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1) What is political culture? What is the makeup of the political culture in the United States? Give two examples of how the political culture of the United States helps to unite Americans, even in disagreement. A Political Culture is a set of beliefs and practices held by how a person shapes their political behavior, and a person’s attitude about how the government should function. This includes moral judgment, political myths, beliefs, and ideas about what makes a good society. American political culture emphasizes the values of liberty, equality, and democracy. Most of America’s debating is not over whether these issues are important, but how to best go about achieving these ideas. American’s define liberty as freedom, but America believes that liberty should be contained on some levels so they can create a stable society. The definition of freedom is that we can do whatever we want, as long as we do not affect another person’s freedom. American’s want to be able to do what they want, while not affecting someone else. So some rules are set to protect people and create a stable society. Under American law everyone is considered equal, the term equal refers to the many different ways people are treated the same in American society; even if they are not truly equal with each other. Everyone ranges from being poor to rich; they also range in …show more content…
There was no Executive, Legislative, or Judicial branch to help separate powers in the government. There was no president; Congress was the only form of government. The members elected into congress were not voted by individuals but by state. States were allowed to coin their own money, and States could declare war on foreign nations with the consent of congress. The congress could also not tax the states or the people; they could only ask for funds to run the
The book Culture Wars? The Myth of a Polarized America by Morris P. Fiorina, Samuel J. Abrams, and Jeremy C. Pope is a persuasive text regarding America and its division on political topics.
Increasingly over the past two decades and in part thanks to the publication of James Davison Hunter’s book, Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America, the idea of a culture war in American politics has been gaining attention. While the tension between conservatives and liberals is palpable, it’s intensity has proven hard to measure. However, it doesn’t seem that many Americans are polarized on the topic of polarization as most would agree that the culture war is real (Fiorina, 2005). This thinking is what prompted Morris Fiorina to write the book Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America. In it, Fiorina outlines an argument against the idea of a culture war by looking at party affiliation by states, how public opinion on hot button issues changed over time and various explanations for why Americans are so hung up on the topic of polarization. While Fiorina makes a good argument, the evidence supporting the culture war is too powerful to explain away.
There wasn’t any judicial branch, but Congress had the authority to arbitrate disputes between states. Congress was responsible for conducting foreign affairs, declaring war or peace, maintaining an army and navy and a variety of other lesser functions. But the articles denied Congress the power to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce and enforce laws. Because of this, the central government had to request donations from the states to finance its operations and raise armed forces. The states attempted to limit the power of the national government because they feared that it would become a monarchy.
During the articles, the national government consisted of a single house of congress. There was no judicial branch of government, only authority to mediate. The government, formed by the articles, was more of a friendship between the states; this government was also very dependent on the states. The Articles of Confederation left great concerns with the people of th...
Before the adoption of the United States Constitution, the U.S. was governed by the Articles of Confederation. These articles stated that almost every function of the government was chartered by the legislature known as Congress. There was no distinction between legislative or executive powers. This was a major shortcoming in how the United States was governed as many leaders became dissatisfied with how the government was structured by the Articles of Confederation. They felt that the government was too weak to effectively deal with the upcoming challenges. In 1787, an agreement was made by delegates at the Constitutional Convention that a national judiciary needed to be established. This agreement became known as The Constitution of the United States, which explicitly granted certain powers to each of the three branches of the federal government, while reserving other powers exclusively to the states or to the people as individuals. It is, in its own words, “the supreme Law of the Land” (Shmoop Editorial Team).
The Constitution that was created had a strong central government and weaker state governments. Under the Constitution, Congress was given the power to levy taxes, regulate trade between the states, raise an army, control interstate commerce, and more. A three-branch government was established in which a judicial branch handled disputes in a federal court system, a President headed an executive branch, and a legislative branch. Conversely, the anti-federalists believed in weak central and strong state governments, as the way it was in The Articles of Confederation and believed in strict adherence to the writings of the constitution.
After seeing that a government under the Articles of Confederation clearly wouldn’t work, government officials ratified the Constitution. In this new government, George Washington was chosen as the first president. Washington new that he faced many hard tasks and that whatever he did would set a precedent. Congress set up three departments and two offices within the executive branch. Washington chose leading political figures to head them. He picked Thomas Jefferson to head the State Department, which handles relations with other nations. He named Alexander Hamilton to manage the nation's money at the Department of the Treasury. Henry Knox was the choice to look after the nation's defense as the secretary of the Department of War. To address
Soon after the Revolutionary War in America, a new government was started when the Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress. The Articles set up a democratic government that gave the States the power to make their own laws and to enforce them. However, the Articles were ineffective and failed to provide a strong government. During this critical period in the history of the United States, pandemonium and anarchy were growing due to: controlled public, nothing in the Articles that gave Congress the power to enforce laws, no solid monetary system, and also the country lacked unity and strength
A culture is the beliefs and interests of a particular group of people. About 150 years ago, a proud and noble culture was created in the Southern portion of the United States. It was created by Southerners from all walks of life, ranging from the gentry to the "good ol' boys." They loved their culture so much that they created a country. It was a country of blue skies, green hills, beautiful meadows and forests, and old-fashioned Southern hospitality. There were large plantations that grew some of the finest crops in the world. Though this country seemed Utopian, its creation soon instituted the bloodiest war in American history, the War For Southern Independence. The beautiful countryside suddenly became a battlefield. The blue skies turned gray with the smoke of rifles and cannons. The blood of Rebels and Yankees stained the grass as the meadows and forests became overwhelmed with the foul stench of death. Johnny Reb fought hard for what he believed in and what he thought to be right. Though the "boys in gray" lost the greatest battle of their lives, they and their ancestors still hold a special place in their hearts for this short-lived nation. This nation was independent for roughly four years, but the legacy of the Confederate States of America will not be forgotten.
The idea of political culture is found within the state’s history. The history of the state is impacted by the people settled in the region, religious backgrounds, and geography. The history of the state influences the attitudes and beliefs that people hold regarding their political system. Daniel Elazar theorized a connection between the states’ history and attitude towards government by explaining differences in government between states. Every state is different with some common ground. Elazar’s theory divides states into three types: moralistic, traditionalistic and individualistic. The state’s constitution defines the powers of government with political culture bias. Because of the state constitution, the political culture influences the power and limitations of governors, legislative, and judiciaries.
In American history, the elements of the American liberal democratic tradition that were most relevant in the society were individual freedom, economic freedom, equality, and democracy. Liberal democracy refers to the people being the rulers with guarantees of individual freedom and equality and that it focuses on individual liberty as an essential to protecting that liberty. The two biggest challenges that liberal democracy faces are one balancing equality and liberty and the other is balancing the government’s needs for individual freedom and legitimacy. Liberal democracy plays a major role in our society to limit government power in interfering with liberty while as it ensures that the government protects liberties. The elements of
member of a society. The classical definition of political culture is provided by Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba in their book the Civil Culture. According to them, political culture is people’s predominant beliefs, attitudes, values, ideas, sentiments, and evaluation about the political system.” As Eric Rowe (1979: 12) states it, it is “a pattern of individual values, beliefs and emotional
The political culture of the United States of America was founded on foundation beliefs that make democracy successful including liberty, equality, democracy, individualism, rule of law, and capitalism (ushistory.org, 2015). These are the common beliefs that shape our political behavior and are the reason why the United States has succeeded at democracy when other countries have failed. Equality is defined by Oxford Dictionary as the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities.
The political culture of a country is the basic values, attitudes, beliefs, and ideas of the people t...
“The term cultural politics refers to the way that culture—including people’s attitudes, opinions, beliefs and perspectives, as well as the media and arts—shapes society and political opinion, and gives rise to social, economic and legal realities”