AP US gov Foundational documents

• Declaration of Independence


  A foundational document for AP Government, with 3 main sections: preamble, list of grievances against King George III, and resolution for independence
• Preamble


  • Emphasizes the influence of Enlightenment ideals on the writing of the document
• Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence
• Justification for breaking up with Britain


  When it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve political bands with another, they should declare the causes that impel them to the separation
• The Declaration of Independence was not meant to be private, but was published widely throughout the colonies and the western world
• Purpose of the Declaration

  To rally the troops to fight at home and to secure foreign allies to help the Americans win the war
• Natural rights theory


  The idea that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
• Popular sovereignty


  The power to govern is in the people's hands
• Social contract


  People willingly surrender some of their power to a government in order to protect their natural rights
• Right to alter or abolish government


  When a government becomes destructive of protecting natural rights, the people have the right to change or abolish it and institute a new government
• The colonists attempted to implement a new government that would uphold the purpose of protecting the natural rights of the people after the publication of the Declaration of Independence
• Federalist Papers


  Series of essays published during the ratification debates over the new constitution to convince the public to ratify
• Federalist 10


  James Madison's attempt to answer how the new constitution will protect the liberty of citizens against the tyranny of the majority
• Faction


  A number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion or of interest adverse to the rights of other citizens or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community
• Madison's solutions to the violence of faction

  1. Removing the causes of faction

  2. Controlling the effects of faction
• Removing the causes of faction by destroying liberty is worse than having factions in the first place
• Republic


  A government in which the scheme of representation takes place, as opposed to a pure democracy
• As the nation grows in population

  More factions will necessarily form
• With more factions


  Their power will be diluted so no one faction can always get their way
• With more factions in competition

  They will be forced to compromise their interests to pass legislation that considers the common good of society
• Confederated government


  The kind of government the United States had under the Articles of Confederation, where the states had all the power and the central government had very little
• Republic


  A government with a powerful central authority, as proposed by the Constitution
• Confederacy of state governments


  Better for the new freedom-loving nation than a powerful central government
• Necessary and Proper Clause

  • Allows Congress to make any law necessary and proper to execute its enumerated powers
• Supremacy Clause


  • Federal laws have greater authority than state laws
• Necessary and Proper Clause and Supremacy Clause

  Allow the central government to nullify and void state laws, annihilating state power
• Central government collecting taxes


  State governments will find it impossible to raise money to support themselves, causing them to dwindle away
• Federal courts trumping state courts

  State courts will soon be rendered obsolete and unnecessary
• Large territory and population of the United States

  • Makes it impractical for a republican form of government to work, as elected representatives cannot keep in touch with all their constituents
• Montesquieu said a republic can only work in a small territory
• Large republic with distant representatives

  People will have little confidence in their rulers and it will be difficult to change them
• Articles of Confederation


  The first constitution of the United States
• Confederation


  • A form of government in which several powers unite to form a central power
• The 13 different states formed a confederacy in the very first days of the United States
• Articles of Confederation


  Placed most of the power in the hands of the states at the expense of the federal government
• Federal government under the Articles of Confederation

  • Single branch - legislative branch
  • No president
  • No federal court
• Representation in Congress


  Equal among the states - a small state like New Hampshire has the same power as a large state like Virginia
• The central government could not raise a national army - the states had to provide militias
• The powers of Congress were severely limited - it required 9 out of 13 states to agree to major actions like declaring war
• The Articles of Confederation could only be amended if agreed to by the Congress and confirmed by the legislatures of every state