Lesson 13: The Bill of Rights

     The Bill of Rights is a document that contains the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.  It reflects the English Bill of Rights in a few areas, such as the right to petition government and the freedom of speech.  

     The freedom of speech is a right that every human should have.  No man should have control of what another is allowed to say.  Everyone should be fee to express their opinions.  Not all opinions are true, but everyone should decide for themselves what he or she believes.  Without the freedom to express opinions, there will be no progress in society.

     I believe that the reason that the amendments contained in the Bill of Rights are written so ambiguously is so that they can be bent to match whatever problems are brought up.  They can have multiple meanings for different situations.  Not so that we can debate over their true meaning.  When the Bill says that the government should keep a "well-regulated militia" it can mean that citizens of the U.S. have the right to keep their own firearms as well as the national government keeping a well armed force on standby.  The rights expressed in the Bill also have certain limits so that no one can over stretch what powers he is given and so that he does not explot the freeedoms of his country.

     

Lesson 12: The Purpose and Intent of the Founders

     When the Constitution was being considered to be ratified by the states, two factions within the government argued about the inclusion of a Bill of Rights.
     These two factions were the Federalists, and the Anti-Federalists.  The Federalists argued that the Constitution should be ratified as-is because they believed it had sufficient power to guide the country.  The Anti-Federalists however were worried about the civil liberties and wanted to add a Bill of Rights to the Constitution.
     James Madison, a Federalist, saw no need for a Bill because he believed that the Constitution had enough limitations in it already.  But, after having a conversation with Benjamin Franklin through writing letters, Madison changed his mind and wrote the Bill of Rights and had it added to the Constitution.  The Bill originally did not apply to the individual states but rather to the national government only.  But after several court cases where the protections of the Bill were required, the Courts allowed the application of most of the protections contained in the Bill of Rights to individual states as well.
   

Lesson 11: Constitutional Principles

     The principles that are covered in the Constitution are these:

• Popular sovereignty-  The people have the power, the government has its power because the people give it through the Constitution, and the government can only function if the people say so.

• Limited government-  The government must obye the laws the people make.  The people give the government its authority. 

• Separation of powers-  The powers of the government are separated into three branches.  These are the Congress (legislative), the president (executive), and the courts (judicial). 

• Checks and balances-  The three branches of government are bound together by this system.  It allows one branch to restrain another so that there can be no one branch that makes all the decisions.

• Judicial review-  Most courts possess this power which allows them to declare an action unconstitutional and then, illegal.

• Federalism-  This is a system of division of power between regional and national government.  This allows for a government strong enough to meet the needs of a nation while the individual states retain their authority over local matters.

Lesson 10: The U.S. Constitution

     Due to failure to respond to regional conflicts and a national depression, the states were called to send delegates to meet in Annapolis, Maryland, in an attempt to strengthen the government. Although, only five of the thirteen state representatives showed up at the Annapolis Convention.  Those who attended realized that they needed the participation of all the states, so Alexander Hamilton called for another meeting of the state representatives in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation.  Fifty-five delegates from twelve states showed up to this convention, the only absent member was Rhode Island.  This was a problem since a unanimous vote from all states was required to make any changes to the Articles of Confederation.  So the Philadelphia Convention sought to create a new document that would later become the U.S. Constitution.
 Although all the delegates held different opinions on many matters, they found enough common ground to create the document that helped form the American government.  

Lesson 9: The State Constitutions

     Even though the Articiles of Confederation left the central government weak, it further empowered the states and the people's participation in the politics of the country.
 Congress asked the states to create new constitutions for themselves, each one combined the best of the British government and other American specialized ideas.
 Although the state constitutions did allow more freedoms in voting, it didn't extend those freedoms to women or slaves.  The states continued to maintain that an elected official (Or officials) would represent the people's opinions regardless of the freedom to vote on their own.

Lesson 8: The Articles of Confederation

     The Articles of Confederation were a model for the future government of the United States.
These Articles were meant to bring all thirteen states together to solve common problems. Although, the individual states retained their rights and independence.
 Unfortunately, the Articles did not do much for the states other than establish the legal basis that the Continental Congress already had.
 The document did function well during war time, as it helped the states win the Revolutionary War and helped spark other documents, such as Northwest Ordinance of 1787, that aided in the growth and development of the United States of America.

Lesson 7: Declaration of Independence

     The Declaration of Independence reflects Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "Social Contract" in saying that governments are created among people, and the ran by the governed people.  The Contract says that the government acts for the good of the people.

Also, governed people have a "responsibility to be involved in their governance" and "people must participate in society to benefit from it."  The Declaration reflects this by saying "it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such a Government, and provide new Guards for their future security."  If ever a government were to abuse their "natural rights." 

 Two more things covered in the Contract are freedom of religion and separation of church and state.  These freedoms are implied in the Declaration of Independence where it says that "all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Lesson 6: Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"

     In 1776, During a time of tension between England and the American Colonies, Thomas Paine wrote the pamphlet called "Common Sense".  In this pamphlet he directly attacked King George III, by stating that he was the cause of hostility between England and the Colonies, going so far as to say that he was "unworthy of the Americans' respect."  Paine also believed that an island ruling a continent was unnatural.  He encouraged America, through his writing, to become its own independent country and after only a few months, the pamphlet had 150,000 copies throughout the colonies.

Lesson 5: Enlightenment Political Philosophies

     The Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, was a time of further development for democracy.
 During the age of reason philosohpers would study human behavior within society.
One famous philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, believed that if man was left in a natural state, he would be in constant conflict and therefore required govenment for peace and security.

Another famous philosopher, John Locke studied and wrote about government.  He rejected the idea of the "divine right" of kings.  Instead, he believed that people were all naturally free and that the government should act for their well-being.  He also believed that the people had a right to rebel if the government tried to take away from their rights of freedom.
This had a strong influence in America.

Lesson 4: English Documents and Democracy

     The beginnings of democracy started mainly in England when the barons under King John created the Magna Carta and had it signed, which gave the people more rights and limited the king's power.

 Four hundred years after the Magna Carta was signed, English Parliament was gaining more power over the kings and enforced the Petition of Rights, which kept the kings from arresting people without a fair trial, or forcing people to house soldiers.
 Later, Parliament created the English Bill of Rights which further restricted the power of kings.

 In modern England there is still a monarch but the government is parliamentary, operating as a democracy from these three documents.

Lesson 3: The Policy-Making Cycle

     Their are some steps to be taken before a government policy can be made into a law.  This is called the policy-making cycle.

 First, certain people must let the public know of the issue.  Especially when it will affect them directly.

 The second step is when "linkage institutions" become aware of the issue that the people are concerned about.  Linkage institutions can be the media and political or special interest groups.

They take the opinions of the people and connect them to the government.

 In the third step, Congress and other policy-making institutions decide which issues are the most important and which should be dealt with first.  Then they make a policy that addresses the situation.

 Lastly, the people decides whether or not they like the policy and express their opinion about it.  

If they don't like it, the whole cycle could start over again.

Lesson 2: Theories of Democracy

     There have been four different theories of democracies formed over time.
The Traditional Theory, which allows all people to participate in government directly, or through representatives.
 The Pluralist Theory has people with the same ideas form groups with a common cause to work in politics.
 The Elite Theory is that a handful of citizens and industries hold the political power.
The elite citizens are favored over everyone else.
 Lastly, Hyperpluralism is a mix of the Pluralist and Elite theories.
It says that groups are formed by people with common interests and that some of the groups wield too much power.  In the end, this theory leads to a standstill in overall government, where there are too many groups attempting to take the power with no compromise.

 The similarity between all of these theories is that the people still have influence in the government, whether in groups or as individuals.

American Government Lesson 1: The Nature of Governments

     Governments are put in place to create and enforce law, protect the people with armies and police forces, regulate economy for growth. Also, the government is there to provide for its citizens by providing public education, jobs, medical treatment.

 Sometimes governments require a place to operate from, which is called a nation state.
Nation states have four characteristics which are: territory, population, sovereignty, and legitimate government.
Territories can be large or small, as can population according to the size of the territory.  Countries with a diverse populace usually have more trouble compromising.
A nation state needs to be able to rule its people without interference, and to be legitimate, a governments population must recognize its authority and obey it.

American Government Lesson 1

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