LSN Review

(I) Forms of Government:
A. Democratic:
1. Representative Democracy--the people elect representatives and entrust them
with the task of making laws. Most Democratic countries are representative
democracies because it is not practical to bring everyone to a central location
to debate and vote on all issues.
2. Direct Democracy--All the people vote on almost all issues. This works only in
a very small community.
3. Parliamentary Democracy--The people elect legislatures, and the legislatures select
the head of state. Canada, Britain, and Israel are parliamentary democracies.
4. Presidential Democracy--The people elect both the legislature and the head of state.
The USA, France, and India are presidential democracies.

B. Non-Democratic:
1. Dictatorship--A system in which one leader rules bu dictate; the ruler is not
responsible to any law bedsides his own authority.
2. monarchy--A king, queen, or emperor rules.
3. oligarchy--rule by a small group.
4. totalitarian system--The government seeks to control all areas of social,
political, and economic life. Totalitarian systems were important in much of the
world during the 20th century. They involved dictatorship, command economies, and
censorship of opposing views.
C. Other Concepts:
1. Confederacy--a loose association of states. Between the 1770's and 1789 (when the
Constitution was adopted), the USA was a confederation, governed by the Articles of
Confederation.
2. Unitary System--a System in which all power is concentrated in the national or
central government.


(II) Important principles of American government:

A. Federalism--power is divided between national and state governments. The fact that different states have different provisions in civil, criminal, and traffic laws while the national government controls foreign and defense policy express this principle.
B. Social Contract--Government represents an agreement between government and people.
C. Popular Sovereignty--The people are the source of political power in the USA. This is
expressed in the Preamble to the US Constitution. Elections are an example of this principle.
D. Separation of Powers--The Congress (legislative branch), President (Executive branch), and
courts (Judicial Branch) have separate and defined powers. Further, no-one can concurrently serve as President and in the legislature, or as a sitting judge.
1. Legislative--makes the laws (Article I)
2. Executive--carries out the laws (Article II)
3. Judicial--interprets the laws (Article III)
E. Checks and Balances--Each branch of government has some controls over the other two.
1. The Senate (part of Congress) confirms President's choices for Supreme Court,
and can carry out impeachment trials.
2. The President may veto a bill passed by Congress, and appoint members of the
Supreme Court.
3. The Supreme Court may rule whether acts of Congress, the President, or state or
local government are Constitutional.
F. Judicial Review--The power of the Supreme Court to decide whether acts of the Congress,
President, State Governments, or Local Governments are in accord with the Constitution.

(III) Important Supreme Court Cases:

A. Marbury v. Madison: This decided that the Supreme Court may exercise judicial review over
actions of the other branches.
B. McCulloch v. Maryland: This decided that Congress may do "whatever is necessary and proper" to carry out its duties, even if these actions are not specified in the Constitution. it also supported the supremacy of the national over state governments.
C. Gibbons v. Ogden: This held that only Congress may regulate interstate commerce.
D. Cases about racial relations:
1. Sanford v. Scott (1857): It held that slaves were not citizens, had no standing to sue
in Federal courts, that blacks "have no rights that white persons are bound to respect",
State laws against slavery interfere with property rights, and helped bring about the
Civil War between North and South (1861-65)
2. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): This held that the "separate but equal" laws of Louisiana
and other states which ordered separate trains cars for whites and blacks did not
violate the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Only John Marshall Harlan dissented.
Harlan's dissent said that the Constitution is "color blind", and informed...
3. Brown v. Board of Education (1954): This held that segregation in public schools violates
the 14th Amendemnt. Remember it because BROWN is a COLOR, and that this case overturned
"separate but equal" treatment of persons of different colors.
4. Heart of Atlanta Motels v. US: This held that there shall be no racial segregation in
businesses that accommodate the general public.
E. Cases concerning rights of accused persons:
1. Miranda v. Arizona: This held that persons accused of crimes must be told their
Constitutional rights. Remember RIGHT to REMAIN SILENT (Amendment 5)
2. Gideon v. Wainwright: A poor defendant in any criminal case has the right to a state-
appointed attorney if he is too poor to afford a lawyer himself. Remember RIGHT to
COUNSEL (Amendment 6).
F. Rights of Students:
1. Tinker v. Des Moines: This held that students (and teachers) do not lose their rights
to freedom of political speech when they enter the schoolhouse gates.
2. New Jersey v. TLO: This held that when school authorities search a student's property
for drugs, weapons, or other illegal items, it does not violate the 6th Amendment.

In New Jersey, T.L.O.
Had her purse searched and said, "No, no, no!"
The Supreme Court took a guess,
And to New Jersey said, "Yes, yes, yes!"

(V) Important Constitutional Amendments.

A. Amendments are changes in the Constitution.
B. Bill of Rights: The first ten Amendments are called the Bill of Rights.
1. Amendment I--freedom of speech, press, peaceable assembly, free exercise of religion.
2. Amendment V--Accused persons get due process of law.
3. Amendment VI--Right to Counsel
4. Amendment X--Other rights are reserved to the people and to the states.
C. Amendment XIV--This defined citizens as persons born or naturalized in the USA. Protections of the Bill of Rights are incorporated, or extended to cases under state law.
D. Amendment XXII (1951)--President's are limited to two terms. Before this, Presidents limiting themselves to two terms was in imitation of Washington's precedent. Only Franklin Roosevelt (1932-45) served more than two terms, and died early in his fourth.
E. Amendment XXV (1967)--This spelled out the precise rules for presidential succession in case the president and other high officers die or are incapacitated. it was used in 1981, when Vice President George H.W. Bush filled in for President Ronald Reagan in 1981, after an assassination attempt against Reagan, which injured him. After Reagan recovered, he resumed presidential duties.

(VI) Important Historical Documents:

A. Magna Carta (1215): This spelled out important rights at law for freeborn Englishmen.
In days of old
When knights were bold,
And most trade was by barter,
The English barons forced King John
To sign the Magna Carta.
B. Mayflower Compact (1620): This was a plan of self-government for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
C. English Bill of Rights (1689): This was signed by King William I and Queen Mary. it stipulated a list of legal and political rights for the English.
D. Declaration of Independence (1776): Written by Thomas Jefferson. It declares the 13 Colonies to be independent of Great Britain.
E. Articles of Confederation (1781-89): Written by John Dickerson. These were a plan of union for the newly independent United States of America.
F. US Constitution (1789): This was a plan for a federal system of government for the United States of America.
G. The Federalist Papers (1790): These were a collection of essays by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay defending the new US Constitution, and persuading Americans and their leaders to adopt it.
H. Civil Rights Act (1964): This was passed through the efforts of Lyndon Johnson, a Democratic President, and Everett Dirksen, and influential Republican Senator from Illinois, to protect the Constitutional rights of minorities.

(VII) Economic Systems:

A. traditiona economy--a system in which custom and tradition rule economic life. It involves traditional farming methods to produce only enough for the use of a family and local area, and trade by barter.
B. Capitalism/ market economy--This is when private persons own the means of production. There is a possibility of profit. It was made possible by the Industrial Revolution of the 1700's and 1800's. Amrkets (buying and selling) determine prices of goods and services.
C. Laissez-faire: The idea, which supports capitalism, that people and nations should be free to do what they do best. it was advocated by Adam Smith, a Scottish philosopher.
D. Socialism: The idea that government should control most economic life, and use its economic power to create secure conditions for all people. Governments often determine prices of goods and services. Both democratic and totalitarian socialist systems exist. The German philosopher Karl Marx advocated totalitarian socialism (Communism) and violent revolution of the have-nots against the haves.
E. Command Economy--an extreme form of socialism in which the government makes almost all economic decisions and controls almost all economic life. It is closely associated with 20th century totalitarianism.
F. Mixed economy/ mixed-market economy: This is when the government regulates private businesses. The USA has a mixed economy.