Katherine Walker
Dr. Williams
Pols 1101-B
Assignment 2
1.) Explain the differences between the Georgia Constitution and the U.S. Constitution.
Georgia's constitution and the U.S constitution differ in various ways. For example, Georgia's
constitution contains a Bill of Rights specifically for the state. Each state has their own personal
guideline for the citizens and leaders. The U.S constitution contains, more so, the requirements
and duties assigned to each federal governmental leader and divides the national government
into three branches. As stated in our book, The Constitutional Foundation, states have more
power now than ever before. The states, in many ways, have more power than the federal
government. States can implement their own laws and regulations that exceed those of the
federal government. However, state laws cannot violate federal laws. For instance, if Georgia
wanted to prohibit women from voting, that would violate the 19th amendment established in
the U.S constitution. The U.S constitution also describes the relationship between the national
government and the states.
2.) Discuss Interest Groups in Georgia from the perspective of: (Allen and Saeger, p. 43-45 and
Internet Research)
Interest groups in Georgia are various in their importance to the people and influence on the
public and their leaders. Successful interest groups in Georgia have a substantial amount of
capital and emphasis on what they are trying to accomplish. For example, education is
extremely important to the leaders and people in Georgia. Therefore, the Georgia Association of
Educators is highly rated and widely accepted. Interest groups also attempt to influence the
public by lobbying and campaign financing. Lobbying is defined as, the act of attempting to
influence business and government leaders to create legislation or conduct an activity that will
help a particular organization. Lobbyists’ central motive is to gain access to decision making.
Today, that access is available with a considerable amount of information. Most of the time the
information submitted by the lobbyists, answers questions and concerns our representatives
have. In addition, interest groups conduct public relation campaigns to convince the public and
their leaders to concur with their ideas or point of view. Interest groups also encourage and
sometimes fund the campaigns for certain governmental officials. This is a win-win situation
because they help support the persons agreeing with their ideas and also advertise for
themselves.