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American Government quizlet
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“The Logic of American Government,” written by Samuel Kernell, Gary C. Jacobson, Thad Kousser, and Lynn Vavreck has many interesting facts about the history of our government. The book has many differences, but also many similarities between the first five chapters. The first chapter, The Logic of Politics, is related to our independence and shift of government and the constitution was created as laws for the new country to abide by in chapter two, The Constitution. With rules we needed a system of government, which is taught in chapter three, Federalism. From the new system of federalism, the people of the country wanted to be treated as equals and have the same rights, as read in chapter four, Civil Rights. Although with the newly found civil …show more content…
First our country had to fight as one for the right to be free from Britain’s hold on the American people. After the victorious battle against Britain, the American people wanted their own system of government, but did not want the government to hold too much power. The nation wanted to be a government based on Democracy, not Monarchy. To make sure that the government did not hold too much power the citizens created the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution acted as a set of rules/government to protect the people and have more than one person govern the country. With the creation of the U.S. Constitution came the want a true system of …show more content…
Thusly, civil rights were created to make sure that the American citizens would have political and social freedom along with equal opportunities. Yet, during this time slavery was still a problem at hand, and the creation of civil rights were in the hands of the states government. The civil rights protected the people against the government infringing upon them at any time, and it assured the people to believe that they would live in a state without repression or discrimination. Although many states still discriminated against African American people especially when it came time to vote for new delegates. However, civil liberties come in to play and further ensures that citizens’ rights will not be
You little tyrant king george off with your head.Since the Americans had a bad experience with one person having too much power they made a constitution that guarded against tyranny by, dividing power, making the branches able to check or limit each other, and dividing power between big and little states.
In his speech, The Making of the U.S. Constitution, Gordon Wood discusses the history of how the U.S. Constitution came to be. He explains what factors contributed to its making and what the general consensus was about it during the time. He explains that the reason the constitution was created was because the government needed more power. Why did the government need more power? In short, to unify the 13 states and make life, in general, easier for its citizens, officers, artisans, and even to help with commercial interests (Wood, 2012).
The year of 1776 was a time of revolution, independence, and patriotism. American colonists had severed their umbilical cord to the Mother Country and declared themselves “Free and Independent States”.1 The chains of monarchy had been thrown off and a new government was formed. Shying away from a totalitarian government, the Second Continental Congress drafted a document called the Articles of Confederation which established a loose union of the states. It was an attempt at self-government that ended in failure. The Articles of Confederation had many defects which included a weak central government that lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, required equal representation and a unanimous vote to amend the Articles, and had only a legislative branch. As a result the United States lacked respect from foreign countries. These flaws were so severe that a new government had to be drafted and as a result the Constitution was born. This document remedied the weak points of the federal government and created one that was strong and fair, yet still governed by the people.
In the making of the United States, there were many events that are important. This paper intends to highlight a few of those events including; Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and the Federalist Papers. Many events in America’s history helped to establish the United States as a free and independent country. The Declaration of Independence in particular explains the rights and freedoms that Americans. Each document is like a stepping stones that leads to the next and building upon the pervious document.
The American Revolution holds a very prominent place in the history of this country, as it was the longest and the most painful war Americans ever encountered. It took many years and numerous conflicts to finally gain independence in 1776 from British domination, which had been subjugating its colonies with laws of an unwritten constitution. It must be understood that though Americans were fighting for the right of democracy and each state wanted self-government, later that same issue turned into a big problem. Soon after America became independent, the former British colonies decided to form their own governments. It was then that the real battle began. The task of forming separate constitutions for each state, along with the formation of governmental institutions, turned in to a huge task -- a task so gigantic that it forced some states to rethink the matter and soon the rumors of a central government started circulating.
A constitution is the system of fundamental principles according to which a nation is governed. Our founding fathers created the US Constitution to set specific standards for our country. We must ask ourselves why our founding fathers created the Constitution in the first place. America revolted against the British due to their monarchy form of government. After the American Revolution, each of the original 13 colonies operated under its own rules of government. Most states were against any form of centralized rule from the government. They feared that what happened in England would happen again. They decided to write the Articles of Confederation, which was ratified in 1781. It was not effective and it led to many problems. The central government could not regulate commerce between states, deal with foreign governments or settle disputes. The country was falling apart at its seams. The central government could not provide assistance to the state because there wasn’t a central army. When they realized that the Articles of Confederation was not up to par, they held a convention, known as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. As a result of t...
After the Declaration of Independence, U.S. became a nation but didn 't have a government to guide the nation. People, the early settlers, suffered by the excessive power of the Monarch so they wanted to incorporate the ideas of ordered government, limited government, and the representative government. Based on these ideas the Article of Confederation was created. Although it was too weak and inadequate to manage all of the states. As the weakness became palpable, the nation required stronger government system and that 's when the Constitution was created as it saved the nation from the crisis. One thing that made the creation of the Constitution possible was the Great Compromise, which was
When the constitution of the United States was formed, the framers specifically designed the American Government structure to have checks and balances and democracy. To avoid autocracy the President was give power to preside over the executive branch of the government and as commander –in –chief, in which a clause was put into place to give the president the power to appeal any sudden attacks against America, without waiting for a vote from congress. While the president presides over the executive branch there has been ongoing debate over the role of the president in regards to foreign policy. Should foreign policy issues be an executive function by the president or should congress play a much greater role? With the sluggishness of our democracy, foreign policy issues most times need quicker response compared to how domestic policy is decided in the United States. Many believe to maintain openness and democracy both the president and congress need to agree on how the United States handles issue abroad. Although the president has been given much power, his or her power and decisions are sometimes limited based on decisions by congress and challenged and shaped by various bureaucracies throughout the government system. I shall discuss the Presidents role and the role of governmental bureaucracies (Department of Defense, Department of State and the National Security Council) that work together and sometimes not together to shape and implement American foreign Policy.
Civil rights are the rights to personal liberty and are provided by the law. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights promises everybody civil rights. But many people, including lots of black people, have been denied their civil rights. Black people, and also some white people who help them, have struggled for these rights for a long time. Many people have helped and many kinds of groups have been formed to help win equal rights for everyone. Things are a lot better used to be, but the struggle is not over.
Declared in the U.S. Constitution every American or should it be person, is guaranteed civil rights. Civil rights did not just consist of “freedom of speech and assembly,” but as well as “the right to vote, the right to equal protection under the law, and procedural guarantees in criminal and civil rights,” (Dawood). It was not until 1791, that the Bill of Rights was appended to the constitution, which helped clarify these rights to citizens. “Rights were eventually applied against actions of the state governments in a series of cases decide by the Supreme Court,” Dawood stated. In previous years (1790-1803), the Supreme Court had little say in decisions being made by government. As time went on the Supreme Court took on more responsibility and started making additional decisions, which in time helped minorities gain their civil rights. It took a couple of years, as a matter of fact till the 1900’s for the Supreme Court to get out of the “ideology of white supremacy and the practice of racism,” (Smith). Though the decisions of the Supreme Court were not all that appreciated in the beginning, following the 20th century the court really facilitated in the advancements of civil rights.
After the American Revolution that took place between 1765-1783 America fought for its independence from Britain. After winning their independence from Britain, America then went on to create its own government. Two essential documents that allowed America to grow and thrive were the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. These two documents set the foundation on which America’s government was built upon. This new government was a democracy. At this point in time there never any governments that were a democracy, so this made America one of the first, the “experiment” as it was dubbed. America was built upon a democracy, or a government that is made and run by its people. Additionally, the rights of the people were very important in
While we have a constitution that lays out our clear cut civil liberties and all the rights we possess, other countries chose to restrict those freedoms. Due to the many advantages the Constitution gives each American citizen, the US has been able to keep this document intact as long as they have while other countries have to constantly restructure their government principles. This stability leads to greater efficiency in our legislative process and a strong sense of national pride. For a nation filled with differences and mixed opinions, the Constitution is a perfect fit. It was written as unbiased as possible to ensure that it was not limiting anyone or anything, instead, giving each citizen the ability to keep their government in check and grant freedom to everyone. During the time the document was written was when the Colonist knew exactly what it felt like to live in a world of oppression and unjust government. As a result, Madison and the other leaders at the time made it a goal to put the power in the hands of the people and make freedom an utmost priority. With an Unbiased approach to government that gives no advantage to one group or another, and with amendments that only help citizens take control, the Constitution is what the early colonist left Europe and died
The United States had to fight for its freedom from Great Britain in the Revolutionary War. After the colonies won the war, they became states. Each state had its own government. The people in these states wanted to create a new form of government to unite the states into a single nation. Today, this central government is called the federal government (Welcome to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants,
After breaking free from the British tyranny in 1776, America was built on the principles of independence and freedom. The weakness of the first Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, proved that the United States needed some form of a strong central government. However, this created an issue due to the fact that the new Americans were scared that there would be a repeat of the oppression they faced with Britain (History Staff). The solution was to create a government that was able to restrict itself from gaining too much power, while also simultaneously being able to maintain its strength. The solution was found by adding a few principles in the foundation of the American governmental system. First off, the concept of being able
Civil Rights referred to a certain chosen right that are possessed by an individual to prevent them from uneven treatment, that are the individual persons’ rights, discrimination in various section such as employment, education, housing and others (FindLaw, 1). 1 Where civil rights are completely unlike to civil liberties. Civil liberties are those sets of rights that are secured and imposed from the federal level under the constitution and other laws as fundamentals right including the right to speech, privacy, and vote. “For example; same sex marriage but not everyone is free to marry at any given time” (Crash course, 2016).