Government and the
State
1:1
How Is Government Involved In
Your Life?
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Is Government involved in your life?
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If so, how much?
What is democracy?
Three things to know:
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The purpose of government
The major forms of government
The major concepts of government
What is government?
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Government – The institution through which a
society makes and enforces public policies
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Public Policy – All of the things a gov’t decides to do
 Taxation
 Defense
 Education
 ...and on and on and on and on and on
A Brief History of Government
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Government systems
have been around as
long as humans
A Brief History of Government
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Aristotle – Greek
philosopher
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“Man is by nature a
political animal”
The State
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State – A body of people, living in a defined
territory, organized politically, and able to
make and enforce laws
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4 Parts to a State
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Population
Territory
Sovereignty
Government
Population
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Varies from state to state
Clearly, to have a state, you must have people
Territory
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Land with recognized boundaries
Varies from state to state
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United States – 3.7 Million Sq. Miles
USSR – 6.6 Million Sq. Miles
San Marino – 24 Sq. Miles
Sovereignty
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Every state is sovereign
It has supreme and absolute power within its
boundaries
It can make its own policies, decide its own
future
Determine its own form of Gov’t
Sovereignty
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States within the United States are not
sovereign
Whomever holds the power in a state is of
extreme importance
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Determines what kind of Gov’t you will have
Government
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Government consists of the machinery and the
personnel by which the state is ruled
Every state is politically organized
Many different forms of Gov’t
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The power to rule can be enforced many different ways
Origins of the State
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Four Theories:
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Force Theory
Evolutionary Theory
Divine Right Theory
Social Contract Theory
Force Theory
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Theorists believe the
state may have been
born through force
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One person or a group
claimed control of an area
and forced people to abide
by their rule
Evolutionary Theory
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Primitive Family – The head of the household
ruled over the family >
Clan – The original family has offspring
and eventually the connected families become a
clan >
Tribe – The clan abandons its nomadic
ways and the state is born
Divine Right Theory
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The state is created by God, who in turn has
bestowed upon royalty a “divine right” to rule
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Subjects are bound to obey their ruler as they
would God
Present day democracy was / is a challenge to
Divine Right
Many civilizations used this theory to
determine government systems
Social Contract Theory
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Significant to the American political system
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Developed in France in the 17th and 18th centuries
The building blocks of democracy
Social Contract
Thomas Hobbes:
“state of nature”
“nasty, brutish,
and short”
only the strongest
survived
Social Contract
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Humans overcame this lifestyle by agreeing to
form the state
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Giving up to get
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The people had, by contract, giving up some of their rights in
return for stable and agreeable government
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Contract = Constitution
The state arose out of a voluntary act of free
people
Social Contract
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3 Things Social Contract Theory Says:
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1. State exists only to serve the will of the people
2. The people are the sole source of political power
3. The people are free to give or take power away
Social Contract Concepts
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Popular Sovereignty
Limited Government
Individual Rights
The Purpose of Government
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Preamble of the Constitution
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To Form a More Perfect Union
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To Establish Justice
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Linking people together, power in numbers
The law must be reasonable, fair, and impartial
To Insure Domestic Tranquility
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Keeping the peace at home
Purpose of Government
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To Provide For the Common Defense
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To Promote the General Welfare
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Defending against foreign nations
Tasks the government performs for your benefit
To Secure the Blessings of Liberty
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No person can be free to do what he or she pleases
“You can only be free, if I am free.”
- Clarence Darrow
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“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”
- T. Jefferson
The Best Laid Plans Are Flexible
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It is up to each new generation to abide by and
grow with and upon these beliefs
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The Constitution was made to stretch