Midterm Review

Question 1

Why Does Government Exist?

Answer 1

To preserve order and protect human rights.

Question 2

Elite Theory and Pluralist Theory

Answer 2

Elite theory - society is organized by a pyramid, those at the top have all the power.

Pluralist theory - power is exercised by groups. Everyone wins some of the time.

Question 3

Political culture

Answer 3

Defined as perceptions of what government is.

Question 4

Types of Political Culture

Answer 4

Individualistic - “democracy as market place”, no government concern for good society. Limited intervention in private activities.

Moralistic- Common Wealth. “good society” Politics to promote public good. Issues and ethics are important.

Traditionalistic - Paternal and elitist. Government exist to preserve order. Hierarchy with limited political participation. (Predominant in the South).

Question 5

Philosophical Origins of the American Political System

Answer 5

Aristotle - “absolute justice” derived from reason

St. Thomas Aquinas - God is the source of man’s ability to reason. Natural law, absolute justice, government are God’s gifts to mankind.

***John Locke - British philosopher, power is derived from the consent of the people, not God. (Challenge to the theory of divine right)

Question 6

John Locke’s Philosophies

Answer 6

Natural Rights - Life, Liberty, Property.

Human beings have certain rights by virtue of their existence. Kings do not grant these rights, God does.

State of Nature - perfect freedom and equality. Punishment of violators must not be arbitrary or disproportionate to the offense.

Question 7

Thomas Hobbes

Answer 7

English philosopher. State of nature is highly undesirable. “Human life is nasty, brutish, and short.”

Social contract theory - views that people’s morals and/or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement.

Question 8

Problems with the Articles of Confederation

Answer 8

out of - Congress could not regulate trade.

• No uniform system of currency
• Congress did not have the power to tax
• Each state had one vote
• difficulty passing laws
• no executive chief
• no national court system
• congress did not have the power to settle disputes among states.
• laws needed approval by 9 out of 13 states.

Question 9

What powers did the constitution give the federal government?

Answer 9

Expressed powers aka enumerated powers - regulate foreign trade, coin money, declare war, interstate commerce etc

Implied powers - powers the constitution is presumed to have delegated to the national government, those “necessary and proper” to carry out.

Question 10

Checks and Balances

Answer 10

Separation of powers - power and responsibilities are divided among the legislative, executive and judicial branch.

Checks and Balances - each branch has some control over the other two. This prevents any branch from abusing its powers.

Question 11

The 3 Branches of Government

Answer 11

Legislature - Congress can pass laws, congressional oversight, must approve spending, senate confirms presidential appointees, congress has the power to declare war, ratify treaties.

Executive - President can propose legislation, president can veto legislation passed by congress, president can call Congress into special session, Pres can refuse to spend money.

Judiciary - judicial review - power to declare laws unconstitutional, judges are appointed for life, salaries cannot be lowered and they cannot be fired.

Question 12

How the Constitution may be amended

Answer 12

Amendment is passed by 2/3rds vote of both the House and Senate.
OR
A constitutional convention by the legislature of 2/3rds of states.

Ratification- After being proposed, an amendment must be ratified by the legislatures of 3/4 of state
OR
by ratifying conventions in 3/4 of the states (21st amendment)

Question 13

Why was the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution?

Answer 13

Added to the constitution in 1791 in order to gain support from the Anti-federalist, who believed that the new Constitution gave the national government too much power.

Question 14

Federalist 10

Answer 14

Factions- any group with a common interest. Why were factions a problem? You don’t want factions imposing what they think on everyone else.

You avoid factions by creating a large republic, giving the people representatives to represent the public’s voice.

Question 15

Federalist 51 : Why did Madison argue that the Constitutional structure would prevent the federal government from abusing its power?

Answer 15

checks and balances, separation powers, they can control each other

Question 16

Virginia Plan, New Jersey Plan, and the Connecticut Compromise

Answer 16

Virginia Plan - focused on big states, representation by population

New Jersey Plan - equal representation

Connecticut Compromise - created the House and Senate. House of Reps based on population. Senate based on equal representation (each state gets two Senators.)

Question 17

Reapportionment, Redistricting, and Gerrymandering

Answer 17

Reapportionment - the redistribution of Congressional seats among states every 10 years.

Redistricting - the redrawing of district lines following the census to accommodate the population shift.

Gerrymandering - the drawing of legislative districts to benefit a party, group, or incumbent.

Question 18

Committees: What do they do? And why would a member want to join a particular party.

Answer 18

Committes- propose bills, help amend bills, Why would a congress member join – work on issues they’re concerned with etc

Question 19

Legislative Process: How a bill becomes a law

Answer 19

How does a bill become a law- sponsor takes the bill to the committee, committee votes, proposal goes to the senate, bill is voted on.
How to get rid of filibustered; cloture vote
Conference committee rights congress report
Signing statement is a statement issued by the President,

Question 20

Formal Powers of the President

Answer 20

“Commander in Chief”, declare war, veto power, command armed forces, appointment powers, make treaties and convene Congress.

Question 21

Informal Powers of the President

Answer 21

the power to persuade, make executive agreements, issue executive orders, create and use the bureaucracy make legislative proposals

Question 22

Presidential Character

Answer 22

Character is made up of “world view” and “style”. Style is the president’s way of performing his political roles, and world view is his beliefs and view of human nature.

Question 23

Types of Presidential Character

Answer 23

Passive Positive, Passive Negative, Active Positive, Active Negative

Question 24

Passive Positive / Passive Negative

Answer 24

Passive Positive - Compliant; seek to be loved, easily manipulated, superficially optimistic.
Examples: Madison, Reagan

Passive Negative - Withdrawn; responds to a sense of duty, avoids power, avoids conflict and uncertainty,
-Examples: Washington and Eisenhower, both successful Generals who became President out of a sense that their country needed them to serve, not sharply defined politically

Question 25

Active Positive / Active Negative

Answer 25

Active Positive - self-confident, flexible, creates opportunities for action and doesn’t take himself to seriously. Optimistic. Ex: FDR, JFK, Ford, Truman

Active Negative - Compulsive, expends great energy on task but derives little joy; preoccupied with whether he is failing or succeeding. Examples: Lyndon Johnson, Nixon.

Question 26

Max Weber’s Theories of Bureaucracy

Answer 26

Span of control: Each unit of the bureaucracy is responsible for making policy in its own area. It doesn’t venture outside its area and no other unit interferes in its control of its own area.
Rules and regulations: The bureaucracy develops rules and regulations for how it functions, it doesn’t just operate at random; this lends itself to impartiality and predictability.
Goal orientation: The organization is set up in a way that best allows it to carry out its mission.

Question 27

Judiciary Act of 1789

Answer 27

Established the basic structure of the Federal court system.

Established the jurisdiction of lower courts

Gave the Supreme Court power to issue writs of mandamus and apparently expanded the Court’s original jurisdiction, which was the basis of the Court’s finding in Marbury v. Madison (1803) that this was unconstitutional

Question 28

Marbury vs Madison

Answer 28

Marbury sued, asking the Supreme Court to issue a writ of mandamus (an order) to Madison to deliver the commission.
Adams had appointed John Marshall as Chief Justice shortly before leaving office. Marshall was now hearing a case brought about by his own failure to deliver the commission. Today, this would be considered a conflict of interest and the judge would be expected to recuse himself (not participate in the case).

Question 29

Court- packing

Answer 29

FDR’s plan to expand the federal court to as many as 15 judges. Was his way of ensuring that his “New Deal”. Court packing is not allowed. 9 judges.

Question 30

Current Membership of the Supreme Court

Answer 30

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. (G.W. Bush, 2005)
    Associate Justices:
Anthony M. Kennedy (Reagan, 1988)
Clarence Thomas (G.H.W. Bush, 1991)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Clinton, 1993)
Stephen G. Breyer (Clinton, 1994)
Samuel A. Alito (G.W. Bush, 2005)
Sonia Sotomayor (Obama, 2009)
Elena Kagan (Obama, 2010)
One vacancy due to the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016.