Upgrade to remove ads
Only $35.99/year

Praxis 2 : Government

Terms in this set (19)

Foundations of Government:
Purpose or role of a central government
-Debated topic between Federalists v. Anti-Federalists - formulation of the U.S.
-Debates surrounding ex: health care
-Government to provide basic necessities its citizens must agree to abide by certain decisions the government makes.
Theorists
-Theorists call agreement a social contract.
Thomas Hobbes
-First to social contract
-Wrote that in a natural state, no government existed.
-An unbreakable contract
John Locke
-Took social contract a step further.
-People were naturally endowed with the right to life, liberty, and property.
-To preserve rights- contracted to give power to a governing authority.
-When government failed - they preserve the rights of the people; people had the right to break the contract and rebel.
Economic Theories
-Major decisions made for a system to be successful.
-What goods and services will be produced.
-How much should be produced.
-Who gets goods and services which are produced.
3 Main Economic Systems
1.) Capitalism
2.) Socialism
3.) Communism
Capitalism
1.) Individualism
2.) Freedom
3.) Private ownership
4.) Free enterprise
-Freedom of choice
-Individual incentive for every player in the system.
1.) Private ownership and control of property and economic resources.
2.) Free enterprise
3.) Competition among businesses
4.) Freedom of choice
5.) Possibility of profits
Socialism
-Equally
-Society's control of government
-Public ownership of land and production.
1.) Basic means of production and all decisions to use resources.
2.) Distribute the products and wages.
3.) How to provide social services such as education, health care, and welfare is left to a centralized government.
- Goals:
1.) Distribution of wealth and economic opportunity equally among people.
2.) Society's control through government, of all major decisions about production.
3.) Public ownership of most land of factories, and of other means of production.
Communism Economy
-Government control
-Command economy
1.) Central government planners decide what and how much to produce, and how to distribute goods and services.
2.) Termed as a command economy.
3.) Decisions are made at the upper levels of government.
Constitutional Foundations of the United States Government
-Government of the U.S. rests on written framework - created to strengthen a loose confederation - crisis in the 1780s.
-Constitution = Basic plan outlines the structure and functions of national government.****
-Rooted in Western political thought.
-Sets limits on government and protects both property and individual rights.
Articles of Confederation****
-Successful revolt against the British colonies in North America against imperial rule.
-A plan of government was implemented that was weak and ineffective.
-It served as the national government from 1781-1787.
-It consisted of a unicameral ( 1 house) legislature that was subordinate to the states.
-Representatives to the Congress were appointed and paid by their respective state legislatures. - Mission was to protect the interests of their home states.
-Each state had one vote in Congress - could request but not require states to provide financial and military support.
-Key weaknesses:
1.) Instability to regulate interstate and foreign trade.
2.) Lack of a chief executive and a national court system.
3.) Its rule that amendments must be approved by unanimous consent.
"Critical Period" in 1780s
-Economy deteriorated as individual states printed their own currencies , taxed the products of their neighbors, and ignored foreign trade agreements.
-Inflation soared
-Small farmers lost their property
-States engaged in petty squabbles with one another.
-Discontent of agrarian population reached crisis proportions in 1786 in rural Massachusetts when Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays - led rebellion of farmers against tax collectors and banks that were seizing property.
-Shay's Rebellion - Symbolized inability of the government under the Articles to maintain order.

-In response of the economic and social disorder and dangers of foreign intervention - series of meetings to consider reform of Articles was held.
-1787
-Constitutional Convention - Convened in Philadelphia to revise the ineffective Articles.
-Result --- New plan of government = the Constitution.
Philosophy and Ideology of the Founders
-Distinguished men assembled at the Constitutional Convention in 1787:
1.) James Madison =recorded the debate proceedings.
2.) Gouverneur Morris = Wrote the final version of the document.
3.) Alexander Hamilton = author of the Federalist Papers.
4.) Madison and John Jay = Collection of essays - contributed expresses the political philosophy of the Founders and instrumental in bringing about the ratification of the Constitution.

-Framers were influenced by the ideological heritage of 17th and 18th centuries Enlightenment in Western Europe.
-Locke ---Respect to equality, government's responsibility to protect the life, liberty, and property of its constituency
-Right of revolution in his Declaration of Independence (1776).
-Constitution includes:
1.) Montesquieu's separation of powers and checks and balances
2.) British documents- Magna Carta (1215), Petition of Right (1628), and Bill of Rights (1689) - promoting the principle of limited government, were influential in shaping the final form of Constitution.
Basic Principles of the Constitution
-Authors wanted to establish a government free from tyrannies of monarchs and mobs.
-2 critical principles of document that address:
1.) Federalism
2.) Separation of powers
10th Amendment
-American federalism defined----
-Declares "those powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people".
-System may be confusing in that powers overlap (i.e., welfare).
-Conflict- the federal govt is supreme.
Sets with similar terms