 Parts:
Preamble
Articles
Amendments
(including the Bill of Rights)
PREAMBLE
• The Preamble lists SIX
Goals…Can you name
them?
• …form a more perfect
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union…
…establish justice…
…insure domestic
tranquility…
…provide for the common
defense…
…promote the general
welfare…
…secure the blessings of
liberty…
ARTICLES
• There are 7 Articles in the Constitution and
each of them serves a different function.
Articles 1-3 create the three branches of
government
Article 4 explains what the government can do and
what powers are left to the states
Article 5 explains the process for amending the
Constitution
Article 6 refers to the importance of the
Constitution over state laws—The Constitution is the
Supreme Law of the Land
Article 7 outlines the ratification process
AMENDMENTS
• How many
amendments are
there?
• Which amendments
are known as the Bill
of Rights?
• 27—none of them
change the basic
principle of the
Constitution
• The first 10—written
in part to convince
the state legislatures
to ratify the
Constitution