Unit 2 Notes:

The Roots of American

Democracy

1. Legislature: a group of people who make laws for a state or country.-What does it mean to legislate? -If someone calls you a legislator what are they saying that you do? --The legislative branch is our Congress. We have two houses.

-The lower house is called the House of Representatives, we have 435 members.

-Some states have more reps because the amount of reps depends on the population.-The upper house is the Senate. All states have two Senators, this is called “equal representation.” The Senate has more influence and a longer term.-How many Senators total?-How many Congressmen total?

Jon Kyl, Arizona SenatorJohn McCain, Arizona Senator

Raul Grijalva, Arizona’s District 7 Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona’s District 8

Representative

2. In 1688, Parliament removed King James II, as king and replaced him with William and Mary. From that time on, Parliament’s power would come from English citizens and no ruler’s power could be greater than that of the legislature.

-This is called Separation of Powers. -This means that the Parliament (a legislative body) and the ruler can not have greater power than the other. -This makes things fair for the citizens but also keeps the power of the citizens under control. -Parliament’s power came from the citizens because the citizens is what the Parliament was supposed to serve.

King James II was removed by Parliament in 1688, because he wore red tights and did too many toe points.

Parliament replaced James II, with William and Mary in 1688 because they had twice the poufy hair and better tights.

An outside view of Parliament, with no tights in sight!

An inside view of Parliament and guys wearing tights underneath their suits to honor King James II.

3. Laws and rights of the people in the United States were carefully written down. The government of England was not planned this way and laws were never written down.

-Actually a lot of the way that our government is ran is based on traditions that were not written down.

-Examples: -Washington and two terms

broken by Roosevelt.-The cabinet idea was

never written down.-Reasons for the beginning

of a presidents term.

George Washington’s Cabinet?

Was it mahogany, cherry wood or oak?

ABOVE. Teddy Roosevelt and a teddy bear! Coincidence? I think not!

LEFT. A caricature of George Washington.

4. When early judges were asked to decide a case they would look for a precedent – a ruling in an earlier case that was similar. -Our court system today rules from the Constitution, but a lot of Supreme Court cases do set precedents for other courts, police forces, national and state government. -Ex. Miranda v. Arizona, Rowe v. Wade, Brown v. Topeka, Plessy v. Ferguson and Marbury v. Madison

5. The system of law that is based on precedent is known as common law.

--What is a precedent again?--What is wrong with this type of law system?

6. A colony is a group of people in one place who are ruled by the government of another place.

_________________________

*Problems with the colonies -Too far away. -Mercantilism. -England had to pay

for wars. -Colonists felt they had

already been free for a long time.

7. Reasons why English colonists in America could not depend on Parliament to meet their needs:

– England was 3,000 miles away.– The only way to send messages between

North America and England was by ship, which could take as long as two months.

-Explain each.

-Parliament and the King allowed the early colonists quite a large amount of

independence.

-Life was not regulated heavily.

-But the first colonists did not have any representation in the colonies.

8. The colonists of Jamestown were the first of the colonies to attempt representative government. Jamestown had the first legislature in colonial America.

-They were starting to have these in England and the colonies were British colonies

so why shouldn’t Jamestown get one?

-There had to be some type of working government that was actually in the new world.

-They were British citizens.

9. The Mayflower Compact established a tradition of strong direct democracy that remained strong in New England.

-New England did have and still has some level of direct democracy.

-They have town meetings to discuss laws.

-They debate on laws and often ask politicians

questions directly to them.

10. By 1733 each of the English colonies was given a governor and a legislature.

-Many times colonies would do this just to give the King someone who could work with him for the colonists.

-This would make the colonists think there was some type of democracy and that they meant

something -The king was really trying to

find a way to increase his level of rule.

11.By 1763 Britain realized that it had to pay back its debts from the French and Indian War so it began to raise heavy taxes on the American colonists.

-Stamp Act, Sugar Act.-French and Indian War was mostly over land.

-The Indians teamed up with the French so they could keep their land.

-The British wanted to keep expanding from the Appalachian Mountains.

-The French and the Indians wanted their land to live and for the fur trade.

-The British lost and were in debt. So they used the colonies for revenue.

The Tea Act Map of the French and Indian War

12. The colonists could not send representatives to Parliament like people living in Great Britain could they felt Parliament had no right to tax them.

-No Taxation without Representation. The colonists had no voice.

- We pay the government taxes so they can represent our needs.

-We do this so they can provide order and write laws.

-The English were not protecting us, meeting our needs, or listening to us so they had no right to be paid.

-But they were still charging us. Example.

13. Besides protesting, many colonists boycotted, or refused to buy, British goods. -Modern day boycotts.

Can you think of any?-Montgomery Bus Boycott.-Some people boycott

Wal-Mart.-Boycott on Tea.

-Salt boycott in India.

The Montgomery Bus

Boycott of the 1950’s

14. Boycotts from the colonists had their intended effect. Parliament repealed or canceled, the Stamp Act and other tax laws. -Stamp Act was a tax on all paper goods. They were all stamped. -Included, newspapers, playing cards, stamps, legal documents. -When colonists boycotted these things it made it so Parliament could not collect its taxes, but more importantly it made it so Parliament was even losing the money that it could have been making from the profit on the product.

15.The Intolerable Acts allowed British soldiers to search and even to move, into colonists’ homes.-Called the Quartering Act.-The colonists considered this to just be another tax because the British government was asking the colonists to do its job. -Imagine having a soldier living

with you that you don’t know.

-Now imagine having a soldier living with you that is

fighting against you.

-Imagine how much money the colonists had to pay to

take care of the soldiers.

The Quartering Act

16. In September of 1774, 12 of the colonies sent delegates or representatives to a meeting in Philadelphia that became know as the Continental Congress. -The Continental Congress was

actually our first national government.

-They actually decided how the war would be fought.

-They funded a lot of the Revolutionary War and made

some of the decisions. -They were our first central government (explain).-Why were they the first American government?

Why was the Mayflower Compact not a national government?

Carpenter’s Hall – Site of the First Continental Congress

The Boston Massacre

The Boston Tea Party

Paul Revere

17. After the battles of Lexington and Concord took place many people began talking about independence or self reliance and freedom from outside control. -The British were coming to raid an arsenal and capture soldiers that were at Lexington and Concord.-Why do you think that this was the event in which they stated to talk about independence. -I think it is because the British finally started to get violent. It is like waiting for someone to throw the first punch.-Paul Revere warned the people by yelling the British are coming! And this allowed the troops to being to mobilize.

18. The Declaration of Independence argued that the British government did not look after the interests of the colonists, or protect their rights. For this reason, the British government was no longer the rightful government of the colonies. -What is it called? So that is what it did!

-Now did the British agree to this? Now so it did not really

give us our freedom.

-The document that actually gave us our freedom was

the Treaty of Paris.

-The treaty was signed at that end of the Revolution in which the

British announced that they considered the US a country of its own.

19. Natural rights are rights that all people should have. In return for the government protecting the people’s natural rights, the people give up some of their freedom.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. -These are things that all people should have because they are people!-Called the social contract theory.

-The government protects these basic needs and the people exchange some freedom for some of theseprotections.

In “Two Treatises of Government” (1689) British Philosopher argues for the Social Contract Theory, which states that people must give up certain freedoms for the government’s protection.

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson borrows and modifies a statement from Locke’s work. Instead of saying that all people should be given life, liberty and property, Jefferson said all people should have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

20. After the United States earned its freedom each state was given a system of courts to

interpret the laws. They decided what the laws meant and how they applied to each new situation.

21. To amend means to change something. To amend the Articles of Confederation all 13 states had to come to a unanimous vote.

22. Under the Articles of Confederation, there was not a president or court system. Even when Congress passed laws it still could not enforce them.

23. In 1786, a farmer named Daniel Shays decided that he was going to lead a rebellion against the ineffective American government.

24. Shays’ rebellion was evidence that the states needed a stronger central government.