unit 1 mastery pROJECT
Learning Objectives
1. Compare how various models of representative democracy are reflected through major institutions, policies, events, or debates in the U.S.
Participatory democracy is shown in things such as neighborhood councils and town meetings where everyone participates. Pluralist democracy is shown in the separation of our three branches which gives multiple points of access for presenting and arguing claims. Elite democracy is shown in that large corporations now a days have a big influence on political decisions, because they hold a lot of the money.
2. Analyze and compare democratic ideals reflected in U.S. foundational documents.
Popular sovereignty and republicanism are mostly the same thing as they both state that the government's power comes from the people and is shown through their elected representatives. Social contract is the belief that since people vote on whose in power they can also vote that person out of power. Natural rights shows that every citizen is entitled to certain benefits from the government such as decent housing and medical care. All of these ideas were put into our constitution as a way to make sure that citizens of our government are in control and are not taken advantage of.
3. Compare and interpret Federalist and Anti-Federalist views on central government and democracy.
Federalist wanted the constitution because they believed it was better to have a strong central government to protect the nation and solve domestic issues whereas anti-federalists did not want the constitution and wanted strong state governments because they felt like the central government would become too strong. Federalist felt like the checks and balances would keep this from happening however anti-federalist felt like there should still be a Bill of Rights to protect the people.
4. Explain the relationship between key provisions of the Articles of Confederation and the debate over granting greater power to the federal government formerly reserved to the states.
Federalists felt like the federal government needed more power to protect the nation, but anti-federalists didn't want the government to have too much power. So in the provisions of the Articles of Confederation the federal government go the power to tax and regulate interstate commerce and also have a judiciary and executive branch, but also had separation of powers and checks and balances to prevent corruption.
5. Analyze causes and effects of constitutional compromises in addressing political, economic, and regional divisions.
The Great Compromise was a mix of the Virginia plan and the New Jersey Plan. It settled the dispute between them by having the states representatives be proportionate to the population. It also helped politically because now the Congress was bicameral and there was less of a chance for corruption. Economically it helped because each branch has a say in what taxes are passed.
6. Explain how the issues raised in the ratification debate are reflected in ongoing philosophical disagreements about democracy and governmental power.
In the case U.S. vs. Lopez congress tried to pass an act for no guns in school areas, but the supreme court said it was not one of their powers to do so. Even today there are debates as to whether the central gov. is too strong or not strong enough.
7. Evaluate the relationship between separation of powers and checks and balances.
The separation of powers and checks and balances in out government go hand in hand. Separation of powers splits the three branches of our government so that each branch has a different and separate responsibility to governing the U. S. and checks and balances make it so that each branch has some sort of advantage over the other two, making sure that one branch doesn't gain too much power.
8. Assess how the distribution of powers among three federal branches affects policy making
The distribution of powers among the three federal branches makes policy making slightly more longer of a process, but for good reasons. It makes it so that not one branch can solely make the policies and have the ability to create policies that favor them as individuals. Because congress creates policies, the president can veto them, and judiciary can claim policies as unconstitutional it creates a process where the branches are more likely to create policies in favor of a better nation as a whole rather than in favor of humans individual desires.
9. Explain how and why the appropriate balance of power between national and state governments has been interpreted differently over time.
Along time ago people never really thought about having control over their government, but then our founding fathers came up with the idea to create a constitution for our new government that would give the people the power to rule their government and make all the laws. At first we had more of an anti-federalist view on this point and didn't give enough power to the government to be able to look over everything, but later we came to the conclusion that we should have a constitution where more power is given to the government. Anti-federalists thought that this would give too much power to the central government so we came up with checks and balances to make sure the national gov power wasn't too strong.
10. Analyze questions over the allocation and scope of central power within a federal structure.
The central power within our federal structure is set up so that the state governments and the federal government have different jobs to get done. State takes care of education and licenses whereas federal takes care of foreign policies and war wages. Both set taxes though. And just to make sure the federal government isn't corrupt it is split into three separate branches and the strongest of those is split into two.
Participatory democracy is shown in things such as neighborhood councils and town meetings where everyone participates. Pluralist democracy is shown in the separation of our three branches which gives multiple points of access for presenting and arguing claims. Elite democracy is shown in that large corporations now a days have a big influence on political decisions, because they hold a lot of the money.
2. Analyze and compare democratic ideals reflected in U.S. foundational documents.
Popular sovereignty and republicanism are mostly the same thing as they both state that the government's power comes from the people and is shown through their elected representatives. Social contract is the belief that since people vote on whose in power they can also vote that person out of power. Natural rights shows that every citizen is entitled to certain benefits from the government such as decent housing and medical care. All of these ideas were put into our constitution as a way to make sure that citizens of our government are in control and are not taken advantage of.
3. Compare and interpret Federalist and Anti-Federalist views on central government and democracy.
Federalist wanted the constitution because they believed it was better to have a strong central government to protect the nation and solve domestic issues whereas anti-federalists did not want the constitution and wanted strong state governments because they felt like the central government would become too strong. Federalist felt like the checks and balances would keep this from happening however anti-federalist felt like there should still be a Bill of Rights to protect the people.
4. Explain the relationship between key provisions of the Articles of Confederation and the debate over granting greater power to the federal government formerly reserved to the states.
Federalists felt like the federal government needed more power to protect the nation, but anti-federalists didn't want the government to have too much power. So in the provisions of the Articles of Confederation the federal government go the power to tax and regulate interstate commerce and also have a judiciary and executive branch, but also had separation of powers and checks and balances to prevent corruption.
5. Analyze causes and effects of constitutional compromises in addressing political, economic, and regional divisions.
The Great Compromise was a mix of the Virginia plan and the New Jersey Plan. It settled the dispute between them by having the states representatives be proportionate to the population. It also helped politically because now the Congress was bicameral and there was less of a chance for corruption. Economically it helped because each branch has a say in what taxes are passed.
6. Explain how the issues raised in the ratification debate are reflected in ongoing philosophical disagreements about democracy and governmental power.
In the case U.S. vs. Lopez congress tried to pass an act for no guns in school areas, but the supreme court said it was not one of their powers to do so. Even today there are debates as to whether the central gov. is too strong or not strong enough.
7. Evaluate the relationship between separation of powers and checks and balances.
The separation of powers and checks and balances in out government go hand in hand. Separation of powers splits the three branches of our government so that each branch has a different and separate responsibility to governing the U. S. and checks and balances make it so that each branch has some sort of advantage over the other two, making sure that one branch doesn't gain too much power.
8. Assess how the distribution of powers among three federal branches affects policy making
The distribution of powers among the three federal branches makes policy making slightly more longer of a process, but for good reasons. It makes it so that not one branch can solely make the policies and have the ability to create policies that favor them as individuals. Because congress creates policies, the president can veto them, and judiciary can claim policies as unconstitutional it creates a process where the branches are more likely to create policies in favor of a better nation as a whole rather than in favor of humans individual desires.
9. Explain how and why the appropriate balance of power between national and state governments has been interpreted differently over time.
Along time ago people never really thought about having control over their government, but then our founding fathers came up with the idea to create a constitution for our new government that would give the people the power to rule their government and make all the laws. At first we had more of an anti-federalist view on this point and didn't give enough power to the government to be able to look over everything, but later we came to the conclusion that we should have a constitution where more power is given to the government. Anti-federalists thought that this would give too much power to the central government so we came up with checks and balances to make sure the national gov power wasn't too strong.
10. Analyze questions over the allocation and scope of central power within a federal structure.
The central power within our federal structure is set up so that the state governments and the federal government have different jobs to get done. State takes care of education and licenses whereas federal takes care of foreign policies and war wages. Both set taxes though. And just to make sure the federal government isn't corrupt it is split into three separate branches and the strongest of those is split into two.