Foundations of Government Study Guide PDF

[Unit 1: Foundations of Government] **[Terms]**: - Government -- A general term that refers to the system or organization through which a society creates and enforces laws, maintains order, and provides public services. - Unitary government -- A form of government in which all authori...

[Unit 1: Foundations of Government] **[Terms]**: - Government -- A general term that refers to the system or organization through which a society creates and enforces laws, maintains order, and provides public services. - Unitary government -- A form of government in which all authority is concentrated in a single, central government. The central government holds supreme power, and any regional or local governments only have powers that the central government chooses to delegate to them. - Confederacy -- Where a group of independent states form a loose alliance. Central government has limited power, while the individual states or regions retain most of their power and independence. - Federal government -- A specific type of government found in countries with a federal system, where power is divided between a central (national) government and smaller regional governments - Autocracy -- One person holds all the power (North Korea) - Oligarchy -- Small party rules the people, and they have most of the power - Monarchy -- A king or queen rules the people, and they have all the power - Democracy -- The power lies in the hands of the people - Representative -- The people vote for a party/representative to vote - Direct -- The people vote for who they want - Parliamentary government system -- Head is prime minster which is chosen by the parliament - Limited government -- Where the government doesn't have all power - Separation of powers -- Prevent anyone from having too much power - Social contract -- Surrender some freedom for protection - Natural rights -- Rights everyone gets for being born - Constitution -- A foundational document that establish principles, structures and process of a government - State -- a political unit with the power to enforce laws over a group of people living in the defined territory - Nation -- A nation refers to a group of people who share a common identity based on factors such as culture, language, ethnicity, history, or shared values. It is more focused on the cultural and social aspects of a group (No formal boundaries) - Nation State -- A nation-state is a political entity that combines the concepts of nation and state. It refers to a state in which the majority of the population shares a common cultural identity, such as language, religion, ethnicity, or history. (boundaries) - Rule of law -- Everyone is under the law, and everyone is treated equally, and that all rights are protected **[Documents]**: - Magna Carta -- A charter agreed by King John that granted nobles certain rights and restricted the king's powers. - Petition of Rights -- King Charles sign the petition of rights which limited powers of the English monarch - English Bill of Rights -- Doc signed by king John states English monarchs can't enact laws, raise taxes, or keep army without parliament consent. - Declaration of Independence -- Declared the American colonies independence from Britain making the United States an independent nation - Stamp Act -- Made it so all paper goods have a gov stamp which was a tax for the British - Articles of Confederation -- Doc before the constitution that created the first central gov for USA **[Theories]**: - Social Contract Theory -- States form when people reach a "contract" to surrender some power to a common authority for security - Divine Right Theory -- The monarch is believed to have been divinely appointed to govern, and their power is considered sacred and unquestionable. - Evolutionary Theory -- States form gradually overtime, growing from family and extended kinship groups into a government - Force Theory -- States form when an individual group uses force to make enough people submit to a central authority **[People]**: - Thomas Hobbes -- Advocated for a strong sovereign to avoid chaos, believing people needed to surrender some freedoms for security. - John Locke -- Gave us natural rights theory, road map how to set up gov, Life, liberty, prosperity - Montesquieu -- Laied out ideas of separation of powers and checks and balances - Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Argued that society should be based on the general will of the people for the common good. - Thomas Jefferson -- Authored the Declaration of Independence, emphasizing natural rights and limited government. - Enlightenment philosophers -- Influenced political thought, emphasizing reason, liberty, and equality. - Federalists -- - Anti-Federalists -- a group of individuals and political activists in the United States who opposed a strong central government and the inclusion of the b ill of rights to protect individual liberties **[Constitutional Convention]**: - Virginia Plan -- favored a strong central government and representation based on population. It aimed to replace the weak government under the Articles of Confederation with a more effective national system. - New Jersey Plan -- Each state gets the same amount of representatives - Connecticut Compromise -- combined elements of both the Virginia and New Jersey Plans to resolve the dispute between large and small states over legislative representation. - 3/5 Compromise -- For every 5 slaves 3 would be counted to the state's population for taxes