The Basics of American Government. Attempted to correct and clarify what we wrote in the first edition. The basic functions of government could.

1. Basic Principles Of American Government Second Edition

Core Principles My name is George Washington, and I'm sure most of you recognize me as our country's first president. In this lesson, we're going to talk about some of our government's core principles, the deep-seated beliefs that Americans hold about what their government can and cannot do and the ways in which they participate in the political process. These important ideals help hold America together, give people a sense of national identity of being Americans and of belonging to a particular society, and allow the government to operate efficiently and with a certain continuity. We Founding Fathers established these principles deliberately, and we enshrined them in the Constitution of the United States, which we signed on September 17, 1787. We had a vision for this country, and we're proud to have created a system of government that stands apart from nearly every other nation on Earth. A few of us will take turns introducing you to five of America's core principles: popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism.

Popular Sovereignty I'm Benjamin Franklin, but you can call me Ben. I once wrote that 'In free governments, the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns.' This sums up our first core principle in a nutshell. Popular sovereignty means that the government operates only with the people's consent and authority.

The people are the source of the government and its power, not the other way around. This is why you modern Americans still enjoy free elections in which the majority of voters decide who will represent them in the political process. It's also why you can voice your opinions to your leaders and hold them accountable for their actions. Popular sovereignty is designed to prevent the government from overstepping its boundaries and becoming a dictatorship, and it helps leaders understand their roles as public servants rather than despots who think they do not have to answer to the people that they govern.

Limited Government People call me James Madison, the Father of the Constitution. A long time ago, I said, 'If men were angels, no government would be necessary,' but since men and women definitely aren't angels but rather very fallible human beings, they need to have some sort of government to keep them in line. I firmly believe, however, in the core principle of limited government.

In a limited government, the government's powers and functions are restricted and carefully described in the Constitution and other legal documents. The government is not all-powerful. It can only do what the people give it authority to do. What's more, the government must follow the law, and no one in office is allowed to break it - not the president, not a member of Congress, not a judge, not anyone. These limits prevent the government from become a tyranny, which could easily happen because people are not angels. Separation of Powers Unfortunately, you've probably never heard of me. My name is John Rutledge, and I was one of South Carolina's delegates to the Constitutional Convention.

Later, I served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court under President Washington, so I know all about our next core principle. The principle of the separation of powers divides the government into three branches, each with its own purpose and functions. The legislative branch, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, makes the laws; the executive branch, led by the president, carries out the laws; and the judicial branch, headed by the Supreme Court, interprets the laws. This system prevents any one branch of government from having too much power. We Founding Fathers didn't want to allow only a few people to have all the power, so we spread the authority around a bit and gave different responsibilities to different leaders. Checks and Balances My name is Alexander Hamilton. As a member of the Constitutional Convention from New York, I approved the separation of powers but only to a point.

I also wanted to make sure that no one branch became more powerful than the others and tried to dominate the government, so I was especially interested in promoting a system of checks and balances. Here's how it works: Each branch has some authority over the other two and can monitor their actions, check up on them, and thereby balance the power between them.

For example, the president can veto Congress's legislation and nominate Supreme Court justices. Congress can impeach the president or, with enough votes, pass laws over his vetoes, and the Senate must confirm the president's Supreme Court nominees and other appointments. Finally, the Supreme Court can examine Congress's laws and the president's actions to make sure they are constitutional. This way, no branch can become too powerful. Federalism Here I am again, George Washington, to tell you about our final core principle. We Founding Fathers knew that we had to come up with a way to regulate the relationship between the federal government and the states, so we developed federalism, which makes sure that the national government shares certain powers with the states.

The states have united together to form the national, or federal, government, which can control them to some extent, but the states can also reserve functions for themselves. For example, the federal government has the power to declare war, make treaties, maintain the military, print money, and regulate trade that crosses state and national boundaries. The states, however, have the authority to control trade within their own boundaries, create local governments, issue licenses, manage elections, tax their residents, and do other things that the federal government does not specifically claim for itself or prohibit to them. This principle created a big controversy after my time and nearly split the country in two, but all in all, it's still a good principle.

Basic Principles Of American Government Second Edition

Lesson Summary Let's review the five core principles of American government, those deep-seated beliefs that Americans hold about what their government can and cannot do and the ways in which they participate in the political process. Popular sovereignty means that the government operates only with the people's consent and authority. In a limited government, the government's powers and functions are restricted and carefully described in the Constitution and other legal documents. The principle of the separation of powers divides the government into three branches, each with its own purpose and functions. With the system of checks and balances, each branch of the government has some authority over the other two and can monitor their actions, check up on them, and thereby balance the power between them. Federalism makes sure that the national government shares certain powers with the states.

The Founding Fathers who developed these principles would probably be very glad to know that they are still functioning today to keep the American government running smoothly. Learning Outcomes As the video lesson concludes, you might:. Identify the five core principles of the American government. Recognize that the people have a say in popular sovereignty. Examine limited government. Detail how the U.S. Abides by the principle of separation of powers and uses a system of checks and balances.

Understand federalism and the rights of individual states.

Chapter 1 Five Principles of Politics Chapter Study Outline Introduction American government and politics are extraordinarily complex. The framers of the United States Constitution divided governmental power and responsibility both among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches and, again, federally between the national government and the states.

Although this complexity was designed to disperse power in American politics, it has also placed significant burdens on citizens seeking to participate in politics and to influence government policy. Understanding these complexities is the aim of this book. Making Sense of Government and Politics What is government?

What types of governments exist? What is politics?. Government is the term generally used to describe the formal political arrangements through which a land and its people are ruled; the term refers just as well to simple institutions like a tribal council as to more complex establishments known as “states.”. Governments vary both in terms of the number of people included in government decision-making and the extent of the government’s authority.

Autocracies vest political authority in a single individual. Oligarchies are governments controlled by a small group of people. Democracies permit citizens to play a significant part in governmental decision-making. Constitutional governments recognize and often codify broad limits on their authority. Authoritarian governments are checked (often reluctantly) by other political and social institutions.

Totalitarian governments recognize no formal limits on their authority. Politics refers to the conflicts within organizations over issues of leadership, structures, and policies. This book focuses on such conflicts and struggles as they relate to governments. Political participation can take many forms, including running for office, voting or joining a political party, contributing money to a political candidate or cause, lobbying, joining a group, writing a letter or otherwise communicating to others about politics, and many other activities.

Although politics involves many different activities, there are underlying patterns or “principles” that help us to categorize and understand politics better. Five Principles of Politics What is the underlying logic of political behavior, collective action, and institutional politics? Base wars gamenode download. What are the five principles of politics that will be used to guide analysis throughout this textbook?.

The Rationality Principle holds that all political behavior has a purpose and that people tend to be goal-oriented in their political activities as they make instrumental choices about how to act. The Institution Principle recognizes that political institutions provide incentives for political behavior, thereby shaping and structuring politics. Institutional rules and procedures—like jurisdiction (who has the authority to apply rules or make decisions), agenda power (who determines what issues will be taken up), veto power (the ability to defeat something even if it is on the agenda), decisiveness (the rules by which authoritative and final determinations are made), and delegation (the transmission of authority to some other official or body, which is characterized by a principal-agent relationship involving transaction costs)—are consequential for political outcomes. The Collective-Action Principle refers to the idea that, although all politics is collective action, getting people to act in concert is difficult. Thus, political action often involves both formal and informal bargaining, along with other efforts to overcome the obstacles to collective action.

Formal and informal bargaining relationships are struck in politics to provide for collective decision making, and organizational efforts to overcome the tendencies of individuals to “ free ride” on the labors of others are necessary to overcome the collective-action problems endemic in producing public goods. One common solution to the collective-action problem, arising from Mancur Olson’s by-product theory, is the provision of selective benefits that accrue only to those who contribute to the group enterprise. The Policy Principle holds that political outcomes are the products of individual preferences and institutional procedures. Combining lessons from the Rationality and Institution principles, we see that individual political actors’ personal, electoral, and institutional ambitions are filtered through, and in many ways shaped by, institutional arrangements in politics; and that policy outcomes are the products of the complex intermingling of individual goals and institutions.

The History Principle reminds us that how we got here matters. Political circumstances and outcomes are understood to be path dependent (partly determined by past events and choices) and to influence existing rules and procedures, political loyalties and alliances, and political viewpoints and perspectives.