midterm Flashcards
Most Durable Regime
US followed by Swiss
Institutions
*Man-made structures that constrain human behavior
*Composed of principal-agent relationships, subject to agency loss
*Based on constituent rules, hierarchies, and punishments
*Determine the distribution of resources and the meaning of “rule of law”
*Institutions reflect the interest groups that made them, create others
THE “OLD WORLD”
*Europe defined by religious wars and conflict over centralized decision-making
*Established churches, rule of monarchs and landowners
*Romanus Prefex (1455) and Inter Caetera (1493) promote “discovery”
*English Civil War (1642-1651) and Treaty of Westphalia (164
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
*Ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia
*56 Signers representing the 13 Colonies
*Lays out principles for new regime, but not institutions
*Discusses justification for declaring independence
*Passages discussing slavery removed – what do these passages tell us?
REDACTED SECTION of Dec of ind
THE FOUNDING FATHERS
*Generational wealth (Washington, Madison, Jefferson)
*Working-class backgrounds (Franklin, Adams, Jay)
*Military leaders through personal connections (Washington, Madison)
*Lawyers known for cases on slavery and liberties (Jefferson, Adams, Jay)
Thomas Jefferson’s liberal work
*Declaration of Independence (1776)
*Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776)
*Bill 64 (1779)
*Statute on Religious Freedom (1786)
*French Declaration of the Rights of Man & Citizen (1789) (Contributed)
Sally Hemmings
Jefferson’s enslaved 14 year old black gf who he impregnated and was also the half sis of his wife
THE CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE
*Upper house equally apportioned
*Every state gets two senators
*Popularly elected lower house elects senators for upper house
*Slaves counted as three-fifths of a person in apportioning electors and levying taxes
*Even so, Constitution doesn’t actually mention slavery
THE GEORGE TSEBELIS FRAMEWORK
*Institutions made up of “agenda setters” and “veto players”
*Veto players – actors whose agreement is necessary to change status quo
*Agenda setter – the first veto player, offers proposals for others
*Policy-making occurs within space, compromise between preference spaces
*More veto players means more policy stability
Hypocrisy of Thomas Jefferson
Abolishing slavery when he had 600 enslaved people
Proposals applying to new states but not the original 13 colonies
The articles of confederation 1777
- Colonies set up as independent states with only some cooperation
- Set up Decentralized taxation, courts and military
- Weak economic development law enforcement lead to shay’s rebellion
- Working class vs wealthy
- Started by shay, war vet who got screwed
- High tax/debt burden
- Lack of coordinated policy
- No centralized military so made it hard to deal with threats
New jersey & Virginia Plan
- New jersey every state is equally represented
- Virginia upper and lower house and is represented based on population size
Institutional designs of USA
- Bicameral legislature (house of rep and senate)
- Fed supremacy on (Artiucle 1, section 8)
- Independent executive, elected indirectly by electoral college
- Three branches of gov
Ernest A Young on Purpose of a constitution
as foundational rules of the game
Ernest A Young 2 elements of a constitution
- Canonical structures - map of gov hasn’t changed
- Extracanonical norms
Ernest A Young 3 functions of a costititution
- Establishing governing institutions
- Guarantee the rights of private individuals
- Entrenching rights and institutions through elevated procedures
(Hard to change laws means stable over time)
Constitution Amendment procedures
- Constitutive extracanonical and entrechment canonical aspects
- Requires approval by ⅔ of Congress of State legislatures
- 3/4 of states must be ratified
Louisiana Purchase as setting precedent
- Thomas jefferson bought it without congress approval despite him being anti-federalist
- Making the precedent that executive comes first in foreign affairs
First Amendment
Freedom of Speech
Second Amendment
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed
Third amendment
freedom from quartering soldier
Fourth amendment:
right to people to be secure in their propert
FIFTH AMENDMENT
-Due process – no one can be deprived of freedom or property w/o trial
-Rights of criminals, proportionality, and grand jury established
-Private property seized by government must be compensate
Sixth amendment
-Right to a speedy, public trial by an impartial jury
-Defendants must be informed of the charges against them
*Article I, Section 8 FEDERALISM
- Supremacy Clause – national law is the supreme law of the land
- Commerce clause – federal government regulates trade with foreign nations, between states, and with indigenous people
10th Amendment
Reserved Powers clause –> The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the State
Dual federalism
national and state-level institutions are sovereign in their own areas, don’t interfere with each othe
Cooperative federalism
national and state governments overlap in their powers and work together
Intergovernmentalism
In the US, some prerogatives are shared, some are for the federal government, and some are for the states
POLICE
- Typically accountable to executive branch or equivalent
- Federal law enforcement like FBI accountable to President
- State police accountable to governors; county sheriff to county executive
- Smaller units like municipalities, townships, villages have own police forces
Civil liberties
guarantee freedom from intrusion – government must refrain
Civil rights
guarantee citizens’ participation – government must provide
Douglass’ theory
Only way to truly get rid of slavery is to make gov entirely consistent with itself and give every loyal citizen elective franchise. (right to vote)
Carles boix on Mancur-Olson Theory
People dont like being stolen from so they withold ressources from stationary bandits causing for a struggle between them in how much they can take and how much they provide
Mancur-Olson Theory
-Roving and stationary bandits
-first gov is stationary bandits giving protection from roving bandits
What does the institutionalist framework not account for
interest groups that make up institutions and the interest groups that come from institutions being created
A Principal
Someone who delegates power
Agents
receive power to carry out principals orders
Agency loss
Distance between the agent and the principal’s desired decisions
Influence of social contract theory to the beginning of US
Social contract theory brings forth the idea of no taxation without representation
Locke influence on the US
social contract theory
wrote the constitution of Carolina
supported slavery in the US hypocritically
Why was the north less reliant on slavery
less of an agricultural society
religious and ethnic diversity
less land owning elites
marbury vs madison
establish the precedence of judicial review
federalist papers
argued in favour of the constitution thus promoting a strong centralized government to ensure stability and order. They emphasized the need for a unified nation, the benefits of a strong federal government, and the importance of checks and balances to prevent tyranny.
anti-federalist papers
argued against ratifying the Constitution, fearing it would create a government that was too powerful and threaten individual rights and state sovereignty. They feared the potential of government overreach.
how do institutions fix collective action prob
Solve the free riding issues by establishing laws and enforcing them
what are the first 10 amendments called and what do they protect people from
Bill of rights and protect people from having their civil liberties/rights encroached
north v south socio economic structure pre civ war
Industrial/New Money/Dense vs Agrarian/Old Money/Dispersed
4 elements of institutions **
-Institutions are man-made structures that constrain human behaviour,
- they determine the distribution of resources and the meaning of “rule of law”,
- they are composed of principal-agent relationships and are thus subject to agency loss,
- they are the solution to the collective action problem.
Describe US federalism
Divided between state and federal government ___
Veto override
2/3 in each house
Importance of washington’s farewell address
Set a precedent of limited terms for a presidential candidate
What is the structure of legislative branch
-Senate: 2/state
-House of representatives: population proportional
Plessy v fergurson
Segregation was not unconstitutional as long as facilities were equal. Brown v board of education changed this
Barron v Baltimore
the Constitution’s Bill of Rights restricts only the powers of the federal government and not those of the state governments.
Dred Scott v Sandford
people of African descent are not represented by the constitution
Cherokee v Georgia
Established that the State had control over reservations
Worcester v Georgia
Establishes the precedent of indigenous sovereignty and that the state had no ruling on it
Johnson v. Mcintosh
private citizens cannot purchase Indigenous land
Sixth amendment
right to speedy, public trial by impartial jury
- Defendants must be informed of the charges against them
Seventh amendment
Juries for federal civil cases worth more than $20
Eighth amendment
no excessive bail fees or cruel and usual punishment
Ninth amendement
the right listed in the constitution don’t preclude other rights being claimed by citizens
13th Amendment
Abolition of Slavery and congress can enforce it through legislation
14th Amendment
- Naturalized or birthright in US guarantees citizenship
- Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers
- Can’t have revolted or launched insurection then run for office
15th Amendment
right to vote not infringed by race
Frederick douglas
-To fight despotism you need to empower the people
-Suffrage needs to be expanded as much as possible
-Not just institutions that reinforce white supremacy but also the culture
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
states cannot tax federal properties
Gibbons v. Ogden
states cannot regulate interstate commerce
liberalism philosophy
individual over the group
Bill 64
Changing anglican criminal laws to new ones
- ie death penalty for violent crimes only
- progressive taxes
Virginia declaration of rights
template for bill of rights
