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ChristianAdegbaju,HannahCarr,

TyraNguyen,TempeStewart
FinalExamProject
APGovernment
WilliamsPitkonen

SectionI:Influences
WhenAmericagaineditsindependencefromBritain,thenationhadtofigureouthowto
organizeandestablishtherelationshipbetweenthecitizensandthegovernment.However,from
evenbeforethat,the
MayflowerCompact
wasanideathatinspiredthe
socialconstructtheory

thisestablisheda
socialcontract
forthepeopleoftheUnitedStatesofAmerica.TheMayflower
CompactwasfirstcreatedbythePilgrimsandformedtheconsentofthesettlerstolivetogether
underselfgovernmentthatwascreatedonthenewland,similartothesocialcontract.The
MayflowerCompactestablisheda
directdemocracy
(directlygovernedbythepeople)andthe
socialcontractresultedinamore
indirectdemocracy
(governedindirectlybythepeoplethrough
representatives)suchasinthecreationoftheConstitution.
Theseconceptsalsoinspired
naturallaw
,anideaprevalentintheideasofthenations
founders.Naturallawistherightsgiventothepeopleinthesocialcontract,suchastherightto
life,liberty,andproperty.Whenthesocialcontractwasmade,itsymbolizedtheharmonyand
agreementbetweentheAmericancitizenstoliveandbegovernmentbytheUnitedStatesof
America.ThecontractincludedtheideasthatthesocietyofAmericawantedtocreate,suchasa

freecountrythatprotectsitscitizensrightswhileformingtogetherunderagovernmentauthority
thatmaintainsorderandequality.
ThepeopleofthenationcreatedtheU.S.Constitutioninordertoformtheirsociety,type
ofgovernment,platform,andrules.Thefoundationaldocumentwasbasedontheideasfrom
manydifferentmindsandphilosopherswithcomplextheoriesongovernmentandpolitics.These
mindscontributedtotheConstitutionssixfoundationalprinciples:
popularsovereignty,
limited
government,separationofpowers,checksandbalances,judicialreview,andfederalism.
TheU.S.Constitutionwasmainlyinfluencedby
ThomasHobbes,JohnLocke,
JeanJacquesRousseau,ThomasJefferson
,andmore.HobbesandLockewrotethebooks
Leviathan
and
TwoTreatisesofGovernment
onthesocialconstructtheoryandnaturalrights.
Rosseaualsocreatedwritingsabouthisideasonthesocialcontracttheory.Jeffersonwroteinthe
DeclarationofIndependenceandwasessentialinmanymorephilosophicalinfluencesto
America.
ThomasHobbes
contributedtotheideasthatinfluencedtheConstitutioninhiswritings
suchas
Leviathan
,wherehedescribedhisbeliefsofgovernment,suchasthewaytoprevent
chaosofthestateofnaturewithinsociety,thatsomethingsuchasasocialcompact(similarto
theMayflowercompact)thatestablishesconsentofcitizenstobegovernedwiththeassuranceof
inalienablerights,equality,andselfpreservation.
JohnLocke
wrotethe
TwoTreatisesof
Government
,whereheagreedthatgovernmentgainsauthoritythroughtheconsenttobe
governed,whichaddstothesocialcontracttheory.Bothwritersbelievedinthelife,liberty,and
pursuitofhappinessforcitizensofanation,andforittobeprotectedbythegovernment.

JeanJacquesRousseau
hadaveryinfluentialphilosophytotheConstitution,writtenin
TheSocialContract
.Hebelievedthatthereshouldbepopularsovereigntyingovernment,
meaningthatacountryshouldbegovernedbythecitizensandinconsiderationtothewellbeing
ofthecitizens.Rousseaustronglybelievedthatthegovernmentofanationshouldrepresentand
carryoutthewillofthepeople,whichisveryimportantinthesocialcontracttheoryand
foundationintheU.S.Constitution.Lastly,
ThomasJefferson
wasoneofthemostinfluential
peopletotheConstitutionandAmericasgovernment.Hebelievedthatthepeopleofanation
shouldbeabletooverthrowagovernmentifitdoesnotfulfillthewillofthecitizens,aswellasa
federalgovernmentwithlimitedpower.Jeffersontookmajorpartsinplanning,contributinghis
ideasandphilosophies,andbecomingaleaderingovernment.

SectionII:TheConstitution

Our
Constitution has been the foundation of our government for 226 years. In 1787 our

constitution was ratified by 9 out of 13 states which was all the states they needed to ratify it
according to Article VII of the constitution. The Constitution was designed to protect our
freedom by imposing law on those who hold political power. It establishes the legislative,
executive, and judicial branch as well as what powers they are limited to whichcanbefoundin
the firsttenamendmentsreferredtoasthe
BillofRights.Italsoestablishesalltherightswehave
as Americans and protects them. While the constitution stands as the frame of our government
todayitwasn'talwaysthisway.
From 1781 to 1787 the
Articles of Confederation was the document that served as our
governments foundation giving states completesovereigntyandleavinglittletonopowerforthe

central government. While it seemed like a good idea at the time, it caused multiple problems
.
The federal governmenthadnopowertotax,enforcelaws, hold afederalcourtsystem,andthey
had no power over interstate commerce. In addition to those problems for laws to be passed, 9
out of 13 states had to agree and for articles to be amended 13 out of 13 states had to agree.
When a riot broke out in
Massachusetts
called
Shay`s Rebellion little could be done to control
the riot because of lack of law enforcement. It gave lightto themanyproblemsintheirlackofa
centralized government and in 1787 congress set up a convention to revise the articles which
wouldresultinourconstitution.
After the ratification of the Constitution a groupcalledthe
AntiFederalistsdidnotagree
with the ratification of the Constitution. They felt that a strong centralized government would
lead to another monarchy. A series of papers were published by James Madison, John Jay, and
Alexander Hamiltoncalledthe
FederalistPaperstopromotetheratification. Themostfamousof
all the 85 articles were federalist papers 10 and 51.
Federalist Paper 10`s majorpoint that under
weak government no one was protected from the violence and damage caused by factions. In
Federalist Paper 51 Madison's states that regarding elections of officials in thebranchesshould
be mostly independent from each other and checks and balances should be in place in each
branch.
Many political theories went into the constitution and one of the men who had a great
influence on it was
Montesquieu and his
Spirit of Laws papers published in 1748. In his papers
Montesquieu establishes
separation of powers and
checks and balances. These ideas are
pervasiveinourConstitutiontoday,foundin
ArticlesI
(whichestablishesthelegislativebranch),
II (which establishes the executive branch),
and III (which establishes the judicial branch). In

Articles I, II, and III the separation of powers between the legislative, executive, and judicial
branch is established so that each branch has its own set of powers. Also established in these
articlesarechecksandbalancesthatareinplacetomakesurethatonebranchdoesnotgainmore
powerthananother.
Another man whose political ideas had a massive impact on our constitution was
Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton was not just responsible for the federalist papers but also
contributing is ideologies the the framework of the constitution. He was a strong federalist and
believed that government should be divided into three branches.He was the one who really set
up the philadelphia convention to change the articles. Hamilton wrote a proposal for a
governmentwiththatwouldhaveastrongcentralgovernmentbutstillgivepowertothestates.
While in the process of constructing the constitution the authors came to adisagreement
between to plans for setting up the frame of the government. James Madison proposed the
Virginia Plan which called for a strong central government with a judicial, executive, and
legislative branch with two houses based on population which favored large. On the opposite
side was the New jersey plan proposedbyWilliamPatersonwhichwantedrepresentationinthe
legislative branch to be based on equal representation for all states. The solution to this dispute
was the
Connecticut Compromise made by
Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth which stated
that the legislative branch would be comprised of twohouse:thehousewhichiswouldbebased
on population and the senate which would have equal representation for all states. After this
conflict was resolved another argument arose between southern and northern states about
whether or not slaves should be included in the population count. This resulted in the
ThreefifthsCompromise
whichcountedthreefifthsofthetotalslavepopulation.

In addition to the creation of the Constitution came the establishment of the


Electoral
College. The founding fathers created it in the Constitution as a compromise between the
election of the President by a vote in Congress and by a popular vote of qualifiedcitizens. The
Constitution gives each state a number of electors equal to the combined total of its Senate and
House of Representatives delegation. Today, all presidential electors are chosen by the voters,
but in the early republic, more than half the states chose electors in their legislatures, which
eliminatedanydirectinvolvementintheelection.
As discussed earlier, another Article that is included in the Constitution is
Article V
,
which states thattheConstitutionorthenationsframeofgovernmentmaybealtered.Duetothe
fact that the Constitution is a living document, items within the Constitution may be changed.
In relation toArticleVcamethe
Marburyv.Madisoncase.InMarburyv.Madison,theSupreme
Court announced that a court may declare an act of Congress void if it is inconsistent with the
Constitution. In the end, the case established judicial review, which is the doctrine underwhich
legislativeandexecutiveactionsaresubjecttoreviewbythejudiciary.
SectionIII:Federalism
Federalism
isamethodthatallowstwosystemsofgovernmenttocoincideatonce.Inthe
UnitedStatesConstitutionweuseasystemoffederalismwherethepowerinthegovernmentis
dividedbetweenthenationalandstatelevels.Accordingtotheconstitution,therearemanytypes
ofpowersthatthegovernmenthasinrelationtohowtheycarryoutactionsinthefederalsystem.
Enumeratedpowers
setforththeauthoritythatCongresshasandcanbefoundinArticleI,
Section8oftheConstitution.
Impliedpowers
arepowersthataren'tstatedintheConstitution,
butareimpliedbyotherpowersthatarestatedandauthorizedintheConstitution.
Reserved

powers
arealsopowersthatCongresshashowevertheyarenotenumerated,orwrittendownin
theConstitution.The
concurrentpowers
arethepowersthataresharedbetweenthefederal
governmentandeachcentralgovernment.
Therearealso
nationalpowers
thatdescribetheresourcesthatthenationusesinorderto
carryoutnationalobjectivesand
states'powers
thatarespecificpowersreservedforthestates
thatarenotprohibited.Therearemanycourtcasesthatdealwithhowthenationalandstate
governmentcanexercisethesepowerscorrectly.Oneofthosecasesincludesthe
McCullochv.
Maryland
casewherethestateofMarylandplacedataxonTheSecondBankoftheUnited
Statesandacashierofthebanknamed
JamesMcCulloch
refusedtopaythetax.TheCourt
decidedthatfederallawsoverridestatelawsandthatthestatepowerofMarylandwasnotinthe
placetoputataxonthebankbecausethe
necessaryandproperclause
allowedCongresstoset
upthebank.Anothercaseincludesthe
Gibbonsv.Ogden
casewherethestateofNewYorkgave
twopeopletherighttonavigatesteamboatsinNewYorkwatersandinotherplacesthatincluded
areasaroundNewJersey.TheCourtdecidedthatthepowerthatNewYorkthoughtwas
devolved
orgrantedfromthecentralgovernmentwasunconstitutionalbecausetheConstitution
gavetherighttoregulateinterstatecommerceandthestateofNewYorkhadnorightto
interfere.
Anothercaseincludes
U.S.v.Lopez
whereCongressissuedamandateandbannedthe
possessionofaguninlocalschoolzonesandamannamedAlfonzoLopezJr.broughtaloaded
guntohishighschoolandwasarrested.TheCourtruledthatthepossessionofgunsinlocal
schoolzonesdidnotnecessarilydealwithinterstatecommercethuslimitedthecommercepower
thatCongresshadinthatarea.TheU.S.Constitutionincludesmanyclausesthatbackupand

supportthecourtdecisionsupaboveandmanyothers.The
supremacyclause
canbefoundin
ArticleVIoftheConstitutionandstatesthatthelawsoftheConstitutionandtreatiesmadefrom
theU.S.arethe"supremelawsoftheland".The
necessaryandproperclause
canbefoundin
ArticleI,Section8oftheConstitutionandgivesCongresstherightto"makeallLawswhich
shallbenecessaryandproperforcarryingintoExecutionthe[enumerated]Powers,andallother
PowersvestedbythisConstitutionintheGovernmentoftheUnitedStates,orinanyDepartment
orOfficerthereof."Thisclausealsogoesbythenameoftheelasticclause.
Anotherclauseincludesthe
fullfaithandcreditclause
whichcanbefoundinArticleIV,
Section1oftheConstitutionandtellstheobligationsthatthestateshavetorespectthe"public
acts,records,andjudicialproceedingsofeveryotherstate."TheConstitutionalsohassections
thatprotecttherightsandfreedomsthatindividualsoftheU.S.have.
TitleVI
statesthatNo
personintheUnitedStatesshall,onthegroundofrace,color,ornationalorigin,beexcluded
fromparticipationin,bedeniedthebenefitsof,orbesubjectedtodiscriminationunderany
programoractivityreceivingFederalfinancialassistance.
TitleIX
statesthat"Nopersoninthe
UnitedStatesshall,onthebasisofsex,beexcludedfromparticipationin,bedeniedthebenefits
of,orbesubjectedtodiscriminationunderanyeducationprogramoractivityreceivingfederal
financialassistance.
TherearealsootherformsoffederalismthattheUnitedStatesusesandoneincludes
cooperativefederalism
wherethenationalandcentralgovernmentworktogetheror
cooperativelytosolveproblemsandmakepoliciesandideasratherthanworkingseparately.
Cooperativefederalismcanbecarriedoutinmanywayssuchasthrough
blockgrants
and
categoricalgrants
.Thesearefundsusuallygiventostatesunderfederal
mandate
,whicharethe

requirementsthatthefederalgovernmentusesonstateorlocalgovernment.Blockgrantsare
amountsofmoneythatthenationalgovernmentgivestoregionalgovernmentswithageneral
purposeforhowtheycanbespentwhilecategoricalgrantsareamountsofmoneygivenfromthe
UnitedStatesCongressthathavespecificpurposeonhowitcanbespent.Therearealso
grants
inaid
thatareamountsofmoneygiventolocalgovernmentsandinstitutions.

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