The American Political System PSCI 1101

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The American Political System PSCI 1101
Dr. Vanessa A. Baird
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Are People Inherently Good?

• Rivalry gone bad Longhorns fan nearly castrated
  in bloody bar scuffle Tuesday September 11, 2007
  657PM
• OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- To some Oklahoma football
  fans, there are things that just aren't done in
  the heart of Sooner Nation, and one of them is to
  walk into a bar wearing a Texas Longhorns T-shirt.

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Are People Inherently Good?

• "I've actually heard callers on talk radio say
  that this guy deserved what he got for wearing a
  Texas T-shirt into a bar in the middle of Sooner
  country," said Irven Box, an attorney in this
  city 20 miles from Oklahoma's campus in Norman.

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Are People Inherently Good?

• Details in West Virginia Torture Case 'Out of a
  Horror Movie
• Wednesday, September 12, 2007
• BIG CREEK, W.Va.  Inside a shed on a remote
  hillside of this coalfield community, authorities
  say a young black woman was tortured for days,
  sexually assaulted, beaten and forced to eat rat
  droppings.

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Lesson from Tuesday!

• Our system was set up to be based on the
  reality of human behavior, not on some idea of
  human perfection

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Searching for Justice

• Pol Pot Communist Utopia
• Estimated 2,000,000 killed
• Nazi Germany Totalitarian Utopia
• 6 - 11 million killed
• Stalin Totalitarian Communism
• More than 20 million killed

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E.M. Forster

• I hate the idea of causes, and if I had to
  choose between betraying my country and betraying
  my friend I hope I should have the guts to betray
  my country.
• Two Cheers for Democracy

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Constitutional Timeline

• 1750s to 1770s British Crown needs money and
  puts pressure on colonies
• Taxes, taxes, taxes
• 1775 Lexington and Concord
• 1776 Declaration of Independence
• 1777 Articles of Confederation adopted
• 1787 Constitution adopted
• 1789 (ratified)

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Articles of Confederation

• The first attempt at a united set of separate
  states
• A confederation of separate states
• Like neighbors on the same street
• A league of mutual friendship
• Common Defense was the main purpose

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Problems with the Articles

• The Congress had no power to tax.
• States coined their own money and trade wars
  erupted.
• Congress had no power to regulate commerce. No
  unified money system.
• States conducted foreign relations without regard
  to neighboring states' needs or wants.

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Shays Rebellion
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Basic concepts in the Revolutionary era

• Liberty the preservation of traditional rights
  against the intrusions of government
• Popular sovereignty assumes that ultimate
  political authority belongs to the people
• Political equality refers to decision making
  where each person carries the same weight

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Tariffs

• northern economies industrialization southern
  economies agriculture. 
• Many northern interests wanted protection for
  their products, while many southern interests
  wanted freer trade for their agricultural output. 

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The Politics of Slavery

• C Strong Commercial policy (tariffs)
• c no commercial policy
• S legalized slavery
• s no slavery
• Northern preferences
• Cs gt CS gt cs gt cS
• (Cs preferred over CS, etc.)

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The Politics of Slavery

• Northern preferences
• Cs gt CS gt cs gt cS
• Southern preferences
• cS gt CS gt cs gt Cs

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Slavery in the Constitution

• 3/5 of other persons
• Article 1, section 2
• No laws against importation until 1808 (about 20
  years later)
• Article 1, section 9
• One state must return another states runaway
  slave if captured
• Article 4, section 2
• You cannot change the rules about slavery (by
  amendment) until 1808
• Article 5

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Who is in Charge?

• Supremacy Clause
• Article VI
• The Constitution, and the Laws of the United
  Statesshall be the supreme Law of the Land

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Who is in Charge?

• Supremacy Clause
• Commerce Clause
• Article I, Section 8
• The Congress shall have the Power To regulate
  Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the
  several States, and with the Indian Tribes.

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Who is in Charge?

• Supremacy Clause
• Commerce Clause
• Elastic Clause
• Necessary and Proper Clause
• Article I, Section 8
• The Congress shall have the Power Tomake all
  Laws which shall be necessary and proper for
  carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers.

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The Anti-Federalists

• "...the proposed plan of government...is a most
  daring attempt to establish a despotic
  aristocracy among freemen that the world has ever
  witnessed."
• -- Centinel
• (anti-federalist Samuel Bryan, 1787).

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The Anti-Federalists

• "I see great jeopardy in this new government."
  "I look upon that paper the Constitution as the
  most fatal plan that could possibly be conceived
  to enslave a free people. If such be your rage
  for novelty, take it and welcome but you shall
  never have my consent."
• Patrick Henry (speech before the Virginia
  ratifying convention, 1788)

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States Make a Comeback?

• Bill of Rights added to convince the people that
  the federal government would not take over their
  lives.
• Promised as the first order of business for the
  new Congress
• Takes some of the bite out of the Anti-Federalist
  arguments

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States make a Comeback?

• Reservation Clause
• Tenth Amendment
• The Powers not delegated to the United States by
  the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
  States, are reserved to the States respectively,
  or to the People."

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Bill of Rights

• 9 The people retain rights un-enumerated.
• 8 No one will inflict cruel and unusual
  punishment on me.
• 7 I can have a jury trial.
• 6 I can have a speedy trial, a lawyer, find
  out who said all those nasty things about me.

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Bill of Rights

• 5 No government can take my life, liberty or
  property without due process.
• 4 The cops cant search me without a darn good
  reason.
• 3 My home is my castle (and the government
  officials cant expect free room board).
• 2 I can own a gun just like the NRA says.

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NUMBER 1!

• The first ten words of the Bill of Rights.
• Congress shall make no law respecting the
  establishment of religion

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NUMBER 1!

• The first ten words of the Bill of Rights.
• Congress shall make no law respecting the
  establishment of religion
• or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

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NUMBER 1!

• The first ten words of the Bill of Rights.
• Congress shall make no law respecting the
  establishment of religion
• or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
• or abridging the freedom of speech

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NUMBER 1!

• The first ten words of the Bill of Rights.
• Congress shall make no law respecting the
  establishment of religion
• or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
• or abridging the freedom of speech
• or of the press

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NUMBER 1!

• The first ten words of the Bill of Rights.
• Congress shall make no law respecting the
  establishment of religion
• or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
• or abridging the freedom of speech
• or of the press
• or to peacefully assemble

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NUMBER 1!

• The first ten words of the Bill of Rights.
• Congress shall make no law respecting the
  establishment of religion
• or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
• or abridging the freedom of speech
• or of the press
• or to peacefully assemble
• and to petition the Government

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How to Stop this Monster

• How in the world do you keep a small majority of
  people (a faction) from getting control and
  tyrannizing everyone else?

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How to Stop this Monster

• How in the world do you keep a small majority of
  people (a faction) from getting control and
  tyrannizing everyone else?
• Representative government
• Separation of powers
• Checks and Balances

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Separation of Powers
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Checks and Balances
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Clint Eastwood