Enlightenment

●​ 17th 18th century

○​ Before → monarchy
●​ Founders Influenced by enlightenment → idea of democracy
○​ Natural rights
●​ equal rights of life, liberty, and property
■​ Government
●​ Protect god-given inalienable rights
●​ solve disputes and injuries
○​ State of nature
●​ everyone has individual, natural rights
○​ Social contract
●​ Government is made for the people
●​ People overthrow government if it fails to do its job
○​ Separation of power
●​ Checks and balances & 3 branches of government
○​ Popular sovereignty
●​ Government’s power come from the people
Thomas Hobbes John Jacques Rousseau Charles de Montesquieu John locke

●​ natural life is ●​ Humans are ●​ Critics of monarchy ●​ People enter social

“solitaire, poor, naturally born good & advocate of contract with
nasty, brutish, and & corrupted by democracy limited government
short” society ●​ Separation of power ●​ Everyone born
●​ government need to ●​ Propose social & checks blank, learning
help prevent bad contract
life ○​ Good gov –
one freely
formed of
consent

●​ Civil liberties
○​ Freedom of
■​ Press
■​ Speech
■​ Religion
■​ Petition
■​ Assembly (civil society)

⭑ Foundational papers
AP US Government: Foundational Documents Quick Reference Guide
●​ Declaration of independences
○​ Main author: Thomas jefferson
 ○​ Audience: colonists
■​ To rally troops
○​ Structure
■​ Preamble
●​ Many enlightenment ideals
○​ Justification of colony breaking from britain
○​ Britain can not take away their rights & colonists (people
themselves) should create a government
●​ All men are created equal
●​ People create government to secure rights & consent to give
their rights → can overthrow government if not well
■​ List of Grievances against King George III
■​ Resolution for Independence
○​ Main ideas
■​ Natural rights & Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness & popular sovereignty
■​ Republicanism
●​ People elect leaders
●​ Separation of power / checks and balances

●​ Article of Confederation​
○​ 13 states’ different ideas → state power
■​ Each state has its sovereignty & power
■​ Things can only be changed if every state agrees
○​ One branch: Legislative
■​ State representatives → one state one vote (article 5)
■​ Weak central government
○​ Federal government is ONLY for trade and economy
■​ No state can sent embassy (article 6)
■​ Central government can’t raise army (article 6)
■​ (if need) congress is for final decision of disputes (article 9)
■​ Congress can only pass major rule if 9 states agree (article 9)
○​ Weaknesses
■​ Federal government only has one branch
■​ all states need to agree to modify an article
■​ Congress can’t control (unless 9/13 agree)
●​ Financial issues
○​ Can’t raise taxes / tariffs
■​ Have to keep printing money → inflation
■​ Getting poor
○​ No unified currency → no inter-state trading
●​ Army
○​ Rely on states gov & state militias
 ○​ Suggestions for modification
■​ Virginia plan
●​ Checks and balances
●​ Bicameral legislature (proportional representation)
■​ New jersey plan
●​ Gave more power to congress (trade, taxes, elect prez)
●​ Establish federal court
●​ Unicameral legislature → equal representation; 1 state 1 vote

●​ Constitution
○​ Philadelphia convention → grand committee
■​ Main lead: James Madison
■​ Fix ideas in Articles of Confederation
●​ Major debate with the centrality of the government
■​ Create republican gov
○​ Main ideas
■​ Separation of power
●​ Executive / judicial / legislative
●​ Checks and balances
■​ Representative Republic / social contract
●​ Elected representatives legislate on behalf of people → Elite
model
●​ Need compromises in order to pass something → Pluralist model
○​ Articles
■​ Article 1 : congress (legislative, make laws)
●​ All law making made by congress (bicameral)
●​ Section 8 : Enumerated powers
○​ Deciding the federal budget
○​ Lay and collect taxes → raise revenue
○​ Coin currency and Borrow money
 ○​ Declare war and raise armies
○​ Commerce clause : Congress can regulate congress among
states (Justify federal power)
○​ Necessary and proper (elastic) clause: can make all
necessary laws
■​ Article 2 : president (executive, enforce laws)
●​ Electoral college
●​ Section 2: Executive power
○​ highest commander of military
○​ Review and enforce laws
○​ Appoint
■​ Article 3 : supreme court (judisal, interpret laws)
●​ Lifetime judge
●​ Jurisdiction
○​ Original jurisdiction
○​ Appellate jurisdiction
■​ Article 4 : state
●​ Full faith and credit clause
○​ Each state much respect each other’s law
■​ Article 5 : amendments
●​ Proposal
○​ by congress / special state convention
○​ ⅔ vote needed to pass amendment to next step
●​ Ratification
○​ ¾ of the state to ratify
■​ Article 6 : supremacy clause
●​ Federal law > state law
■​ Bill of rights : protect civil liberty (protected by the federal gov)
●​ 1st amendment
○​ Freedom of religion, speech, assembly, and petition
●​ 2nd amendment
○​ Rights to keep and bear arms
●​ 3rd amendment
○​ Prevent soldiers quartered in their homes
●​ 4th amendment
○​ No unreasonable searches and seizure of personal
property
●​ 5th amendment
○​ Protect rights of citizens when they are accused of crime
●​ 6th amendment
○​ Explains the process when one is accused of a crime
○​ Protections one is entitled
●​ 7th amendment
 ○​ Rights to a trial by jury
●​ 8th amendment
○​ Protects against cruel punishment
●​ 9th amendment
○​ If anything is not mentioned here, rights should still be
respects & does not mean not protected
●​ 10th amendment
○​ Any power not explicitly given to federal gov is given to
state

■​
●​ 14th amendment: equal protection
○​ Everyone has equal protection
○​ citizenship for born in the US
○​ Extend bill of rights to state laws

○​ Compromises
■​ Great compromise
●​ Bicameral legislatures
○​ Senate → equal representation
○​ House of representatives → proportional representation
■​ Electoral College
●​ Electors choose the president
○​ same number of electors and congress members
○​ Proportional to state population
●​ Winner take all
○​ Candidate with the most popular vote → all state’s
electoral vote
 ○​ 270 electoral vote to win
■​ Three-fifths compromise
●​ North: free people only
●​ South: slaves → threaten to leave
●​ ⅗ for vote & tax
■​ Importation of enslaved people
●​ 20 years until next debate on abolition → act prohibiting
importation of slaves 1807
●​ Federalist Papers
○​ Main federalists: James madison Alexander Hamilton, John Jay
○​ Federalist 10
■​ fear factions → their interests (not common goods) will be
over-presented
●​ Factions are undesirable but inevitable
■​ Focusing on the balance of participant - electors ratio

Pure democracy Large republic

➢​ Simple assembly of normal citizens ➢​ representatives

●​ Can’t defend themselves from factions ●​ Better reflect the public good
●​ Can’t check the use of power ●​ Size
●​ Only represent their self-interests ○​ Too Small→ vested in local, lesser
interests
○​ Too big→ attract incapable
individuals

■​ strong central government

●​ Controlling the effects (Republican government)
○​ separate the interest groups to not make them
dominating
■​ Dilution of power
■​ Competition with one another & force compromise
●​ Not limiting the fractions’ expression → may violate their rights
○​ Federalist 51
■​ Separation of power / checks and balances
●​ No one branch should take too much power
●​ Equal & strong power
○​ Federalist 70
■​ Single executive
●​ Work more decisively —> unity
○​ Ensure efficiency in urgent matters
○​ Prevent factions
●​ Act more carefully
 ○​ prez is watched more carefully because there is only one
to blame
○​ —> can easily hold what is accountable
○​ → will still check power
○​ Federalist 78
■​ Judicial branch
●​ Least amount of power
●​ Keep the legislatures under its power
○​ →power of judicial review
○​ →acting as a check on Congress
■​ Protected layer for the scotus judges (lifetime appointment)
●​ → can focus exclusively on constitutional interpretation of laws
■​ Argue for
●​ Judicial review
●​ Lifetime appointment
●​ Anti-federalist Papers
○​ Main anti-federalists: Patrick Henry & George Mason
○​ Brutus no.1
■​ Anti-central power → Keep power to states
●​ Republican doesn’t work for big nation
○​ Impossible to unite everyone’s opinions
■​ Necessary and proper clause & supremacy clause will ruin state
power
●​ If both federal & state collect tax, people will be unhappy
■​ Wanted the Rights → voices in government
■​ Fear a tyranny central government

Types of democracy
●​ Participatory democracy
○​ Board participation → Wants many many participants to vote
○​ Not all understand political issues → ineffective as nation grows
○​ Contemporary examples : Initiative & Referendum
●​ Pluralist democracy
○​ Interest “groups” compete with each other & push certain policies
■​ Protected by the first amendment (freedom of assembly)
○​ Raise money and persuade legislations → amplify voices
○​ Contemporary examples: associations & states
●​ Elite democracy
○​ Limited participation → trustee→ few educated, specialized people
○​ Contemporary example: Supreme court & electoral college & cabinet members
Federalism
●​ Limited government : a gov that is legally restricted in its power
○​ Separation of power
○​ Checks and balances
○​ Federalism
○​ Republicanism
●​ Federalism : balance of power between state and national government
○​ Exclusive power
■​ The power explicitly given to and only federal gov by constitution
○​ Reserved power
■​ Powers kept by states (10th amendment)
●​ E.g. policing, education
○​ Concurrent power
■​ Shared power between states & federal
●​ E.g. taxes
●​ Fiscal federalism → grants
○​ Categorical grants : money given to states for specific programs
■​ Meet specific criteria to continue getting the money
○​ Block grant : board funding to state (state determine how spend)
■​ They can do things in the category but the specific things they are
going to do is dependent on the states’ choices
■​ Government can use crossover sanction to force states to do things
○​ Mandate: mandated programs / directives
■​ Funded mandate : gov give directives → states carry out
■​ Unfunded mandate : federal gives no money for directives
●​ Traces of Federalism in government
○​ 10th amendment
■​ Power not only reserved to the federal government
○​ 14th amendment
■​ Change the nature of federalism
●​ Applies the bill of rights to the states
■​ Equal rights to freed slave and any born in the us
○​ Commerce clause
■​ Enumerated power of congress in article 1 section viii
■​ Giving the congress more power
○​ Elastic clause
■​ Giving the congress more power
○​ Full faith and credit Clause
■​ State must respect each other’s laws
●​ Marriage, crime, license still persist from one state to another
■​ Controversy
●​ Defense of marriage act (DOMA)
 ○​ state does not have to recognize same sex marriage in
another state
●​ Overturned by Obergefell Vs. Hodges
○​ marriage is a fundamental rights that can not be taken
away by states
○​ Based off the equal protection clause (14th amendment)
○​ McCulloch vs. Maryland
■​ States cannot tax a federal institution
●​ Loose necessary and proper clause
●​ constitutionality of national bank
■​ Maryland wants to tax a national bank → court rules that states can not
tax a federal institution despite being its borders
○​ United States vs. lopez
■​ Argument: loosely applied commerce clause
●​ guns → psychology effect → effect commerce clause
●​ → Deny the loose use of the commerce clause
■​ Court Still banned the gun used in the school zones (rewrote the gun
free school zones act (1990))
●​ Realized the commerce clause may be used too broadly
○​ Wickard vs. filburn
■​ Contextualizes us. Vs. lopez
■​ Beginning loose use of commerce clause
■​ Story
●​ Farmer filburn grew more wheat than what the new deal allowed
→ argue does not apply to commerce cuz it’s for his livestock
●​ Court argue: Indirect effect on the commerce
○​ Greatly expands federal power
●​ Acts showing federalism
○​ Paris agreement → executive order
■​ Senate (republicans) wouldn’t want → Obama forced states in
○​ Legalization of marijuana → laboratory of democracy
■​ Nixon : controlled substances act (war on drugs)
■​ State slowly legalize it (even tho it is a federal law)
■​ Obama : does not legalize it but does not enforce it
●​ Form of election
○​ → federalist : electoral college
○​ → anti-federalist : direct voting