The Changing Political Environment:
Introduction:
Woodrow Wilson 1913- 1921
Warren G. Harding 1921-1923
Calvin C. Coolidge 1923-1929
Herbert C Hoover 1929-1933
Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1945
Harry S. Truman 1945-1953
Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1961
John F. Kennedy 1961-1963
Lyndon B. Johnson 1963-1969
Richard M.Nixon 1969-1974
Gerald R.Ford 1974-1977
James Earl ‘Jimmy’ Carter 1977-1981
The factors that impacted upon the American political
environment:
1) Ideas about the nation’s history and traditions.
2) The personality, policies and style of the President
3) The relationship between Congress and the President and whether
Congress was dominated by Republicans or Democrats
4) The dominant contemporary political philosophy
5) Media
6) Public Opinion
7) The state of the economy and society
8) Foreign threat
THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT:
, The US government is a multi-layer system:
1) Federal (the whole country)
2) State and Local (counties, cities, towns in the 50 states)
The Role of the Constitution:
- The Constitution sets down what the federal government can pass laws on
and what it can’t
- It lays down laws that the states MUST obey.
- Also makes it clear that the Supreme Court has the final saw in
interpreting laws and whether federal or state lawmakers have broken the
rules of the Constitution.
THE PRESIDENT (The CONGRESS (The THE SUPREME COURT
Executive Branch) Legislative Group) (The Judicial Branch)
Can recommend legislation to Consist of two houses: The Judges are appointed by
Congress and can veto their Senate and the House of the President, but the
bills Representatives nominees need Senate
approval
Appoints to the Cabinet and Each state elects 2 senators
federal bureaucracy Approves laws and
Congress passes bills, which practises, decides whether
Head of State so leads foreign than become laws (Acts) they are constitutional
policy
Senate can veto Supreme Court decision is
Head of the executive in presidential appointments known as Rulings
emergencies, he can Issue
Executive orders but the Congress must agree
Supreme Court can override taxation and going to war.
them
Republicans: Democrats: Separation of
Associated with the Associated with ideas of Powers:
ideas of minimal govt civil rights, unions in the Laws were made by a
intervention in workplace and progressive legislative group
business and daily life, reform. After the 1930s, (Congress), carried out
low taxes and they were also associated by an executive branch
conservative social with government (The president and his
policies intervention and social administration) and
TIMELINE:
and economic (1917-1975)
reform. enforced by a judicial
group (Supreme Court)
Each group could curb
the action of another,
, 6 April 1917: USA enters WW1
October 1917: Russia becomes communist
11 November 1918: WW1 ends
1919-1920: First Red Scare
18 January 1919: Prohibition introduced
October 1929: Wall Street crash kickstarts Great Depression
September 1939: Outbreak of WW2 in Europe
7 December 1941: Japanese attacks US fleet at Pearl Harbor
8 December 1941: USA declares war on Japan
11 December 1941: Germany declares war on the US
8 May 1945: WW2 ends in Europe
August 1945: USA drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
1947—1945: Second Red Scare
1950-1953: Korean War
4 October 1957: USSR first to put satellite in space
1962: First US troops in Vietnam
20 July 1969: US astronauts land on the moon
1975: Complete American withdrawal from Vietnam
Introduction:
Woodrow Wilson 1913- 1921
Warren G. Harding 1921-1923
Calvin C. Coolidge 1923-1929
Herbert C Hoover 1929-1933
Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1945
Harry S. Truman 1945-1953
Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1961
John F. Kennedy 1961-1963
Lyndon B. Johnson 1963-1969
Richard M.Nixon 1969-1974
Gerald R.Ford 1974-1977
James Earl ‘Jimmy’ Carter 1977-1981
The factors that impacted upon the American political
environment:
1) Ideas about the nation’s history and traditions.
2) The personality, policies and style of the President
3) The relationship between Congress and the President and whether
Congress was dominated by Republicans or Democrats
4) The dominant contemporary political philosophy
5) Media
6) Public Opinion
7) The state of the economy and society
8) Foreign threat
THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT:
, The US government is a multi-layer system:
1) Federal (the whole country)
2) State and Local (counties, cities, towns in the 50 states)
The Role of the Constitution:
- The Constitution sets down what the federal government can pass laws on
and what it can’t
- It lays down laws that the states MUST obey.
- Also makes it clear that the Supreme Court has the final saw in
interpreting laws and whether federal or state lawmakers have broken the
rules of the Constitution.
THE PRESIDENT (The CONGRESS (The THE SUPREME COURT
Executive Branch) Legislative Group) (The Judicial Branch)
Can recommend legislation to Consist of two houses: The Judges are appointed by
Congress and can veto their Senate and the House of the President, but the
bills Representatives nominees need Senate
approval
Appoints to the Cabinet and Each state elects 2 senators
federal bureaucracy Approves laws and
Congress passes bills, which practises, decides whether
Head of State so leads foreign than become laws (Acts) they are constitutional
policy
Senate can veto Supreme Court decision is
Head of the executive in presidential appointments known as Rulings
emergencies, he can Issue
Executive orders but the Congress must agree
Supreme Court can override taxation and going to war.
them
Republicans: Democrats: Separation of
Associated with the Associated with ideas of Powers:
ideas of minimal govt civil rights, unions in the Laws were made by a
intervention in workplace and progressive legislative group
business and daily life, reform. After the 1930s, (Congress), carried out
low taxes and they were also associated by an executive branch
conservative social with government (The president and his
policies intervention and social administration) and
TIMELINE:
and economic (1917-1975)
reform. enforced by a judicial
group (Supreme Court)
Each group could curb
the action of another,
, 6 April 1917: USA enters WW1
October 1917: Russia becomes communist
11 November 1918: WW1 ends
1919-1920: First Red Scare
18 January 1919: Prohibition introduced
October 1929: Wall Street crash kickstarts Great Depression
September 1939: Outbreak of WW2 in Europe
7 December 1941: Japanese attacks US fleet at Pearl Harbor
8 December 1941: USA declares war on Japan
11 December 1941: Germany declares war on the US
8 May 1945: WW2 ends in Europe
August 1945: USA drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
1947—1945: Second Red Scare
1950-1953: Korean War
4 October 1957: USSR first to put satellite in space
1962: First US troops in Vietnam
20 July 1969: US astronauts land on the moon
1975: Complete American withdrawal from Vietnam
