Politics Timeline

Question 1

1748

Answer 1

Baron de Montesquiue argued for the separation of powers in his book L’Esprit des Lois, as he believed ‘when the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person… there can be no liberty’. his works were thought to have heavily influenced the framers of the US constitution

Question 2

1775

Answer 2

American War of Independence- Once harmonious relations between Britain and the colonies became increasingly conflict-driven. Britain’s land policy prohibiting settlement in the West irritated colonists as did the arrival of British troops. The most serious problem was the need for money to support the empire.Attempts through the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the Townshend Acts to raise money rather than control trade met with growing resistance in the colonies.
About 7,200 Americans died in battle during the Revolution. Another 10,000 died from disease or exposure and about 8,500 died in British prisons. A quarter of the slaves in South Carolina and Georgia escaped from bondage during the Revolution. The Northern states outlawed slavery or adopted gradual emancipation plans.The states adopted written constitutions that guaranteed religious freedom, increased the legislature’s size and powers, made taxation more progressive, and reformed inheritance laws.

Question 3

1781

Answer 3

The Articles of Confederation are written, was not really fit for purpose as it gave only one chamber with one delegate from each state being represented. There was no president and no judiciary. Any decision required nine of the thirteen congressional votes which meant no decisions could ever be made. The congress could not collect taxes and was deliberately a weak institution.

Question 4

1787

Answer 4

The Philadelphia Convention, creating a new charter of government- the constitution. The framers wanted a limited government but also limited democracy (hence the electoral college). There were many disputes, mainly between the Virginia (proportional representation for states, favoured by larger states) and New Jersey (one elected chamber with one person for each state, favoured by smaller states) plans, until the ‘great compromise’ brokered by Roger Sherman. Separation of Powers and Federalism were the two most important aspects

Question 5

1788

Answer 5

First Republican President elected- George Washington

Question 6

1791

Answer 6

The first ten amendments are ratified by the states

Question 7

1803

Answer 7

Marbury v. Madison established the right to judicial review. The controversy centred around whether an incoming secretary of state (James Madison) could refuse to honour a list of appointments (including William Marbury) made by the outgoing president (John Adams) once he came into office. The courts ruled that whilst Madison had acted wrongly, the law under which Marbury brought his case was contrary to the constitution. Chief Justice Marshall states ‘it is emphatically the power and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is’, thereby setting a precedent for judicial review over unconstitutional statutes.

Question 8

1828

Answer 8

First Democrat President elected- Andrew Jackson

Question 9

1868

Answer 9

President Andrew Johnson impeached- The U.S. House of Representatives votes 11 articles of impeachment against him, nine of which cite Johnson’s removal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, a violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The House vote made President Johnson the first president to be impeached in U.S. history.

Question 10

1892

Answer 10

Plessy v. Feguson- questioned whether an 1890 Louisiana Statute requiring segregation of rail-carriages violated tje 13th and 14th amendments. it stemmed from an 1892 incident in which African-American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car, breaking a Louisiana law. Rejecting Plessy’s argument that his constitutional rights were violated, the Court ruled that a state law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between whites and blacks did not conflict with the 13th and14th Amendments, as separation did not imply inequality. Restrictive legislation based on race continued following the Plessy decision, its reasoning not overturned until Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954. The vote was 7-1 in favour of upholding Louisiana state law.

Question 11

1929

Answer 11

Wall Street Crash and start of the Great Depression. The number of unemployed people reached upwards of 13 million. Many people lived in primitive conditions close to famine. One New York family moved into a cave in Central Park.

Question 12

1932

Answer 12

Presidential election- Franklin D. Roosevelt 472, Herbert Hoover 59

Question 13

1933

Answer 13

Franklin D. Roosevelt begins a period known as co-operative federalism in the wake of the economic depression. Introduces the ‘New Deal’, the largest, most expensive government programme in the history of the American presidency

Question 14

1952

Answer 14

Presidential election- Dwight D. Eisenhower 442, Adlai Stevenson 89
Eisenhower remains one of only a few presidential nominee who did not come from being either a senator, house member or governor. Eisenhower was a former second world war general.

Question 15

1954

Answer 15

Brown v. Board of Education Topeka- overturned the Plessy decision. Argued whether Linda Brown was entitled to go the the school nearest to her home, despite the fact that it was designated for whites only. The liberal majority court ruled 9:0 in favour of desegregation of schools, based on sociological evidence that, contrary to the Plessy decision, said that the separation of race created inequalities. The case earned Chief Justice Earl Warren the title of ‘judicial activist’

Question 16

1960

Answer 16

Out of 106 members of the House of Representatives for the South, 99 were Democrats, showing that the Solid South was still intact.

Question 17

1962

Answer 17

Engel v. Vitale- the court ruled 7:1 that states could not impose a set prayer on public schools because to do so would constitute a breach of the establishment clause. ‘the first amendment has erected a wall between church and state. The wall must be kept high and impregnable’. Many disagreed with the decision, including congressman Mendel Rivers who called the judges an ‘unpredictable group of uncontrolled despots’. Liberals were generally more sanguine, and Kennedy backed the decision.

Question 18

1963

Answer 18

President John Kennedy assassinated and Vice-President Lyndon Johnson automatically becomes president

Question 19

1964

Answer 19

Strom Thurmond switches party from the Democrats to the Republicans in opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, thereby sparking the breakup of the Solid South

Question 20

1968

Answer 20

Presidential election- Richard Nixon 301, Hubert Humphrey 19, George Wallace (American Independent) 46
The Democrats and Republicans fail to win all the electoral college votes for the first time. George Wallace’s American Independence Party win 13.5% of the vote, splitting the Democrat vote leading to a Republican victory.

Question 21

1971

Answer 21

Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenburg board of education- following on from Brown v. Topeka, this case unanimously upheld busing programmes that would aim to speed up racial integration in schools. Because of racially segregated housing patterns and resistance by local leaders, many schools remained as segregated in the late 1960s as they were at the time of the Brown decision. The court ruled in favour of the Swanns and oversaw the implementation of a busing strategy that integrated the district’s schools

Question 22

1972

Answer 22

The most recent proposed constitutional amendment, designed to guarantee equal rights for women, failed at the ratification stage just three states short of the required three quarters
When asked whether there was any difference in what the Republicans and Democrats stood for, 44% said no and only 46% said yes

Question 23

1973

Answer 23

Roe v. Wade- ruled that abortion was protected by the constitution. Decided simultaneously with a companion case,Doe v. Bolton, the Court ruled 7–2 that a right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman’s decision to have an abortion, but that this right must be balanced against the state’s two legitimate interests in regulating abortions: protecting prenatal life and protecting women’s health. Arguing that these state interests became stronger over the course of a pregnancy, the Court resolved this balancing test by tying state regulation of abortion to the third trimester of pregnancy. In disallowing many state and federal restrictions on abortion in the United States, Roe v. Wade prompted a national debate that continues today about issues including whether, and to what extent, abortion should be legal

Question 24

1974

Answer 24

Nixon resigns in August due to the Watergate affair, wherein the Nixon administration and his re-election team broke into the Democratic National Committee to spy on the opposition. The attempted cover-up failed, an Nixon was accused of illegal use of the CIA and other government agencies, bugging and bribery.

Question 25

1981

Answer 25

Ronald Reagan elected as president. During his presidency he woos conservatives away from the Democrat party whilst making it more uncomforatble for moderates to remain in the Republican party.

Question 26

1984

Answer 26

Presidential election- Ronald Reagan 525, Walter Mondale 13

Question 27

1987

Answer 27

The senate reject (42-58) President Reagan’s Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork

Question 28

1988

Answer 28

Presidential election- George H. W. Bush 426, Michael Dukakis 111
Hustler magazine v. Falwell- evangelist Jerry Falwell had been parodied in the adult magazine ‘Hustler’ as a drunk engaged in a sexual liaison with his mother. The courts ruled that no-one would take the cartoon as factual, therefore it did not constitute libel of a public figure. Whilst the state court awarded Falwell damages to combat his emotional distress, the supreme court ruled that public figures should not be compensated in such cases. They argued that there was a history of satirical caricature in the US which was protected by the first amendment.

Question 29

1989

Answer 29

Texas v. Johnson- A loose constructionist reading of the constitution by the court ruled that Texas had violated Johnson’s first amendment rights when they punished him for burning the US flag in protest against the Reagan administration (the case took some time to get through to the supreme court). The ruling was that flag-burning was protected as a form of ‘expressive conduct’ or ‘symbolic speech’ under the first amendment. The liberals said that the Texas regulation failed the O’Brien test because it was aimed at abridging speech. However the dissent, including Rehnquist, lamented the shameful way in which the flag was desecrated.

Question 30

1991

Answer 30

Dissolution of the Soviet Union marks the end of the Cold War, eliminating the need for bipartisan foreign policy and any kind of consensus or unity in Congress.
Barnes v. Glenn theatre- Indiana state’s public decency laws limited total nudity in public places. However two establishments wishing to provide totally nude dancing argued that the state law requiring G-strings and pasties infringed upon their first amendment rights. The court ruled that although such ‘expressive conduct’ dancing did have some protection under the constitution, the requirement for dancers to wear minimal clothing only moderated the capacity of the dancers to convey an erotic message to a minor degree. It therefore ruled, according to the O’Brien test, that the regulation was constitutional, and necessary to keep a degree of public order.

Question 31

1992

Answer 31

Presidential election- Bill Clinton 370, George H. W. Bush 168
Bill Clinton wins with the catchphrase ‘it’s the economy, stupid!’
Independent Ross Perot wins 9% of the votes, taking away votes from the Republicans. His bid for the White house cost millions, which came from his own pocket.

Question 32

1994

Answer 32

The Republicans were the in the majority in the house and senate, however the breakup of the Solid South was beginning to show as the Democrats started to lose their Southern Conservative wing

Question 33

1996

Answer 33

Presidential election- Bill Clinton 379, Bob Dole 159
Turnout remains low at only 17.5% in the primaries
Republican senator Phil Gramm shows the need for candidates to be telegenic and have oratorical skills, saying ‘i’m too ugly to be president’

Question 34

1997

Answer 34

Mark Shields states in the Washington Post ‘as of today, the country has two Republican parties, separated by the issue of abortion’
The senate refuses to confirm William Weld- President Clinton’s choice as ambassador to Mexico
Reno v. American Civil liberties union- all nine Justices of the Court voted to strike down anti-indecency provisions of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), because they violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech. Two Justices concurred in part and dissented in part to the decision. This was the first major Supreme Court ruling on the regulation of materials distributed via the Internet.

Question 35

1998

Answer 35

Clinton v. New York City- the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the line-item veto as granted in the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 violated the Presentment Clause of the United States Constitution because it impermissibly gave the President of the United States the power to unilaterally amend or repeal parts of statutes that had been duly passed by the United States Congress. The decision of the Court, in a six-to-three majority, was delivered by Justice John Paul Stevens.
Bill Clinton is impeached by congress for perjury (228-206) and obstruction of justice (221-212)
The first Super Tuesday is held as an attempt by a block of southern states to increase their importance in the candidate selection process.

Question 36

1999

Answer 36

Elizabeth Dole ends her presidential campaign during the invisible primaries, claiming that she doesnt have enough money to continue

Question 37

2000

Answer 37

Presidential election- George W. Bush 271, Al Gore 266.
Bush v. Gore- the Supreme Court, following the controversy of the Florida election, immediately ordered manual recounts to be halted, declaring that counting certain ballots by different methods than others violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourth Amendment. The Court found that the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court was invalid, and that no alternative recount could be performed within the state’s legal time limit. On 12 December 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the original Florida results would stand, effectively naming Bush the next President of the United States. It is one of the most controversial and party-political Supreme Court cases in recent history
America is described as a 50/50 nation, as both candidates end up with 49% of the vote.
The Reform Party, the Libertarian Party and the Green Party are on the ballot in all 50 states. Ralph Nader of the Green party takes 2.7% of the vote, leading many to believe that he took exclusively Democrat votes, leading to Bush’s victory.

Question 38

2002

Answer 38

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. National party committees are now banned from raising or spending ‘soft money’, Corporations are forbidden to fund issue ads directly, and fundraising on federal property is forbidden. The use of union or corporate money to broadcast ads mentioning a federal candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary prohibited. Also increased individual spending limits for voters to $2300, and banned contributions from foreign nationals. Started the provision of saying ‘i’m … and i approve this message’
No child left behind act- signed into law in January, is a major expansion of federal government’s role in education, tripling the amount of funding for scientifically based reading programmes and ushering in the most sweeping changes in federal education policy since the 1960s

Question 39

2004

Answer 39

Presidential election- George W. Bush 286, John Kerry 251

Question 40

2006

Answer 40

Hamdan v. Rumsfeld- Hamdan was charged with conspiracy to commit offences triable by a military commission and was granted Habeas Corpus to dispute this charge. The Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try suspected members of al Qaeda held at Guantanamo bay

Question 41

2007

Answer 41

The DNC votes to strip Michigan and Florida of their National Convention delegates after they schedule their primaries before the allotted date of February 5th. The DNC later repealed this and gave each state half of their votes.
Clinton holds a 15% lead over Obama in the polls, despite the fact that Obama will go on to be nominated. The same poll reports a 10% lead for Rudy Giuliani over John McCain, who will later turn out to be the Republican nominee

Question 42

2008

Answer 42

Presidential election- Barack Obama 365, John McCain 173
Primaries were noteworthy as the Democratic candidate for president with the most political experience, Hilary Clinton (8 years as first lady and 7 years in the senate) lost to relatively inexperienced Barack Obama (just 3 years in the senate)
Super Tuesday is the earliest and biggest so far, on the 5th February containing 22 Democrat and 21 Republican contests.
District of Columbia v. Heller

Question 43

2009

Answer 43

Sonia Sotomayor elected to the Supreme Court

Question 44

2010

Answer 44

Congress passes, in a significantly amended form, President Obama’s Healthcare Reform Bill. Congress has previously rejected the bill 54 times.
The House of Representatives impeaches federal judge Thomas Porteous for courruption

Question 45

2011

Answer 45

Obama raises $125.2 million, whilst Mitt Romney lags behind with only $56.1 million. Many put this down to Obama’s superior campaigning, which made use of modern technology and the web. Romney was no stranger to campaign organisation, however, his impressive victory in the Florida Primary (2012) was due to his fundraising abilities compared to rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum
During a televised debate during invisible primaries, would-be Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry effectively ends his bid for President when he cannot remember the three federal executive departments he would shut down.

Question 46

2012

Answer 46

Presidential election- Obama 332, Romney 206
Republican senator Olympia Snow of Maine, announces her retirement, saying the senate was a chamber of ‘dysfunction and political polarisation’
The combined popular vote for third parties is less than 2%.
By the time of the Republican Iowa caucus on the 3rd January, the eight presidential candidates have made a total of 771 visits to the state, with winner Rick Santorum making a total number of 266 visits. Romney only made 28. The Republican caucus in Wyoming attracts just 2108 voters.
NFIB v. Sebelius- the Court upheld Congress’s power to enact most provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly called Obamacare, and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA), including a requirement for most Americans to have health insurance by 2014. The Acts represented a major set of changes to the American health care system that had been the subject of highly contentious debate, largely divided on political party lines.The Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Chief Justice Roberts, upheld by a vote of 5 to 4 the individual mandate to buy health insurance as a constitutional exercise of Congress’s taxing power. A majority of the justices, including Chief Justice Roberts, agreed that the individual mandate was not a proper use of Congress’s Commerce Clause or Necessary and Proper Clause powers, though they did not join in a single opinion. A majority of the justices also agreed that another challenged provision of the Act, a significant expansion of Medicaid, was not a valid exercise of Congress’s spending power as it would coerce states to either accept the expansion or risk losing existing Medicaid funding.

Question 47

2013

Answer 47

49 out of 50 state governors were either Democrat or Republican, the exception being Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island (although he was a former Republican senator)
All 435 members of the House of Representatives were either Democrat or Republican. In the senate, only 20 senators out of 100 were women, and there was only one African-American

Question 48

2014

Answer 48

Riley v. California- the Court unanimously held that the warrantless search and seizure of digital contents of a cell phone during an arrest is unconstitutional.