Test 1 Study Guide Topics

Question 1

Presidential removal

Answer 1

House of Representatives can approve the articles of Impeachment by a simple majority vote.
Senate can remove the president from office through a 2/3rds vote.
Only Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were impeached, neither were removed from office. Nixon resigned after facing certain impeachment.
Impeachment has no real effects.

Question 2

British Referendums

Answer 2

It’s possible to split up the UK with referendums. If the US had the system like british referendums texas could vote to leave the US. In 2014 scotland voted to stay by a very small margin.

Question 3

Amendment

Answer 3

Can be proposed via a two-thirds majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. 3/4ths of the states need to approve

Question 4

Supermajority

Answer 4

More than 50%+1 majority. Employed by the US in impeachment, constitution amendment. Not used by Great Britain

Question 5

Cuban Missile Crisis

Answer 5

In 1961 Kennedy wanted missiles out of turkey. In 1962 the order had not been carried out. Career diplomats disregarded the order due to worries about Turkey relations. This is what caused the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
Kennedy said “nothing unless I ordered it” (militarily). A soviet submarine came too close to an american destroyer around a blockade of Cuba, the destroyer fired depth charges.
Kennedy did not know about this
2/3rds of the soviet officials on the submarine agreed to send the nuclear missile aboard the submarine, the 1 official saved the world
Unknown to the US- the nuclear bases were operational in Cuba

Question 6

First President

Answer 6

Argued by some to be John Hanson, the presiding officer under the Articles of Confederation.
Best known for establishing Thanksgiving

Question 7

Thomas Hobbes/John Locke

Answer 7

Hobbes wrote Leviathan, Locke wrote Two Treatises on Government
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both wrote about a State of Nature, where there was an absence of government, police, etc.
According to Hobbes, the state of nature is dangerous
According to Locke, it isn’t so bad, people were mostly good. People would want to leave because of property and trade.

People would subscribe to a Social contract to escape a State of Nature. Citizens would transfer all political rights to a king in order to gain security. They would have the ability to lead their private life as they saw fit. It would be irrational for the king to harm those that are inside the new political structure. You would be released from the social contract if the King came after you (Ex: for violation of a rule).

The primary purpose of government according to Hobbes is to ensure survival. The primary purpose of government according to Locke is to protect property

Question 8

Elite theory, pluralism, the bureaucratic model, Marxism

Answer 8

Describe the Elite Model of government
Popularized in the 1950s with the book “the power elite” C Wright Mills
American Elites numbering in the thousand form self perpetuating groups (attend the that control ownerships of major corporations (presidents tend to attend the same schools, be from the same denominations).
Ideas and policies are said to be shaped from the top (elite) down. The own media, corporations, and control “think tanks” (policy planning groups)

Describe the Pluralistic model of government
Gets the most attention by political scientists
In some ways a “takeoff” of elitism (pluralism meaning many elites)
There is no single group, there are people with wealth and influence but there are many elites
Many interest groups with varying power. Competition between them determines public policy

Describe the Bureaucratic model of government
Those who hold executive positions and are employed in government play a role in government (not talking about elected officials, talking specifically about employees who remain in their jobs when a new president takes office)

Describe the Marxist model of government
Class conflict between the working class and the ruling class. The working class (proletariat) would eventually overthrow the ruling class (bourgeoisie) and create a dictatorship of the proletariat. Government would eventually wither away after the dictatorship was established, and people would live in a Utopia.
In reality the dictatorship would not wither away, and would be brutal (Soviet Union, People’s Republic of China)

Question 9

Autocracy, oligarchy, democracy

Answer 9

Autocracy- a system of government in which the power to govern is in the hands of one individual
Oligarchy- a system of government in which power in concentrated in the hands of a few people
Democracy- a system of government in which, in theory, the people rule, either directly or indirectly

Question 10

Small “L” liberal

Answer 10

We are all small l liberals in the sense that we believe in limited government, individual rights

Question 11

Armenia

Answer 11

Armenian Genocide occured in 1915. Regarded as the first “genocide” of the 20th century
1.5 million killed by deporting to killing fields

While most European countries recognize the Armenian genocide, the Turkish government denies it (it is a crime to mention). The US congress has not officially recognized the genocide either, Turkey is a NATO ally and cooperates with the US.

First time a government said it would hold another government accountable. Governments of UK, France, Russia all sent a diplomatic note to turkish officials saying they would hold turkey accountable.

Question 12

Universal Jurisdiction

Answer 12

every government had a right to prosecute war crimes even if that crime didn’t happen in that country
not as important now as there is an international crime court
Ex: Henry Kissinger might be arrested for war crimes by a france judge

Question 13

Great Compromise

Answer 13

House of Representatives was established based on population with members serving two year terms.
The Senate was set up based on the new jersey plan, each state had two senators serving six year terms. Elections for Senate were staggered (⅓ every 2 years). Senate was made to be slow in producing change.

Question 14

Connecticut Compromise

Answer 14

same as Great Compromise

Question 15

3/5ths Compromise- the “Greatest Compromise”

Answer 15

Solution to slavery

Slaves counted as 3/5ths of a person when taking into account vote in House of Representatives

Question 16

Initiative, recall, referendum

Answer 16

Initiative: petitions circulated
St. Louis county thing
Put on ballot if enough signatures were gathered
Proposed statutes or constitutional amendments
Takes money to have initiatives on the ballot

Referendum: State legislature says “we don’t want to deal w. this issue (bc too constitutional) and pass it off to voters

Recall: Voters are given a chance to remove a person from office before their time is expired
California (remove Arnold)

Question 17

The three themes of The Challenge of Democracy

Answer 17

What are the concepts that identify the values pursued by governments?
Freedom, Order, and Equality

Question 18

Great Society programs

Answer 18

LBJ
Medicare- provides health insurance to 65 yr and older
Medicaid- insurance for poor and nursing homes bills
Medicare and Medicaid help people my age by giving the hospitals revenue, allowing small town hospitals to stay open
Head start, College work study, food stamps, PBS, First environmental law, First fed law women’s equality, Higher education funding
Civil Rights Act 64 - banned discrimination in public accomodations
Voting Rights Act 65 - in that time in the south, southern officials had the responsibility for voting. Only 6% of black citizens were registered to vote. 5 years after the voting rights act, 70% of black citizens were registered to vote

Question 19

Nixon administration

Answer 19

EPA - environmental protection agency

Proposed Guaranteed Annual Income but wasn’t passed

Foreign Policy Success
Arms- arms control agreement with soviet union
China- first president to visit, started getting china into global economy

Watergate- in study guide

Question 20

Pentagon Papers

Answer 20

name for the leaked vietnam report

Question 21

National Sovereignty doctrine

Answer 21

National Sovereign Doctrine- governments were not held accountable for their actions.
The National Sovereign Doctrine is no longer valid, we would now put these people on trial

Question 22

Truman administration

Answer 22

Fair Deal

Marshall Plan
-US sends billions of dollars to rebuild europe. US gets trade, influence, ability to create jobs for US people

NATO
-first peacetime military alliance, designed to protect western europe from a soviet invasion, there was a clause in the treaty that stated that an “attack on one is an attack on all”. This clause was only used once, after 9/11 (European countries sent over their surveillance equipment.

Containment
-foreign policy until the collapse of soviet union in ‘91. purpose was to keep the soviet union from expanding (containing soviet union/ communism)

Failed domestic policies
-split democratic party because he came out in favor of civil rights, nobody expected him to be reelected, but he was

Established US as a major permanent military power

Question 23

Benjamin Franklin

Answer 23

Members of the British Parliament are questioning a commonly dressed Ben Franklin. Franklin went to London thinking he was just going to answer a few questions and realises that he is not british, not part of the political power. He realizes there is a need to break off from the british government. Ben Franklin was very important to the revolution, so this is a critical moment to the revolutionary struggle.

Question 24

Shays rebellion

Answer 24

The New government did not walk away from their debt to great britain, and imposed heavy taxes in order to pay.
Farmers in west massachusetts were losing their farms to this debt. They rose up in powerful rebellion. Took a great deal of effort to put down revolt.
Emphasized the need for a strong central government

Question 25

Jefferson and Adams

Answer 25

Adams was the mind behind Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was the writer

Question 26

Totalitarianism

Answer 26

A system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state

Question 27

Election of senators

Answer 27

Before 1913 Senators were chosen by their state legislatures. The Founding Fathers believed that since the Senators represented the state, the state legislature should elect them. The 17th Amendment to the Constitution requires Senators to be elected by a direct vote of those she or he will represent

Question 28

New Jersey Plan/Virginia Plan

Answer 28

New Jersey Plan- presented by small states, each state had one vote regardless of size
Virginia Plan- large states, based on population