INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL
** All Chapters included
** Focus Questions
,Table of Contents are given below
Chapter 1 THE ORIGINS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL PRINCIPLES
Chapter 2 THE REVOLUTION AND THE CONSTITUTION
Chapter 3 FEDERALISM AND AMERICAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 4 POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION AND PUBLIC OPINION
Chapter 5 THE MASS MEDIA AND THE POLITICAL AGENDA
Chapter 6 NTEREST GROUPS: THE POLITICS OF INFLUENCE
Chapter 7 POLITICAL PARTIES: WINNING THE RIGHT TO GOVERN
Chapter 8 VOTING, CAMPAIGNS, AND ELECTIONS
Chapter 9 CONGRESS: PARTISANSHIP, POLARIZATION, AND GRIDLOCK
Chapter 10 THE PRESIDENT: EXECUTIVE POWER IN A SEPARATION OF POWERS REGIME
Chapter 11 BUREAUCRACY: REDESIGNING GOVERNMENT FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST
CENTURY
Chapter 12 THE FEDERAL COURTS: BULWARK OF THE CONSTITUTION?
Chapter 13 CIVIL LIBERTIES: ORDERED LIBERTY IN AMERICA
Chapter 14 CIVIL RIGHTS: WHERE LIBERTY AND EQUALITY COLLIDE
Chapter 15 GOVERNMENT, THE ECONOMY, AND DOMESTIC POLICY
Chapter 16 AMERICA’S GLOBAL ROLE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
, 1
Chapter 1
THE ORIGINS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL PRINCIPLES
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Q1 What are the broad purposes of government?
A1 The ancients believed the role of government and politics was to foster human
excellence. However, it is imperative to remember that the Greeks and Romans
believed the virtuous should rule according to natural law. Furthermore, values
of equality and order would be served through a society based upon the rule of
law to provide for the common good. In the Middle Ages, government was
largely used to facilitate religion and maintain the need for the individual to live
a proper life in the service of God. The role of government changed in the early
sixteenth century by downplaying the role of religion while alternatively
promoting the role of limited government to protect private property and
individual rights.
Q2 How should government be designed to achieve its purposes?
A2 According to Plato the philosopher-king’s wisdom and intellect would promote
order, stability, and justice. Yet, Aristotle takes a more realistic view of Athenian
society by advocating the best form of government as a polity, which combined
oligarchic and democratic elements to produce political stability. The Romans
combined monarchical, aristocratic, and democratic principles as a mixed
government within representative bodies like the Senate and the Assembly in
order to champion the causes of both the rich and the poor. Government in the
Middle Ages was determined through divine right, whereby a monarch or Pope
was ordained by God to rule. Hence, wisdom and virtue rested within these few
individuals who governed to promote religious life and protect the religious
establishment. The Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and Enlightenment
Periods shifted the role of government from upholding religious doctrine to
secular concerns, such as protecting inalienable rights, including private
property, and promoting commerce. In turn, Enlightenment political
philosophers largely appealed to individualism and not religious hierarchy as a
means to provide order and stability in which individuals could flourish.
Q3 What lessons about government did colonial Americans draw from the history of
ancient Greece and Rome?
, 2
A3 Plato was suspicious of democracy’s rule of the many because good government
would decay into mob rule. Hence, the passions of the masses needed to be
quelled by more aristocratic elements. With this problem in mind, the Framers of
the U.S. Constitution referenced the institutional design of the Roman republic,
which had adhered to the tradition of mixed government initially expounded by
Aristotle and the Romans. This was maintained in the indirect selection of both
the Senate and the presidency within the Constitution. Aristotle also advocated
mixing aristocratic and democratic elements in a governing structure called a
polity. In effect, this governmental design allowed the few and the many to
participate in politics, thus providing an orderly society where the poor should
be able to select government officials who were held accountable. This was also
made manifest in the Constitution with its aristocratic-like Senate and the more
democratic House of Representatives. Thus, the American republic’s Constitution
established institutional powers to govern according to the rule of law. While the
Framers rejected the religious hierarchy of the Middle Ages, they appealed to
inalienable rights endowed upon every individual by God, per the writings of
John Locke, in which a just government and society could not be impeded.
Q4 What circumstances led Europeans to leave their homelands to settle in America?
A4 Individuals immigrated to the colonies to escape religious persecution and civil
unrest after the English Civil War and to pursue social and economic
opportunities. Colonists enjoyed a vast array of natural resources and a large
geographical area where freedom of religion and economic opportunity
flourished. Also, their heterogeneous social composition as well as continual
promotion of ideals, such as equality and tolerance, tended to promote political
freedom at the same time that social expansion of the population was occurring.
Q5 What did democracy mean to our colonial ancestors, and did they approve it?
A5 The colonists were skeptical of democracy and viewed this type of governing
authority as mob rule. Society was largely seen as segmented into those who
should rule and those who should not. In fact, the Founders believed that the
elite (well-educated, land owners) should occupy positions of leadership. Thus,
an aristocratic element within government was necessary to protect against the
threat of mob rule historically associated with democracy. Fundamentally, the
idea of republicanism was promoted as an ideal at a higher level than
democracy. This was made most manifest in the tendency to prefer mixed
constitutional schemes over single-body regimes, such as monarchies,
aristocracies, and democracies. It was in this respect that our colonial ancestors
were both innovative and critical of extant governmental forms yet
simultaneously wedded to the past, especially the Greco-Roman Ancients.
** All Chapters included
** Focus Questions
,Table of Contents are given below
Chapter 1 THE ORIGINS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL PRINCIPLES
Chapter 2 THE REVOLUTION AND THE CONSTITUTION
Chapter 3 FEDERALISM AND AMERICAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 4 POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION AND PUBLIC OPINION
Chapter 5 THE MASS MEDIA AND THE POLITICAL AGENDA
Chapter 6 NTEREST GROUPS: THE POLITICS OF INFLUENCE
Chapter 7 POLITICAL PARTIES: WINNING THE RIGHT TO GOVERN
Chapter 8 VOTING, CAMPAIGNS, AND ELECTIONS
Chapter 9 CONGRESS: PARTISANSHIP, POLARIZATION, AND GRIDLOCK
Chapter 10 THE PRESIDENT: EXECUTIVE POWER IN A SEPARATION OF POWERS REGIME
Chapter 11 BUREAUCRACY: REDESIGNING GOVERNMENT FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST
CENTURY
Chapter 12 THE FEDERAL COURTS: BULWARK OF THE CONSTITUTION?
Chapter 13 CIVIL LIBERTIES: ORDERED LIBERTY IN AMERICA
Chapter 14 CIVIL RIGHTS: WHERE LIBERTY AND EQUALITY COLLIDE
Chapter 15 GOVERNMENT, THE ECONOMY, AND DOMESTIC POLICY
Chapter 16 AMERICA’S GLOBAL ROLE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
, 1
Chapter 1
THE ORIGINS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL PRINCIPLES
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Q1 What are the broad purposes of government?
A1 The ancients believed the role of government and politics was to foster human
excellence. However, it is imperative to remember that the Greeks and Romans
believed the virtuous should rule according to natural law. Furthermore, values
of equality and order would be served through a society based upon the rule of
law to provide for the common good. In the Middle Ages, government was
largely used to facilitate religion and maintain the need for the individual to live
a proper life in the service of God. The role of government changed in the early
sixteenth century by downplaying the role of religion while alternatively
promoting the role of limited government to protect private property and
individual rights.
Q2 How should government be designed to achieve its purposes?
A2 According to Plato the philosopher-king’s wisdom and intellect would promote
order, stability, and justice. Yet, Aristotle takes a more realistic view of Athenian
society by advocating the best form of government as a polity, which combined
oligarchic and democratic elements to produce political stability. The Romans
combined monarchical, aristocratic, and democratic principles as a mixed
government within representative bodies like the Senate and the Assembly in
order to champion the causes of both the rich and the poor. Government in the
Middle Ages was determined through divine right, whereby a monarch or Pope
was ordained by God to rule. Hence, wisdom and virtue rested within these few
individuals who governed to promote religious life and protect the religious
establishment. The Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and Enlightenment
Periods shifted the role of government from upholding religious doctrine to
secular concerns, such as protecting inalienable rights, including private
property, and promoting commerce. In turn, Enlightenment political
philosophers largely appealed to individualism and not religious hierarchy as a
means to provide order and stability in which individuals could flourish.
Q3 What lessons about government did colonial Americans draw from the history of
ancient Greece and Rome?
, 2
A3 Plato was suspicious of democracy’s rule of the many because good government
would decay into mob rule. Hence, the passions of the masses needed to be
quelled by more aristocratic elements. With this problem in mind, the Framers of
the U.S. Constitution referenced the institutional design of the Roman republic,
which had adhered to the tradition of mixed government initially expounded by
Aristotle and the Romans. This was maintained in the indirect selection of both
the Senate and the presidency within the Constitution. Aristotle also advocated
mixing aristocratic and democratic elements in a governing structure called a
polity. In effect, this governmental design allowed the few and the many to
participate in politics, thus providing an orderly society where the poor should
be able to select government officials who were held accountable. This was also
made manifest in the Constitution with its aristocratic-like Senate and the more
democratic House of Representatives. Thus, the American republic’s Constitution
established institutional powers to govern according to the rule of law. While the
Framers rejected the religious hierarchy of the Middle Ages, they appealed to
inalienable rights endowed upon every individual by God, per the writings of
John Locke, in which a just government and society could not be impeded.
Q4 What circumstances led Europeans to leave their homelands to settle in America?
A4 Individuals immigrated to the colonies to escape religious persecution and civil
unrest after the English Civil War and to pursue social and economic
opportunities. Colonists enjoyed a vast array of natural resources and a large
geographical area where freedom of religion and economic opportunity
flourished. Also, their heterogeneous social composition as well as continual
promotion of ideals, such as equality and tolerance, tended to promote political
freedom at the same time that social expansion of the population was occurring.
Q5 What did democracy mean to our colonial ancestors, and did they approve it?
A5 The colonists were skeptical of democracy and viewed this type of governing
authority as mob rule. Society was largely seen as segmented into those who
should rule and those who should not. In fact, the Founders believed that the
elite (well-educated, land owners) should occupy positions of leadership. Thus,
an aristocratic element within government was necessary to protect against the
threat of mob rule historically associated with democracy. Fundamentally, the
idea of republicanism was promoted as an ideal at a higher level than
democracy. This was made most manifest in the tendency to prefer mixed
constitutional schemes over single-body regimes, such as monarchies,
aristocracies, and democracies. It was in this respect that our colonial ancestors
were both innovative and critical of extant governmental forms yet
simultaneously wedded to the past, especially the Greco-Roman Ancients.
