Constitutional democracy

• The separation of powers divides governing authority among three branches of government: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
• This prevents any one branch from becoming too powerful and undermines authoritarian control.
• How a bill becomes a law: Introduced in Congress Passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the president
• Virginia Plan (large state plan):

  • Representation based on the size of a state's population
  • Introduced by Edmunds and Madison
  • Gives greater power to large states
• New Jersey Plan (small state plan):

  • Each state would have one vote
  • Provides equal power to large and small states
• Great Compromise:

  • Establishes a bicameral congress with 2 chambers (upper house: Senate, lower house: House of Representatives)
  • Unicameral legislature proposed by Attorney William Patterson in the New Jersey Plan where each state gets one vote
  • Connecticut Plan proposed by Roger Sherman, creating a bicameral legislature, which became known as the Great Compromise
• Upper House (Senate):

  • Consists of two senators per state
• Lower House (House of Representatives):

  • Representation based on population
• Washington D.C. does not have any seats in the Senate
• Parts of the declaration of independence: 

  1. Introduction – why independence is necessary 
  2. Principles of gov- what men are entitled to 
  3. Indictment of the king – all the wrongs they had suffered at the hands of the king 
  4. The denunciation of the king – denouncing the king for the wrongful acts he committed against them 
  5. Conclusion- the creation of a new government, independent of the king's rule 
• The articles of confederation: 

  • Adopted during the revolutionary war 
  • A fundamental law that defines how a gov will legitimately operate 
  • Created a weak national government 
  • Prohibited congress from interfering in states commerce policies 
  • Consisted of 13 articles which represented the 13 original colonies 
  • Confederalism : In a system of confederalism the states are more powerful than the federal government. 
  • We now have a system of federalism where the states and the federal government share powers 
  • Articles of confederation were referred to as a "League of friendships" 
• Parts to the constitution: 

  • Preamble (introduction) 
  • 7 articles 
  • 27 amendments 
• Article 1 Section 1 - The bicameral legislature is reinstated
• Article 1 Section 4 - States can make their own laws, for example, in Texas, a state-issued ID and completion of prison, probation, or parole are required to vote
• Article 1 Section 5 - In each chamber, a quorum (majority of members) must be present before a vote can be taken

  • A record must be maintained of how each legislator votes
  • A record of attendance must be maintained
• Article 1 Section 6 - explains how members of the house and senate will be paid
• Article 1 Section 7 - Explanation of how a bill becomes a law:

  House:

  • Gives a House Bill number
  • Bill assigned to committee based on subject matter
  • Structured debate with limited time
  • If legislators decide the bill has no merit, they can pigeonhole it (throw it away)

  Senate:

  • Gives a Senate Bill number
  • Bill assigned to committee based on subject matter
  • Senators may filibuster with unlimited debate
  • After markup, if there are two versions of the bill, a conference committee with 5 senators and 5 House members must reconcile the bill
• The president has 10 days to sign, veto, or ignore the bill (excluding Sundays)

  • Signed: Effective immediately or on the 91st day if no effective date is specified
  • Veto can be overridden
  • If ignored and Congress is still in session, the bill becomes a law without the president's signature
  • If Congress session has ended, it becomes a pocket veto (cannot be overridden)
• All bills dealing with revenue or appropriation of money must originate in the House first
• Article 1 – legislature

  • Section 2 – the qualifications for members of the house (25 years old, 2 year terms, must be a citizen for 7 years, base salary: $174,000/yr and a stipend), leader: speaker of the house 
• Article 3 - judiciary (supreme court) 

  • Section 3 – explains the senate qualifications (30 years old, 6 year terms, citizen for 7 years), Leader: presiding officer of the senate AKA the Vice President, When the VP is not in attendance in the senate, the senators nominate a president (pro tempore) to attend the senatorial hearings 
  • There are two occasions when the VP must be in attendance: 1) to cast a tie-breaker vote, 2) for Ceremonial events (ex: the swearing in of new senators) 
• • Article 4 - interstate relations 
  • Article 5 – amending the constitution 
  • Article 6 –  payment of debts 
  • Article 7 – ratification process 
•  

  Three Fifths Compromise: 

  • Each slave counted as 3/5 of a person to satisfy the Northern delegates so that the south wouldn’t have more representatives 
• The ratification debate: 

  • 85 federalist papers written by James Madison, john jay, & alexander Hamilton 
  • These 3 men were trying to explain why a constitution was better than the articles of confederation 
• Executive branch includes: President, Vice President, and 15 cabinet departments
• Legislative branch consists of Congress, which is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate
• Bicameral legislature means two chambers
• House is the lower house and Senate is the upper house
• Houses of Congress are the House of Representatives and the Senate
• Judicial branch includes the Supreme Court (SCOTUS)
• Clinton made reforming welfare his main priority
• Separation of powers: Power is divided among separate branches rather than investing it entirely in a single individual or institution
• The welfare program included a 5-year benefits period
• The 4th arm of the government is known as the bureaucracy, which includes higher authority people in the government like Bill Clinton and the welfare program
• President Clinton's campaign promises included three reform programs: healthcare, welfare, and immigration
• DHHS (The Department of Health and Human Services) changed Aid to Families with Dependent Children to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
• DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) was passed by President Obama after the Dream Act did not receive enough votes in Congress
• Ralph Nader created the Green party with a focus on a clean environment
• Bernie Sanders created the Independent party
• The court shut down GM and paid Nader restitution, which he donated to nonprofits