exam 1 Flashcards
(35 cards)
THREE SOURCES OF LEGITIMACY:
A.TRADITION:…….positions of power become legitimate over time….they become traditional—example?……political parties
B.CHARISMA:…….importance of personality, popularity, and personal magnetism—examples??……Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Adolph Hitler……Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi……maybe Bill Clinton???
C.LEGALITY:……political activities are legitimate because they are legal, they are based on an accepted body of law(s)……examples??…..national, state, and local governing bodies exercising authority over people based on laws, regulations, and policies passed by legislatures….ultimate legal source of legitimacy???……US Consitution
POLITICS
affairs of the city who gets what, when, and how”……now add “the why”
POLITICAL POWER:
THE ABILITY TO INFLUENCE THE POLITICAL BEHAVIOR OF OTHERS AND YIELD DESIRABLE
GOVERNMENT
institutions and processes by which rules are made and enforced for all members of a society….and by that we mean ALL members of society!!!
DEMOCRACY
power of the people
form of government in which the policy decisions of the government are based on the freely given consent of the people and the people are guaranteed certain basic rights…..hmmmm…..what is this???…..”PEOPLE???”……which ones???…..
DIRECT DEMOCRACY:
direct participation for every voter in the decision making process. Most common versions of such participation: referendum, recall, and initiative.
REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY:
also referred to as republican government…..transferring decision making power to people whom they elect to represent them This requires scheduled elections that cannot be suspended or postponed, it requires certain freedoms that must be guaranteed
How would you describe the American Political System…..What are its main 5 elements??
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS A: FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
names of philosophers
- CONFUCIUS…………551-479 BC
- THUCYDIDES………460-395 BC
- SOCRATES……………469-399 BC
- ARISTOTLE………….384-322 BC
- PLATO…………………….429-347 BC
- MARCUS AURELIUS….121-180 AD
- CICERO…………………………106-43 BC
- THOMAS HOBBES…….1588-1679 AD
- NICOLLO MACHIAVELLI…..1608-1653 AD
- IMMANUEL KANT………………..1724-1804 AD
- JOHN STUART MILL…………..1806-1873 AD
- DAVID HUME………………………….1711-1776 AD
- BARON DE MONTESQUIEU…..1689-1755 AD
- JOHN LOCKE…………………….1632-1704 AD
- ADAM SMITH……………………1723-1790 AD
- JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU…1712-1778 AD
- ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE…..1805-1859 AD
- THOMAS JEFFERSON……………1743-1826 AD
CORE CONCEPTS AND QUESTIONS OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
- State of Nature
- Power and Legitimacy
- Social Contract
- Natural Law
- Equality
- Morality
- Majority Rule
- Minority Rights
- Legality
- Democratic Institutions
- Elections
- Freedoms and Obligations
- Education
- Ethics
- Virtue
BASES OF DEMOCRACY
- Self Government…….based on the ability of humans to understand the “natural law”…..that provides for certain natural rights…..life/liberty/property
- Social Contract…….an agreement among members of the society in which they accepted existing laws and penalties as binding. A second contract created government……why???……a limited one…protect people’s rights….if not then it should be replaced…..
- Majority Rule……people are able to make rational decisions…..the will of the majority governs…..no fear of arbitrary use of power…..de Tocqueville will criticize this later on…….
- Minority rights……..a Jeffersonian/Madisonian/Tocquevillean…perspective….the minority Must be granted certain basic freedoms…the concept of Liberty at work…..Bill of Rights????
- Limited Government……constitutionalism and guarantees of civil liberties……we will talk about it later……
- Democratic Institutions…..federalism or not, three branches, checks and balances, separation of powers…..decentralization of power centers and authority…..
- Free Elections……essential for a government that is based on the will of the people…..smooth transitions….frequency is important…..yet can everyone vote or have they traditionally??
- An Organized Opposition……free to criticize the ruling party…..balance the power of the ruling authority…..hmmmm…
- Free Expression of Ideas…..this totally an Amendment issue….Bill of Rights…..
- Equality……ask Jefferson about it…..now this one is a tough one….ask Lincoln…..equality could lead to loss of liberty….Communism….
- Universal Education…one of the pillars of democracy…..hmmmm…people should be able to understand and participate…..
MAGNA CARTA (1215)
king was bound by law to respect the rights of his nobles
The English Bill of Rights (1689)
hmmm…it sounds familiar……..which guaranteed basic rights for royal subjects
Preconditions of american revolution
- arrogance of power
- french indian work
- fear
- the taxts acts : sugar tea quarting/stamp vThe Coercive Acts
- boston masacar fistfight that left 5 dead….wow
- Boston Tea Party
- battle of concord and lexington where first shots fired
-
common sense by thomas payne
9.
The First Continental Congress (1774):
: Delegates met in Philadelphia (Georgia excluded) in order to….raise arms?….rebel?…no, no, instead the purpose was to ”…deliberate and determine on wise and proper measures.” However, radical minds(lol) such as Samuel Adams managed to force the delegates to adopt a “Declaration of Rights and Grievances”……so what was the British reaction???
They paid no mind as they did not perceive the demands or the protests as a serious threat….hmmm
What they did not see was the growing sense of Separate Identity that colonists like Patrick Henry were developing or had already developed.
Talking did not help…..violence finally erupted….where??
Battle of Lexington and Concord:
The Boston Minutemen Incident (1775)
British soldiers engage a small number of Colonists….the first shot is fired in Lexington
No more talking…no more trying to reason with the King
The beginning of the…..War of Independence???
Let us meet again then……what now?
The Second Continental Congress (May 1775)
still independence was not in the agenda…the Loyalist phenomenon…however, the reality of the impending war and extensive frustration called for the creation of a central government….raise troops, money, ambassadors, etc
Could Relations with the British still be Salvaged??…….what could really turn the tide in complete favor of the Revolution???….because some still thought it was possible to reason with England.
Was it a philosopher?….was it a politician?….was it a scholar?…..who and what?
“Common Sense”…..by Thomas Paine
It was this best selling pamphlet that turned the tide in favor of the War for Independence…..written in a simple manner, ordinary language, and straight to the point…..by the summer of 1776 the idea of a break from England had become extremely popular
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Thomas Jefferson was asked to prepare a statement to be read to the public reflecting Richard Henry Lee’s (VA) call for independence. The document was adopted on July 4, 1776 and it is widely known as the
The Articles of Confederation (AOC)
first form of central government with very limited authority. Based on the theory of State Sovereignty which held that the ultimate legal authority resided in each of the thirteen states (expressed in Article II)
successes and failures of the AOC
Successes: The most important ones came in the arena of foreign affairs…..negotiation of commercial treaties with foreign nations and the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1783) that ended the war of Independence (officially) as England gave official nation recognition to its former enemy.
Failures: The domestic arena, however, showed the real weaknesses of the AOC:…much dismay, economic depression and weakening of the national spirit due to the recent war with the British, commerce matters were unregulated as the states handled these issues poorly, increasing national debt due to the war, bad standing among foreign nations, creation of a debtor class within the states, angered creditors, and inflation
Overall: The AOC failed to deal effectively with the domestic realities of the newly founded nation as the country was slipping into increasingly difficult economic and political times.
war started and ended
The war started officially in 1776 and ended in 1781 with the surrender of the British (under the command of Cornwallis) to General George Washington in Yorktown
Constitutional Convention-1787
Following the Potomac River Agreement, delegates from 5 states called for another convention in order to….Revise the Articles of Confederation….they decided to hold it in Philadelphia in May of 1787. The movement to change the AOC met Resistance by those who were afraid of a more centralized government and from those who were benefiting economically by the AOC……however difficult it did succeed and the Convention was held successfully in 1787 in Philadelphia (with delegates from nine out of thirteen states)……and James Madison kept the records of those closed sessions and that is how we know what transpired.
what triggered the constitutional convention
Shay’s Rebellion…..siege of the Northampton courthouse, for nearly a year, in order to protest and stop judge backed farm foreclosures, eventually suppressed by state militia
