Friday, October 28, 2011

GOVERNMENT NOTES: REWRITE FOR TEST

GOVERNMENT TEST ON TUESDAY: I WOULD RECOMMEND REWRITING THESE NOTES TO HELP YOU STUDY.


GOVERNMENT CHAPTER 2 REVIEW
  
THE COLONIST BROUGHT THREE MAIN CONCEPTS TO AMERICA:
1.     The need for an ordered social system, or government.
2.     The idea of limited government: government should NOT be all-powerful. Government cannot infringe on an individuals rights. Ex. Jordan suspects that Larry is a drug dealer… Jordan must have a search warrant with the judges signature before he can go inside Larry’s house.
3.     The concept of representative government: A government that serves the will of the people. We vote (elect) people to represent us.

TIMELINE: 13 COLONIES SEPARATE FROM BRITAIN

MAGNA CARTA (1215)
·       The Magna Carta was the first English charter of liberties (freedoms), which included such fundamental (important) rights as trial by jury, and due process of law.
·       The Magna Carta outlined restrictions on the king's power & granted certain rights to the barons.
·       The Magna Carta reflected limited government

PETITION OF RIGHT (1628)
·       Was a statement that Parliament forced the king to sign, declaring that even a monarch must obey the law of the land.
·       Parliament first limited the power of the Crown under the Petition of Right

NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERATION (1643)
·   In 1643, several New England settlements formed the New England Confederation.

ENGLISH BILL OF RIGHTS (1689)
·   It extended the list of actions requiring Parliamentary approval. The Bill also provided that people had the right to petition the king without fear of reprisal (payback/punishment) and the right to a fair trial. The king could not abolish laws on his own. It also granted the right for citizens to protest/ petitioning

THE ALBANY PLAN (1754)
   In 1754, Benjamin Franklin proposed the Albany Plan of Union, in which an annual congress of delegates (representatives) from each of the 13 colonies would be formed.

THE STAMP ACT CONGRESS (1765)
   In 1765, a group of colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress in New York.
   These delegates prepared the Declaration of Rights and Grievances against British policies and sent it to the king.

THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (1774)
·   In the later 1700’s policies of the British colonies became Stricter
·   English states were not independent, did not have sovereignty.
·   The colonists sent a Declaration of Rights to King George III because he imposed new taxes and laws on the colonists.
·   The colonists started a confederation, proposed an annual congress, and began to rebel.
·   The delegates urged each of the colonies to refuse all trade with England until British tax and trade regulations were recalled.
         STATE CONSTITUTIONS
·       The first state constitutions focused mainly on limiting governmental power.
·       The first state constitution’s adopted independence and put most authority with the state legislatures.
·       Massachusetts was founded mainly as a place for personal and religious freedom.

SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (1776-1781)
   In 1775, each of the 13 colonies sent representatives to this gathering in Philadelphia.
   The Second Continental Congress served as the first government of the United States from 1776 to 1781.
   From the New England Confederation to the Second Continental congress, the colonist became more organized and Defiant
   The second continental congress raised an American army and was similar to the first in the alignment of its members.
   Economic issues contributed the most realization that the nation needed a stronger central government.
   The state’s constitution, John Locke’s Two Treaties of Government, and British tradition all influenced the Framers in developing the Constitution.
   When the Framers were creating the new Constitution, they took experiences from their own state governments, the writings of Rousseau and Locke, and the governments of ancient Greece and Rome.

   DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (July 4, 1776)
Þ     On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence
Þ     Most of the Declaration of Independence is full of complaints/wrongs done to the colonists.
Þ     In the Declaration of Independence, Americans first expressed the idea that the people have the rights to abolish a government that is abusive and does not respond to their wants, and needs.
Þ     The ideas that people have certain natural rights, government can exist only with the people’s permission and that the people may change or abolish the government is included in the Declaration of Independence. It basically says that the 13 Colonies are free from England.

   ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION (1781-1789)
Þ     It was written by the Continental Congress in 1776-77, went into effect in 1777, and was formally approved by all 13 states in 1781.
Þ     State constitutions and the Articles of Confederation both valued the principle of popular sovereignty
Þ     The government that was created by the Articles of Confederation only had a legislative branch, with a unicameral congress
Þ     The Articles gave legality to the Continental Congress to direct the American Revolutionary War, conduct diplomacy with Europe, and deal with territorial issues and Indian relations.
Þ     The structural weaknesses became a matter of concern for leaders in every state and in 1789 it was replaced with the US CONSTITUTION, which allowed for a much stronger national government, with a president, courts, and taxing powers. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articles_of_Confederation)

o    PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION (1787)
§  A chief goal of both the Annapolis Convention and the Philadelphia Convention was to recommend a federal plan for regulating interstate trade.
§  At the Philadelphia Convention, the delegates agreed to make/write a new constitution.

·       CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE (1787)
o    Was an agreement in Congress stating that the States must be represented equally in the Senate and by population in the House.
o    The Connecticut Compromise (1787) and the Three Fifths Compromise (1787) were crucial to the small states because without them, the small States would have carried little weight in the new government.
·       THREE FIFTHS COMPROMISE (1787)
o    The Framers decided to count a slave as three-fifths of a person when determining the population of a State.
·       THE COMMERCE AND SLAVE TRADE COMPROMISE (1787)
o    Congress was forbidden from taxing exported goods, and was not allowed to act on the slave trade for 20 years.
·       THE VIRGINIA PLAN (1787)
o    Called for representation in Congress by population or by the amount of money given to the central government.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR (1775-1783)
·   After the revolutionary war, the National Government was too weak to deal with its economic and political problems.

VIRGINIA BILL OF RIGHTS (1776)

US CONSTITUTION (1789)

BILL OF RIGHTS (1791)
·   Is the FIRST TEN AMENDMENTS of the US Constitution
·   Limit the rights of our federal government

3 TYPES OF COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA
         Royal Colonies
·       Were ruled directly by the English monarchy.
§  Example: Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, New Jersey, New York
         Proprietary Colonies
·       Were organized by people who the king gave land to. It could be settled and governed in whatever way they saw fit. The King granted land to people in North America, who then formed proprietary colonies.
§  Example: Maryland, Pennsylvania to William Penn & Delaware
              Charter Colonies
·       Most governmental matters were handled by the colonist
·       Governor was elected not appointed
·       Out of all the colonies, the Charter Colonies were the most sovereign, independent.
·       The charter colonies were mostly self-governed, and their charters were granted to the colonists.
·       Example: Connecticut and Rhode Island

             

IMPORTANT INDIVIDUALS IN OUR HISTORY
Jean Jacques Rousseau
·       Wrote the Social Contract, which promoted the idea that people must participate in society if they want to share in its benefits.

Thomas Hobbes
·       An enlightenment philosopher who wrote Leviathan, describes in its belief that in nature, would be in a constant state of conflict and insecurity, looking out only for themselves and their interests (only what they want)

John Locke
·       Argued that government must act for the good of everyone and that people had the right to rebel if it failed to protect their “self evident” natural rights of life, liberty, and property. (Government must do what everyone wants and that people could rebel (protest) if the government did not protect their rights)

James Madison
·       Is known as the “Father of the Constitution”
·       James Madison had a plan for the country. He was from Virginia.

 VOCABULARY
·       Anti-federalists are those for whom the Constitution represented a too-powerful central government. They objected to the Constitution for many reasons, including the strong central government and the lack of a bill of rights
·       Federalists thought that the Articles of Confederation were weak, and argued for the ratification of the Constitution. 
·       boycott is an organized action to change opponents’ behavior by refusing to buy or sell their goods.
·       confederation is a joining of several groups for a common purpose.
·       Popular sovereignty believes that the power is in the people.




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