The Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches

  The United States Government is composed of three branches, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.  These branches each have specific duties within government that, when carried out properly, run the country efficiently.
  The Legislative branch of the government is composed of two major congressional bodies, the House of Representatives and the Senate.  The House of Representatives has four hundred and thirty-five seats, which are filled with representatives from each state.  States with a larger population can fill more seats in the House than a state with a small population.  The Senate on the other hand, has only one hundred seats, containing two senators from every state.  These two houses are in charge of creating laws, passing bills to become laws, and discussing matters that affect the whole nation.  Unfortunately, there is no time limit on how long a matter may be discussed.  A bill can be talked about untill it is basically "dead" and new business gets moved in for discussion.
  The Executive branch of government is mainly the office of the president.  The president is the over all commander-in-chief of the government, overseeing new laws, determining what is right for the country, and being a spokesman between the pubic and congress.  His role is largely affected by the public's perceptions.  The public has very high expectations for the leader of their country, so the president must be a popular among the people.  If the people don't like the way a president is running the country, he can be removed, or step down from office.
  The Judicial branch contains the Supreme Court, created by the Constitution, and all minor courts, that are created by Congress.  Judges in the Supreme Court are appointed for life by the president, confirmed by the Senate, and granted the title of "justice."  Minor court judges are hired for certain terms and can be "fired" by the government.  The Supreme Court checks the power of the other branches of government, by interpreting the laws expressed in the Constitution.
  The three branches of government serve to keep the nation's welfare a priority by making laws, authorizing those laws, and ensuring that the laws are beneficial to the people.  Each branch keeps the other in check by carrying out it's specific tasks, not allowing one branch to have too much power and dictate too many decisions.

Lesson 34-35

-Composition of the House

-Committees and the Iron Triangle

Elections

  Election is the way that different men or women come to power in the U.S. Government.  Senators, representatives, vice-presidents and presidents are all elcted by the people of the United States.  The government in the U.S. is set up so that the people hold much of the power to elect the leaders that they see fit to hold office.
  Although the poeple do hold some power in the American government, they don't hold all of it.
The U.S. Senate and house of representatives have a lot of influence on elections.  The early founders of the government believed that it would be too hard to get all the information about the next candidate for presidency to all of America, but they did not want Congress to elect the president.  Thomas Jefferson stated that "The people are not qualified to exercise themselves the Executive department; but they are qualified to name the person who shall exercise it."
  The Electoral system "Electoral College" has a group of elected representatives from every state in America meet together to decide who will be president.  There are 538 electoral votes, so a presidential candidate must win at least 270 votes.  If neither candidate gains 270 votes, the House of Representatives declares the winner.

Lesson 29-30-31-32-33

29-Incumbency

• An incumbent is someone who has served in the senate and seeks to be re-elected to hold their position.

30-House and Senate Elections

31-The Electoral College

32-Primaries, Caucasus, and the Conventions

33-General Elections

Lesson 27-28

 Cost of Elections

 Campaign Finance Reform

Lesson 26: Intensity

  Voter intensity in politics monitors whether or not a person will vote.  Someone with high voter intensity will likely participate in voting frequently, while someone with low intensity will choose not to vote for some reason or another.
  When people feel more connected to the government they are more likely to participate in voting.
Some people don't believe they will make a difference and will refrain from voting.  Its up to the government and those who are running for elections to educate the people on how much of a difference they can make.

Lesson 25: Demographics

  Demography is the study of what human characteristics will influence the voting process.
Demographic studies also answers the question of why some people vote for different parties instead of others.
  Political scientists usually study these demographics of people:

• Age, 
• Gender, 
• Race, 
• Education, 
• and Socio-economic status.

  These demographics have a heavy influence on how the people being studied will vote.

Lesson 24: Party Realignment and Dealignment

  Party realignment is when the minor party becomes more powerful than the major party of the time.  This usually happens when the minority wins an important election.  The realignment of parties can be seen as eras in the history of America:

• Federalist Era- Federalist Party weakened and disolved by disorganization.
• Jacksonian Era- Democratic-Republican Party grew strong and formed today's Democratic Party.
• Republican Era- Republican Party gains the support of industry, former slaves, and farmers.  
• New Deal Era- Democratic Party emerges to take the power after the Great Depression. 
• Divided Government Era- Neither Party (or third party) has dominated the government since these eras.  

 

Lesson 23: Factors that lead to Party Identification

   Political parties gain followers by taking certain stances on a few major issues that the population may agree with.  Race and gender also play a role in party identification.
  A person's identification with a political pary usually lasts their entire lives, unless the party changes a stance on a major issue.  "Catholic population used to be loyal Democrats" until the democratic party changed its stance on different ideas that conflicted with the catholic beliefs.
  Education, age, and economy can influence a person's identification with a political party.  Its really just a matter of what the person wants in a leadership, they find a group of people that best identifies with their beliefs and then join them in an attempt to gain a tighter grip on the government in order to have the country more conformed their own opinions.

Lesson 22: Organization of Parties

  The same thing as the last lesson.  No changes in the writing.

Lesson 21: The Function of Parties in America

  Political parties attempt to get the candidate for presidency that best suits their purposes in office so that they can run the government.  Political parties seek to join different groups of people with common concerns for government.
  Political parties also help to spread the philosophies of their candidates so that the people voting understand what they are voting for.  They keep people excited about the coming elections and also are in charge of making sure that the president elected will keep his/her promises for the people.

Lesson 20: Third Parties

     A third party is a group that opposes the two current political parties, or promotes a certain issue in the nation.  A third party can draw the votes of one party away in an election, which spoils the election run of the party.
     Third parties usually take up an important issue that needs attention and make it widely known to the people.  This influences the people's opinion on what matters should be addressed by the president.

Lesson 19: Political Party Eras

     The Political Party Eras began with the Federalist and Democratic-Republican Parties.  They started over a disagreement of which layer of government should hold the most power, the Federalists favoring the strong central government, and the Democratic-Republicans favoring the common people.
     These two Parties later formed into the Democratic and Whig Parties, who both opposed each other for the same reasons.  Both of these Parties split apart over beliefs in slavery.  This issue led to the birth of the Republican Party, which was comprised mainly of former Whigs.
     The Republican Party lasted until the Great Depression of the 1900's when its members claimed that "legislation could not cure America's economic woes."
     This led to the rise of the Progressive Party who opposed the Republican's view on the Depression.  The Progressive Party lasted until the Vietnam War of 1968, when the Republican and Democratic Parties both took over again and have remained to this day.

Lesson 18: Fiscal Federalism

     Eventually fiscal federalism grew to replace cooperative federalism.  Changes were made in taxing and spending privileges in the federal government.  The federal government influences the state governments by distributing money in the form of grants-in-aid.
     Although the states sometimes need money and the federal government to begin state projects, it comes with the price of federal supervision and regulation.  Not all states want the federalists noses in their business.  But the consquences of not accepting federal aid can sometimes be worse than being commanded about.
     For instance, if a state refuses federal aid, keeping state schools and roadways in optimal condition is hard without plenty of money.  Also, if federal aid is accpeted but the rules set in place are not followed, funding can be cut.
     Its up to the state to decide what will be the best for its citizens.  Accepting federal aid can be good for a state with little money for funding projects, but at the same time it may give restrictions that state citizens aren't pleased with.

Lesson 17: Cooperative Federalism

     Cooperative federalism came from the idea of dual federalism.  In dual federalism, the forms of government are connected, but their functions pertain only to each individual form.
     Cooperative federalism, rather than have the functions of government assigned to specific groups, has each form of government share in their functions and responsibilities.  The concept of cooperative federalism was adopted by the United States government to replace dual federalism as the federal government expanded.


     Question: In the marble cake diagram, why are the parts of the cake combined instead of separate?

 

Answer: Because the responsibilities of the national and state governments are intertwined.

Lesson 15: Defining Federalism

     Federalism was created by the framers of the constitution to form an agreement between opposing opinions of how America should be governed.  Its purpose was to allow power to be devided between the individual states and the federal government.  This power balance insures that no one group can dominate the nation entirely.
     Neither state nor federal government receive their powers from each other.  Rather, they receive their powers directly from the people, the federal and the state powers are governed by the people.  This concept of government promotes the nation as a whole to work together.

Lesson 16: Separation of National and State Governments

     The national and state governments each have their own set of powers given by the Constitution.  These granted powers are often questioned by either the national or state governments.  When a state affair is brought up in court and the national government seeks to impose its granted powers, the representatives of the state will sometimes disagree and attempt to use its own granted powers to contradict the national government's rule.
     The Constitution contains which powers are given to the two "governments".
The "delegated powers" of the national government are enumerated powers, (allowing the national government to declare war, conduct foreign relations, and coin money), the implied powers, giving the power to make fair laws, and the inherent powers, which give the power to acquire territory, and the power to quell insurrections.
     The powers granted to the state government are called reserved powers.  These are sometimes referred to as "police powers".  Both state and national governments have shared powers known as concurrent powers.  These include the power to tax, define crimes, and punish criminals.  Either state or national powers may be denied to the other government.
   

     Question:  Why did the Framers of the Constitution give the state governments certain powers and the national government other powers?

Answer:  "To prevent tyranny and ensure balance between the layers of government.
The Founding Fathers were most concerned with preventing tyranny and ensuring liberty when framing the constitution."

Lesson 14: Amendments After the Bill of Rights

     After the Bill of Rights was established, further amendments were added to the ocnstitution.  Each one dealing with unique circumstances.  Some of these unique circumstances included slavery, which the Thirteenth Amendment abolished in 1865, the Nineteenth Amendment which gave women the right to vote in political matters, and the Twenty-Second Amendment which limited the president to only two terms in office.
     These amendments addressed some ipmortant areas for America.  Had these areas not been amended, slaves may not have been freed and made citizens of the United States and women would not have voting privileges extended to them.  These two amendments have a very important affect in America today.  Now both women and African-Americans can work as citizens on almost any job in the United States.