1. Principals of Government

2. The Principles of the Constitution Popular Sovereignty
The framers of the constitution included the principle of Popular Sovereignty in their design of the new government.
Simply explained, this means that the people rule this country.
The people elect public officials to represent them in free and frequent elections.
Citizens can vote at the age of 18.
“We the People of the United States…do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

3. Limited Power
The citizens of the new nation feared tyranny. They had just gotten done fighting a war to win their independence from England and were not about to hand that over to the new National Government.
Many states pressured the framers of the constitution to add a Bill of Rights, or a list of the basic rights of citizens.
The framers also made the national and state governments share some powers.
The people gave the Government it’s powers and have the ability to take them away through elections.
The Government only has the powers that the people give it. The Constitution clearly states what the Government can and cannot do.

4. FEDERALISM: Sharing of Power
America's government was based on Federalism, where power is divided between the Federal (national) and the state governments.
The constitution states what powers the Federal government has, what powers are shared, and leaves the rest for the states.
Whenever a dispute arises the constitution is the "supreme law of the land.
“ What it says goes!”

5. Separation of Powers
The new federal government had three branches, the legislative, judicial, and executive.
The legislative branch includes the congress and house of representatives and has the power to tax, coin money, and declare war. The legislative branch makes the laws.
The judicial branch is made up of the Supreme Court and interprets laws.
The executive branch is made up of the president and his cabinet. The main purpose of this branch is to carry out the laws and deals with foreign affairs and the military.

6. Checks and Balances
Checks and balances is a system where the three branches can check on each other and possibly stop the other branch from doing something.
This prevents one branch gaining all the power in the Government or the branches making unconstitutional decisions.

7. Checks on the Legislative Branch
The executive branch can control the Legislative by proposing laws, vetoing laws, calling special sessions of Congress and negotiating foreign treaties.
The judicial branch can also check the legislative branch by declaring acts of branch unconstitutional.

8. Checks on the Executive Branch
The legislative branch can help control the executive branch by overriding a veto, ratifying treaties, declaring war, appropriating money and impeaching the president.
The Judicial Branch can also declare acts of the executive branch unconstitutional.

9. Checks on the Judicial Branch
The executive branch appoints judges and can grant pardons to federal offenders.
The legislative branch checks the judicial branch by creating lower courts, impeaching, and removing judges, and proposing amendments to overrule decisions.

10. Judicial Review
Power of the courts to determine whether the things that the government does are allowed by the Constitution
Can declare acts of Congress or the President unconstitutional
Declare illegal, null and void, of no force and effect
The doctrine of judicial review was first announced as part of federal law in 1803, by the Supreme Court decision Marbury v. Madison.
"The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish… The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution…" (Article III, US Constitution)

11. Who Influenced the Framers of the Constitution?
The league of the Iroquois was respected by the framers. They decided to include the unity of the league in their own government.
From England came the idea of representative government. They incorporated this idea with England's Magna Carta, (Great Charter) which is based on the idea of limiting government power.
The enlightenment thinkers believed that people could improve society through the use of reason. One very important enlightenment thinker was John Locke. Locke said that all people deserved the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Locke believed that the government is an agreement between the ruled and the ruler.
Montesquieu was a French thinker who published “The Spirit of Laws”.
His idea was that government should be divided among three different branches: legislative, judicial, and executive, and become known as the separation of powers.

13. Development of American Political Parties
The Two-Party System Civics

14. Although the Constitution of the United States does not mention political parties, they came into being around the time the nation was formed.
Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton had different visions of America's future. Their differences led to the first political parties in the United States.
Jefferson favored a less active federal government, a limited presidency, and ties to France. Hamilton favored a strong federal government, a strong presidency, and ties to England.
The two-party political system in the United States is the result of a winner-takes-all voting system.
Smaller political parties include the Constitution Party, Green Party, and Libertarian Party.

15. What Is a Political Party?
A political party is a group of citizens who agree on major issues facing the nation. These groups work to create public policies that reflect their views.
Parties choose, or nominate, people they want to elect to public office. These candidates campaign to get elected.

16. What Parties Do for Democracy
Party Functions
Organize the Competition
Unify the Electorate
Inspire and Inform Voters
Translate Preferences into Policy
Provide Loyal Opposition
Organize Government
Help Govern
Act as Watchdogs
Nominate Candidates
Ensure Candidate Quality
Party Functions: Mobilizing support and building coalitions; Encouraging stability in the political system; Providing accountability for public policy; Running candidates for office; Providing a cue for voters; Formulating policy through a national party platform.
Organize the Competition: Parties exist primarily as an organizing mechanism to win elections and thus win control of government.
Unify the Electorate: Parties help unify the electorate and moderate conflict, at least within the party. Parties have a strong incentive to fight out their internal differences but come together to take on the opposition.
Organize the Government: Although political parties in the United States are not as cohesive as in some other democracies, they are important when it comes to organizing our state and national governments. Congress is organized along party lines.
The party that controls the White House, the governor’s mansion, or city hall gets patronage, which means it can select party members as public officials or judges.
Translate Preferences into Policy: American parties have had only limited success in setting the course of national policy, especially compared to countries with strong parties. The European model of party government, which has been called a responsible party system, assumes that parties discipline their members through their control over nominations and campaigns.
The American system is largely candidate-centered; politicians are nominated largely on the basis of their qualifications and personal appeal, not party loyalty.
Loyal Opposition: The party out of power closely monitors and comments on the actions of the party in power, providing accountability. When national security is at issue or the country is under attack, parties restrain their criticism.
There is usually a polite interval following an election—known as the honeymoon—after which the opposition party begins to criticize the party that controls the White House, especially when the opposition controls one or both houses of Congress.
The caucus played an important part in pre-Revolutionary politics and continued to be important in our early history as elected officials organized themselves into groups or parties and together selected candidates to run for higher office, including the presidency.
As early as the 1820s, however, critics were making charges of “secret deals.”
During the 1830s and 1840s, a system of party conventions was instituted to draw more voters and reduce the power of the bosses to pick party nominees.
States adopted the direct primary, in which people could vote for the party’s nominees for office.
Today, the direct primary is the typical method of picking party candidates.
In states with open primaries, any voter, regardless of party, can participate in the primary of whichever party he or she chooses. This kind of primary permits crossover voting—Republicans and Independents helping to determine who the Democratic nominee will be, and vice versa. Other states use closed primaries, in which only persons already registered in that party may participate. Some states, such as Washington and California, experimented with blanket primaries, in which all voters could vote for any candidate, regardless of party.
The Iowa presidential caucuses, in which a record-setting 347,000 Iowans participated in 2008 are highly publicized as the first important test of potential presidential nominees.
Party Systems – Multiparty and Two Party System
Minor Parties: Persistence and Frustration

18. Parties in the US
Any American citizen may join a political party regardless of age, but most members are eighteen or older.
The United States has a two-party system. The Republicans emerged as a major party in 1860 with the election of Abraham Lincoln. The Democratic Party formed under Andrew Jackson twenty years earlier.

22. Hamilton vs. Jefferson
Political parties first emerged when followers of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson disagreed over major issues on the Constitution and government.
Jefferson’s group took the name Democratic-Republicans. Due to experience with Britain, they feared a powerful central government. They wanted the states to hold greater power.
Hamilton championed a strong national government with a powerful chief executive. His followers called themselves Federalists, after those who supported the Constitution.

23. Jacksonian Democracy Reigns
In 1828, the farmers and small business owners who made up Jefferson’s party, calling themselves the Democratic Party, nominated Andrew Jackson. He stood for the common citizen, but looked out for southern and western interests.
Those who did not support Jackson formed their own party called Whigs, after a Scottish political leader.
Their real name was the National Republican Party.
The Whigs and Democrats made up the two key parties in American politics for two decades.

24. The Two Major Parties Emerge
In 1854 Whigs, former Free Soil Party members, and ex-Democrats formed the Republican Party to oppose the spread of slavery in US territories.
The Whigs faded from American politics leaving the Democrats and Republicans in a two-party system that has dominated American politics ever since.

25. Ralph Nader, Green Party Candidate, 2000
Third Parties
Any party other than the two major parties can be called a “Third party.”
No third party has ever gained control of the White House. Sometimes, third parties win seats in Congress or gain office in lower levels of government.
When these smaller groups challenge the two major parties, they can change the outcome of elections.
Their most important role is to influence policy on one or more issues.
Ralph Nader, Green Party Candidate, 2000

26. Third Parties at the Turn of the Century
In the late 1800s, the People’s Party, or “Populists” became popular.
They had the support of farmers and workers who called for better working conditions.
They never succeeded in getting a national candidate into office, many of their ideas on workers’ rights became laws in the 20th Century.

27. Minor Parties: Persistence and Frustration
Ideological Parties
Protest Parties
Single Issue Parties
Splinter Parties
Libertarian Party
Green Party
Reform Party
1. Third party that exists to promote an ideology rather than to win elections. Based on certain social, economic, or political ideas. Not powerful but long lasting - The socialist parties, which have run candidates in virtually every presidential election in this century are ideological parties
2. Third party that arises in response to issues of popular concern which have not been addressed by the major parties. Appear during tough financial times. Criticize the economic actions and plans of the major parties - William Jennings Bryan of the Populist Party did not win the presidency in 1896, but he came very close
3. Third party formed around one particular cause. Fade away once the issue has been resolved – Examples: Prohibition Party, Green Party
4. Third party formed by a dissatisfied faction of a major party. Usually have a strong leader who lost a major party’s nomination - Strom Thurmond was a States’ Rights Democratic candidate for the presidency in The party formed in protest to the civil rights plan in the Democratic Party platform

28. The purpose of Political Parties is to
recruit potential officeholders
simplify alternatives
unite the electorate
all of the above d

29. Which of the following is not a present-day function of Political Parties
distribution of welfare handouts
stimulation of interest in public affairs
recruitment of political leadership
linkage between the mass public and government a

30. A Brief History of American Political Parties
Our First Parties
Political parties emerged largely out of practical necessity. Federalists and Anti- Federalists
In 1787, parties began to form as citizens debated the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Realigning Elections
1824 Andrew Jackson and the Democrats
1860 The Civil War and the Rise of the Republicans
1896 A Party in Transition
1932 FDR and the New Deal Alignment
Divided Government
The 2008 Election: Witnessing History
Realigning Elections. Also called critical elections, are turning points that define the agenda of politics and the alignment of voters within parties during periods of historic change in the economy and society.
Realigning elections are characterized by intense voter involvement, disruptions of traditional voting patterns, changes in the relationships of power within the broader political community, and the formation of new and durable electoral groupings
Political scientists generally agree that there have been four realigning elections in American party history: 1824, 1860, 1896, and 1932.
Jackson, brilliantly aided by Martin Van Buren, a veteran party builder in New York State, knitted together a winning combination of regions, interest groups, and political doctrines to win the presidency in 1828 and begin the Democratic party.
Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860 with the support not only of financiers, industrialists, and merchants but also of many workers and farmers. For 50 years after 1860, the Republican coalition won every presidential race except for Grover Cleveland’s victories in 1884 and 1892.
William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic candidate for president in 1896, was a talented orator but lost the race to William McKinley. The 1896 realignment differs from the others, however, in that the party in power did not change hands. In that sense, it was a converting realignment because it reinforced the Republican majority status that had been in place since 1860.
The 1932 election was a turning point in U.S. politics. In the 1930s, the United States faced a devastating economic collapse. Roosevelt promised that his response to the Depression would be a “New Deal” for America.

31. The Republicans Split
Former Republican President Theodore Roosevelt left the Republican Party and was nominated by the Progressive Party.
It was nicknamed the “Bull Moose Party” because TR said he was “fit as a Bull Moose”.
TR split the 1912 Republican vote, allowing Democrat Woodrow Wilson to defeat President William H. Taft.

32. Ideological Third Parties
An ideology is a body of ideas put forth by a person or group.
Minor third parties are often formed to support a specific issue. These rise and fall over time.
Ideological parties want to change society in major ways.
The Socialist and Communist Parties want to nationalize major industries. The Green Party calls for companies to respect the environment.

33. Cult of Personality
Some third parties form from the efforts of famous people.
If they cannot gain support from one of the major parties, they form their own.
H. Ross Perot’s Reform Party was a force in the 1992 and 1996 elections. This party also placed pro wrestler Jesse Ventura in the governor’s mansion in Minnesota.
These parties usually fade after their candidate is defeated.

34. The Odds Are Against Them
It is difficult for third parties candidates to raise enough money to compete with the major parties.
Only one candidate can win in a given district. Usually the winner is either Democratic or Republican.
Third-party candidates must show they have support by getting voter signatures to even be placed on the ballot for national office.

35. American Politics Today
Democrats usually feel that the federal government has a responsibility to help the poor through government intervention.
Democrats are generally seen as liberal.
Republicans hold the view that leaving the economy alone will allow for growth, giving people greater ability to help themselves. They believe in less regulation.
Republicans are viewed as being conservative.

36. Parties Move Towards The Center
A platform is a statement that puts forth the party's positions on issues. Each individual issue is called a plank.
Both parties want votes. As a result, parties become more moderate in their platforms, moving away from extreme positions.
The American people generally agree about many issues. This unity forces the two parties toward the center of the political spectrum.

37. Party Systems in other Countries
Most democracies have multi-party systems.
One party rarely wins the number of seats in the Parliament needed to control the government. This instability forces several parties to cooperate in running the government. When parties work together to pass laws, a coalition has been formed.
If a small party pulls its support, the government can collapse and new elections must be held. This process occurs in nations with a parliamentary system of government.
The US has a presidential system and a Congress rather than a prime minister and a parliament.

38. Following The Party Line
A one-party system cannot exist in a democracy. There is no choice of candidates in the elections.
Opposition parties are usually banned.
Communist China, Cuba, and North Korea operate under one-party systems. One-party systems may be based on other ideologies such as religion.
Iran's Islamic Republican Party has established a Muslim state.
This type of religion-based government is called a theocracy.
Communist Party Congress, China
In a one-party system, the government and party are synonymous.

39. Which of these is NOT a characteristic of a realigning election?
Weak voter involvement
Disruptions of traditional voting patterns
Changes in the relationships of power within the broader political community
The formation of new and durable electoral groupings a

40. A major cause for the persistence of the two-party system in the United States is that
the major parties have become disciplined and issue-oriented.
election districts have a single incumbent.
third parties have failed to point out issues.
major party ideas and platform are too much like religious dogma. b

41. The _____ party evolved out of the crisis over slavery.
Whig
Democratic
Modern Republican
Second Federalist c

42. The _____ party put together a grand coalition lasting from the Civil War until 1932.
Whig
Democratic
Republican
Bull Moose c

43. Third-party leaders have included all of the following except
Ralph Nader
Ross Perot
George Wallace
California Governor Jerry Brown d

44. When a voter must be registered in a party to vote in the primary, it is called
closed
open
direct
crossover a

45. Civic Participation