AP Gov Exam: Constitutional Foundations

Virginia Plan

-A national government consisting of a legislative, executive, and judicial branch. -A bicameral legislature with representation proportional to population and/or revenue collected. -Expanded national governmental powers, including power to tax and regulate trade. -A national government with the power to force states to comply with federal laws and override state actions and laws.

New Jersey Plan

-A national government consisting of a unicameral legislature, a plural executive, and a judiciary. -The executives would be selected by Congress and could also be recalled by Congress at the urging of state governors. -Equal representation in Congress for all states, regardless of size. -New but limited powers to tax (primarily imports) and regulate trade.

New Constitution Powers

-Congress now had the power to tax, draft men into the military, and regulate trade between the states. It also had exclusive power to coin money. -Congress's power included the explicit authorization to make all laws "necessary and proper" to the carrying out of its listed powers. This "necessary and proper clause," or "elastic clause," was the basis of Congress's implied powers: the authority to exercise powers suggested by the Constitution. -The Constitution created a single, independent executive (not appointed by Congress), with the power to implement and enforce laws. -A federal judiciary was created to provide a uniform interpretation of the nation's laws. -The supremacy clause established the hierarchy of government authority. This "ladder of laws" made the Constitution the highest authority, followed by federal laws and treaties, followed by state laws.

Checks and Balances

-Congress's checks on the president: makes laws, may override presidential vetoes with two-thirds vote, and may impeach the president. Senate must confirm treaties and presidential appointments. Congress has the sole authority to declare war (though it hasn't been using this power lately—the last official declaration of war was for World War II). -Congress's checks on the judiciary: creates lower courts, must confirm judicial nominees, and may impeach judges. -President's checks on Congress: may propose and veto legislation. -President's checks on the judiciary: nominates Supreme Court and federal judges, can grant pardons. -Judiciary's check on the President: rules on constitutionality of executive actions. Once appointed by the president, judges enjoy life tenure. -Judiciary's check on Congress: rules on constitutionality of legislation.

State Powers

-Each state was directly represented in the Senate; originally (until the 17th Amendment in 1913), senators were chosen by state legislatures. -Congress was denied a legislative veto over state laws. -The Tenth Amendment, ratified in 1791, expressly reserved powers not granted to the federal government to the states or the people. -Congress was granted the authority to regulate interstate but not intrastate commerce. (The Supreme Court's decision in Gibbons v. Ogden in 1824, however, broadly defined interstate commerce.) -State legislatures were granted the power to ratify future amendments to the Constitution. -States were allowed to determine how presidential electors would be selected. -States were allowed to set their own voting requirements. (Later, however, the 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th Amendments framed the states' options.)

Federal Powers

-Held the exclusive power to regulate interstate and international trade, conduct foreign policy, declare and make war, form an army, and coin money. -The Supremacy Clause made the Constitution and federal laws and treaties superior to state constitutions and laws.

Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

-No power to tax -No provision for an independent leadership position -Lack of national supremacy in treaty making -No checks and balances -Changing the Articles was nearly impossible

Concurrent Powers

-The power to tax and borrow money. -The power to maintain courts of law. -The power to charter corporations and banks. -The power to construct roads.

Shay's Rebellion

1787 rebellion in which ex-revolutionary soldiers attempted to prevent foreclosures of farms as a result of high interest rates and taxes. Revealed weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation.

Republic

A government in which elected representatives make the decisions. The founders intended to create a republic, not a pure democracy.

Articles of Confederation

A weak constitution that governed America during Revolutionary War

Anti-Federalists

Anti-Federalists objected to several aspects of the new government—the loss of power for states, the federal tax power, the "aristocratic" Senate, the power of the judiciary. They also feared that the new government would be dominated by economic elites and sideline the concerns of average citizens. But they gained the most political traction from the Constitution's lack of a bill of rights. They provided no viable alternative. Critics were unable to agree on a well-defined governmental alternative capable of addressing the needs that most people acknowledged.

Federalism Today

Dual Federalism: National and state governments occupied separate turfs and exercised distinct responsibilities. Gave way to "cooperative federalism" such as welfare programs. 1970s had devolution: gave more power to local.

Grants in Aid: Block grants/Categorial grants/Revenue Sharing

Example of Devolution: reduced the amount of national oversight attached to the federal funds distributed to the states. Block grants began replacing categorial grants because it had less strings attached. Revenue sharing has the least strings attached.

Constitution Amendment Process

First, a proposed amendment must be approved by a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress, or by a constitutional convention called at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures. Next, it must be ratified by three-fourths of the states, either in their state legislatures or in a special ratifying convention.

Federalists

Had the support of influential figures like George Washington, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton and of most newspapers. The Federalist Papers, influential articles explaining and defending the new Constitution written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.

Federalism

It is a system of government in which power was distributed between a central national government and outlying state governments.

Great Compromise

Plan to have a popularly elected House based on state population and a state selected Senate, with two members for each state.

Three-Fifths Compromise

Slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a person for both representation and tax purposes. Congress was expressly forbidden to tax exports (as a concession to the South), but Southern delegates agreed to accept the clause granting Congress the power to regulate trade (as a concession to the North). As part of the deal, Congress was prohibited from taking any action against the slave trade until 1808, and the Constitution also pledged the use of federal troops to crush slave insurrections.

Reasons for American Revolution: The Colonial Mind

War of ideology. Declaration of Independence mentioned only violations of political liberties. The colonists believed that Britain was violating their unalienable rights.

Fiscal Federalism

While in many instances, fiscal federalism involves national dollars being administered by state agencies, in others it involves federal mandates that must be implemented and funded by the states, at times without any national financial assistance. These "unfunded mandates" include federal demands that the states meet certain requirements pertaining to affordable housing and disability access.