Intro government notes:
Unit 1:
Government: institutions and processes through which public
policies are made
Politics: process by which we select our government leaders, what
issues they pursue, and what policies they implement.
- Who gets what when and how
- How we enact government policies
Policy making system:
- Process by which policy comes into being and evolves over time
- As we evolve, policies evolve.
Linkage institutions:
- Channels through which people's concerns become political
issues on the policy agenda
- (Political parties, elections, media, interest groups)
Policy agenda:
- Issues that attract serious attention of public officials
- When people disagree about a problem and how to fix it
- Some issues considered, some not
- Changes regularly
Policymaking institutions:
- take on political issues
● Legislature (congress)
, ● Executive (president)
● Judicial (courts federal/state)
● Bureaucracies (federal/state)
Bill of rights:
- First 10 amendments of the constitution
- Convince people to support the constitution
- (1) Freedom of press, religion, protest, speech, petition the
government
- (2) right to bear arms
- (3) Gov can't force you to take in soldiers
- (4) right to not be searched
- (5) right of the accused (plead the 5th)
- (6) quick trial
- (7) right to trial by jury
- (8) cruel and unusual punishment
Articles of confederation:
- Did not govern correctly
- Constitution to replace and fix the articles
US Gov is based off ideas of limited government, popular sovereignty,
republicanism, and social contract
● Natural rights***
- All people have certain rights that cannot be taken away-
you are born with them and government can not take
them away
- Life liberty and property
● Social contract
- Agreement among the people in society that gives up
some freedoms to protect other freedoms
, - Give up absolute freedom for protection
● Popular sovereignty
- All government power comes from the consent of its’
people
● Limited government
- Government power can not be absolute
● Republicanism
- Form of gov’t in which elected officials represent the
interests of the people (indirect democracy or
representative democracy)
● John Lockes social contract theory:
- What influenced the founding era of u.s? British
constitutional system, political philosophy and historical
influences, colonial traditions
- Natural rights
- Social contract to protect natural rights
● Declaration of independence (1776)
- Continental congress debated resolutions for
independence
- Thomas jefferson, adams, franklin
- Listed the colonists grievances against the King georg lll
- Politically, the declaration was polemic (justifying
revolution)
- It is now a statement of democratic philosophy of U.S gov
The English Heritage: the power of ideas
● Looked to practice of england, europe and philosophers
, - Locke proposed natural rights
- State of nature laws: laws determined by morals not gov
or formal laws
- Consent of the governed: gov derives its authority form
the people
● Jefferson took ideas from Locke for the declaration
Models of democracy:
Participatory
- Broad participation
- Vote on laws directly
- Impossibility as nation grew
Referendum: people oppose law passed by legislature
Elite:
- Limited participation of a few
- “Qualified”
- Wealthy, educated citizens
- Politics only benefit the people who participate
Pluralist:
- Middle ground
- Group based activism
- Interest groups
- Amplifies voice of certain groups
- Competition among groups
- Hearing all sides and sharing ideas
Unit 1:
Government: institutions and processes through which public
policies are made
Politics: process by which we select our government leaders, what
issues they pursue, and what policies they implement.
- Who gets what when and how
- How we enact government policies
Policy making system:
- Process by which policy comes into being and evolves over time
- As we evolve, policies evolve.
Linkage institutions:
- Channels through which people's concerns become political
issues on the policy agenda
- (Political parties, elections, media, interest groups)
Policy agenda:
- Issues that attract serious attention of public officials
- When people disagree about a problem and how to fix it
- Some issues considered, some not
- Changes regularly
Policymaking institutions:
- take on political issues
● Legislature (congress)
, ● Executive (president)
● Judicial (courts federal/state)
● Bureaucracies (federal/state)
Bill of rights:
- First 10 amendments of the constitution
- Convince people to support the constitution
- (1) Freedom of press, religion, protest, speech, petition the
government
- (2) right to bear arms
- (3) Gov can't force you to take in soldiers
- (4) right to not be searched
- (5) right of the accused (plead the 5th)
- (6) quick trial
- (7) right to trial by jury
- (8) cruel and unusual punishment
Articles of confederation:
- Did not govern correctly
- Constitution to replace and fix the articles
US Gov is based off ideas of limited government, popular sovereignty,
republicanism, and social contract
● Natural rights***
- All people have certain rights that cannot be taken away-
you are born with them and government can not take
them away
- Life liberty and property
● Social contract
- Agreement among the people in society that gives up
some freedoms to protect other freedoms
, - Give up absolute freedom for protection
● Popular sovereignty
- All government power comes from the consent of its’
people
● Limited government
- Government power can not be absolute
● Republicanism
- Form of gov’t in which elected officials represent the
interests of the people (indirect democracy or
representative democracy)
● John Lockes social contract theory:
- What influenced the founding era of u.s? British
constitutional system, political philosophy and historical
influences, colonial traditions
- Natural rights
- Social contract to protect natural rights
● Declaration of independence (1776)
- Continental congress debated resolutions for
independence
- Thomas jefferson, adams, franklin
- Listed the colonists grievances against the King georg lll
- Politically, the declaration was polemic (justifying
revolution)
- It is now a statement of democratic philosophy of U.S gov
The English Heritage: the power of ideas
● Looked to practice of england, europe and philosophers
, - Locke proposed natural rights
- State of nature laws: laws determined by morals not gov
or formal laws
- Consent of the governed: gov derives its authority form
the people
● Jefferson took ideas from Locke for the declaration
Models of democracy:
Participatory
- Broad participation
- Vote on laws directly
- Impossibility as nation grew
Referendum: people oppose law passed by legislature
Elite:
- Limited participation of a few
- “Qualified”
- Wealthy, educated citizens
- Politics only benefit the people who participate
Pluralist:
- Middle ground
- Group based activism
- Interest groups
- Amplifies voice of certain groups
- Competition among groups
- Hearing all sides and sharing ideas
