Foundational Documents

• The following information is from the AP Government Required Foundational Documents Review Sheet

Federalist 10

• A strong, united republic is more effective than individual states at controlling factions.
• A large republic helps control factions due to a greater variety of opinions when more representatives are elected.
• This makes it less likely for one majority to oppress the rest of the people.

Brutus I

• It is an Antifederalist series of essays encouraging New Yorkers to reject the proposed Constitution.
• The immense power of the federal government requires the people to sacrifice their liberties.
• A bill of rights was necessary to protect the people from the government.
• Congress possesses far too much power, including taxation, a standing army, taxes, and the Elastic Clause.
• A free republic cannot exist in a large territory like the United States.
• Judicial authority will broaden the federal government's power, potentially leading to tyranny.

Declaration of Independence

• All people are created equal and possess Natural Rights of Life, Liberty, and Property.
• Governments are created to protect these rights.
• If governments fail to protect these rights, the People have the duty to alter or abolish them.
• Only imperfect governments that seek to subject the people to tyranny should be destroyed.
• Striking a balance between governmental power and individual rights has been a hallmark of American political development.

Articles of Confederation

• It is a confederation of states with an extremely limited central government.
• Limitations placed on the central government rendered it ineffective at governing the growing American states.
• Each state remains sovereign.
• It features a unicameral legislature in which each state has one vote.
• There is no President or Judiciary.
• It cannot force taxation, and there is no standing Army.

Constitution (+ Bill of Rights & Other Amendments)

• Outlines the structure, powers, and limits of the federal government.
• Divides power among three branches: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.
• The branches can limit each other through separation of powers, checks and balances.
• Establishes a federal system of government
• Declares the Constitution the Supreme Law.
• Includes a Bill of Rights with individual rights like the following:
  • Amendments 1-8 guarantee individual rights.
  • Amendment 9 states that rights not listed are not denied to the people.
  • Amendment 10 says powers not given to the federal government or denied to the states are state powers.
• Other amendments generally expand people's rights. The following amendments are listed:
  • 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, and 26.
• The Constitution emerged from the debate about the weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation.
• It provides a blueprint for limited government.

Federalist 51

• Proposes a government divided into three branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.
• Each branch should be self-sufficient, but each should have some power over the others to prevent any one branch from taking over.
• The Legislative branch needs to be split into the House of Representatives and the Senate because it's the most powerful branch.
• Members of the Judicial branch need to be chosen by the President with Senate approval for qualified candidates with lifetime appointments.
• This helps keep down the power of factions, as mentioned in Federalist 10.
• The Constitution created a competitive policymaking process to ensure the people's will is accurately represented and freedom is preserved.

Federalist 70

• Unity in the executive branch is vital for energy and safety.
• Energy arises from a single person's ability to make decisions, act, maintain secrecy, and dispatch.
• Safety arises from the unitary executive's unconcealed accountability to the people.
• Executive strength is justified by claiming the slow-moving Congress is best-balanced by a quick and decisive executive.
• Governmental balance requires each branch, including the executive, has enough autonomous power to prevent tyranny by another branch.
• A presidential term should be long enough to promote stability in the government.
• A presidential salary insulates government officials from corruption by attracting capable, honest candidates.
• The presidency has been enhanced beyond its expressed constitutional powers.

Federalist 78

• The Judiciary is the weakest of the three departments of power.
• Without an independent judiciary, rights could be violated, because the legislature cannot be relied upon to police itself.
• Lifetime appointments, guaranteed "during good behavior," ensure judges can resist legislative encroachments through bribes or threats.
• The design of the judicial branch protects the Supreme Court's independence as a branch of government, and the emergence and use of judicial review remains a powerful judicial practice.

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

• Argues that demonstrators have a duty to fight for justice.
• It is up to the oppressed to take charge and demand equality.
• Segregation debases blacks while uplifting whites, making it immoral in the eyes of God.
• Immoral laws are unjust and don't have to be followed. People have a moral obligation to oppose segregation by refusing to abide by unjust laws.
• White Americans who agree with desegregation but criticize civil rights activists pose the biggest obstacle to racial equality.
• The "paternalistic" attitude of white moderates shows a lack of understanding about segregation and discourages others from joining the campaign for civil rights.
• The civil rights movement will ultimately be successful because "the goal of America is freedom."
• The Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause has often been used to support equality.