Understanding Government and State Foundations

1. Government and the StateQuestions and Terms Chapter 1 Section 1 • How is government defined? • What are the basic powers that every government holds? • What are the four defining characteristics of the state? • What are the four theories of the origins of the state? • What is the purpose of government in the United States and other countries? • Public policies • Dictatorship • List and explain the purpose of government.

2. What Is Government? Government is the institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies. It is made up of those people who exercise its powers, those who have authority and control over a country’s people. Public policies – all the things a government decides to do. The list of public policy is nearly endless.

3. GOVERNMENTAL POWERS Every government has and exercises three basic kinds of powers: • Legislative power – the power to make law and to frame pubic policies; • Executive power – the power to execute, enforce, and administer law; • Judicial power – the power to interpret laws, to determine their meaning, and to settle disputes that arise within the society.

4. The State Population • A state must have people, the number of which does not directly relate to its existence. Territory • A state must be comprised of land—territory with known and recognized boundaries. Sovereignty • Every state is sovereign.It has supreme and absolute power within its own territory and decides its own foreign and domestic policies. Government • Every state has a government — that is, it is politically organized. The state can be defined as having these four characteristics:

5. Origins of the State The Force Theory • The force theory states that one person or a small group took control of an area and forced all within it to submit to that person’s or group’s rule. Dictatorship– those who rule can not be held responsible to the will of the people. The Evolutionary Theory • The evolutionary theory argues that the state evolved naturally out of the early family. The Divine Right Theory • The theory of divine right holds that God created the state and that God gives those of royal birth a “divine right” to rule. The Social Contract Theory • The social contract theory argues that the state arose out of a voluntary act of free people.

6. THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE CONSTITUTION

7. The Purpose of Government The main purposes of government are described in the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

8. Section 1 Assessment 1. A government is (a) the institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies. (b) a collection of people. (c) always democratic. (d) the organization representing farms and industries. 2. A state has the following four characteristics: (a) population, territory, sovereignty, and government. (b) sovereignty, a perfect union, welfare, and territory. (c) people, places, force, and divine right. (d) justice, defense, liberty, and domestic tranquility. Want to connect to the PHSchool.com link for this chapter? Click Here!

9. Section 1 Assessment 1. A government is (a) the institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies. (b) a collection of people. (c) always democratic. (d) the organization representing farms and industries. 2. A state has the following four characteristics: (a) population, territory, sovereignty, and government. (b) sovereignty, a perfect union, welfare, and territory. (c) people, places, force, and divine right. (d) justice, defense, liberty, and domestic tranquility. Want to connect to the PHSchool.com link for this chapter? Click Here!

10. Forms of GovernmentQuestions and Terms Chapter 1 Section 2 What are the seven classic forms of government and how are they defined in terms of who can participate? • Direct democracy • Indirect democracy • Autocracy • Oligarchy • How is power distributed within a state? • How are governments defined by the relationship between the legislative and executive branches? • What defines a unitary government? • How is power distributed in an oligarchy? • Contrast a democracy and a dictatorship.

11. CLASSIC FORMS OF GOVERNMENT Feudalism - political system based on the rule of local lords bound to a king by ties of loyalty. Classical Republic – representative democracy in which a small group of elected leaders represent the concerns of the electorate. Greek city-states used this form and later Rome. Absolute Monarchy – a form of government in which a king or a queen holds total control of the military and the government. Authoritarianism - a form of government in which an individual or group has unlimited authority. No restraint on the power of the government exists. Despotism – rule by a ruler with absolute power who used his rule tyrannically.

12. CLASSIC FORMS OF GOVERN Liberal Democracy – based on the protection of individual rights and freedoms and on the consent of the governed. They focus on protecting individual rights from the tyranny of the majority. Totalitarianism – is a type of government that attempts to control all facets of citizen’s lives.

13. Classifying Governments (1) Who can participate in the governing process. (2) The geographic distribution of the governmental power within the state. (3) The relationship between the legislative (lawmaking) and the executive (law-executing) branches of the government. Governments can be classified by three different standards:

14. Democracy In a democracy, supreme political authority rests with the people. A direct democracy exists where the will of the people is translated into law directly by the people themselves. In an indirect democracy, a small group of persons, chosen by the people to act as their representatives, expresses the popular will. Dictatorship A dictatorship exists where those who rule cannot be held responsible to the will of the people. An autocracyis a government in which a single person holds unlimited political power. An oligarchy is a government in which the power to rule is held by a small, usually self-appointed elite. Classification by Who Can Participate

15. Military Dictatorships

16. Classification by Geographic Distribution of Power Unitary Government • A unitary government has all powers held by a single, central agency. Confederate Government • A confederation is an alliance of independent states. Federal Government • A federal government is one in which the powers of government are divided between a central government and several local governments. • An authority superior to both the central and local governments makes this division of power on a geographic basis.

17. The Articles of Confederation

18. Classification by the Relationship Between Legislative and Executive Branches Presidential and Parliamentary Governments

19. Forms of Government

20. Section 2 Assessment 1. In a democracy, (a) independent states form an alliance. (b) supreme political authority rests with the people. (c) those who rule cannot be held responsible to the will of the people. (d) the rule by a few, select individuals regulates the will of the people. 2. The United States government has the following characteristics: (a) confederate, parliamentary, and dictatorship. (b) unitary, presidential, and democracy. (c) federal, presidential, and democracy. (d) unitary, parliamentary, and dictatorship. Want to connect to the Magruder’s link for this chapter? Click Here!

21. Section 2 Assessment 1. In a democracy, (a) independent states form an alliance. (b) supreme political authority rests with the people. (c) those who rule cannot be held responsible to the will of the people. (d) the rule by a few, select individuals regulates the will of the people. 2. The United States government has the following characteristics: (a) confederate, parliamentary, and dictatorship. (b) unitary, presidential, and democracy. (c) federal, presidential, and democracy. (d) unitary, parliamentary, and dictatorship. Want to connect to the Magruder’s link for this chapter? Click Here!

22. Basic Concepts of DemocracyQUESTIONS AND TERMS Chapter 1 Section 3 • What are the five foundations of democracy? • What are the two ideas of democratic equality? • What does majority rule, minority rights mean? • Compromise • List the two concepts of compromise. • Absolute freedom • What are the connections between democracy and the free enterprise system? • Law of supply and demand • Mixed economy • What are examples of a mixed economy? • How has the Internet affected democracy?

23. President Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address”

24. Foundations Democracy exists in this country because the American people believe in its basic concepts. The American concept of democracy rests on these basic notions: (1) A recognition of the fundamental worth and dignity of every person; (2) A respect for the equality of all persons; (3) A faith in majority rule and an insistence upon minority rights; (4) An acceptance of the necessity of compromise; and (5) An insistence upon the widest possible degree of individual freedom.

25. EQUALITY OF ALL PERSONS Democracy does not insist on the equality for all persons. It does not claim that all are born with the same mental and physical abilities. Nor does it argue that all persons have a right to an equal share of worldly goods. The democratic concept of equality insists that all are entitled to • equality of opportunity • equality before the law

26. All Men are Created Equal

27. MAJORITY RULE, MINORITY RIGHTS • The will of the people and not the dictate of the ruling few determines public policy • The only satisfactory device democracy knows is that of majority rule. Democracy argues that a majority of the people will be right more often than they will be wrong. • They also argue that the majority will also be right more often than will any one person or small group.

28. NECESSITY OF COMPROMISE • Compromise – the process of finding the position most acceptable to the largest number. • Two major reasons: • 1. democracy puts the individual first and at the same time, insist that each individual is the equal of all others. • 2. few public questions have only two sides. Most can be answered in several ways. Compromise is a process, a way of achieving majority agreement.

29. Democracy and the Free Enterprise System • Absolute freedom can only exist in a state of anarchy – the total absence of government. The free enterprise system is an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods; investments that are determined by private decision rather than by state control; and determined in a free market. • Decisions in a free enterprise system are determined by the law of supply and demand. • An economy in which private enterprise exists in combination with a considerable amount of government regulation and promotion is called a mixed economy. • Examples are antitrust laws, pure food and drug act, building codes, anti-pollution standards.

30. SUPPLY AND DEMAND

31. Democracy and the Internet • Democracy demands that the people be widely informed about their government. • Theoretically, the Internet makes knowledgeable participation in democratic process easier than ever before. • However, all data on the World Wide Web is not necessarily true, and the long-term effects of the Internet on democracy has yet to be determined.

32. The Creation of the Internet

33. Section 3 Assessment 1. All of the following are basic notions found in the American concept of democracy EXCEPT (a) a recognition of of the fundamental worth and dignity of every person. (b) a respect for the equality of all persons. (c) the rule of government by a single individual. (d) an acceptance of the necessity of compromise. 2. In a free enterprise system, the means of capital are owned (a) by private and corporate entities. (b) by government agencies. (c) by only the agricultural sector. (d) equally by the collective citizenry. Want to connect to the Magruder’s link for this chapter? Click Here!

34. Section 3 Assessment 1. All of the following are basic notions found in the American concept of democracy EXCEPT (a) a recognition of the fundamental worth and dignity of every person. (b) a respect for the equality of all persons. (c) the rule of government by a single individual. (d) an acceptance of the necessity of compromise. 2. In a free enterprise system, the means of capital are owned (a) by private and corporate entities. (b) by government agencies. (c) by only the agricultural sector. (d) equally by the collective citizenry. Want to connect to the Magruder’s link for this chapter? Click Here!