Module 1 & 2: class 2306

Two factions emerged at the Convention

States that wanted their populations to determine their representation in Congress and states that wanted to retain equality as structured in the Articles. On the former, the Virginia Plan (advocated primarily by James Madison of Virginia and by delegates from larger states) envisioned a powerful bicameral Congress where a state's population would determine its representation in both houses of Congress.

Texas Cultural Regions South Texas

Ranchero Culture, Creoles, Mestizos, The Valley( of the Rio Grande)

Moralistic culture

A political culture typically values community and sees the great common good as the proper scope and purpose of government.

Traditionalistic culture

A political culture views the proper role of government as a privilege for the elite.

How many Texas are true independents?

11%

Mestizo

A person of both Spanish and Native American lineage.

Liberals' percentage in Texas?

21%

A survey by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center in 2017 found that only?

26% of Americans could name all three branches of government (the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches), and 37% of Americans could not name a right protected by the First Amendment (see the Introduction).

Conservatives percentage in Texas?

48%

Profound ethnic/racial partisan identification gaps exist. What are those?

84% of African Americans identifying as Democrats and a mere 6% as Republicans. 28% of Anglos identify as Democrats and 62% as Republicans.

Lawrence v. Texas

A Harris County sheriff's deputy discovered two men having intimate sexual conduct in a private residence and the men were arrested and convicted for violating a Texas anti-sodomy statute. the Texas law violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which does not protect sodomy but does protect personal relationships. The decision also invalidated sodomy laws in 13 other states, thereby protecting same-sex behavior in every state and territory in the United States.

Social construction

A constructed understanding of the world that forms the basis for shared assumptions about reality.

Creole

A descendant of European-Spanish immigrants to the Americas.

The U.S. Constitution creates...

A governing system called federalism, which divides power between the federal government and state governments

Constitution

A list of rules for all officials who exercise governmental power. These rules, consequently, are a nation's ultimate law that sets forth the structure and powers of government.

Liberal

A political ideology marked by the advocacy of using government to improve the welfare of individuals, government regulation of the economy, support for civil rights, and tolerance for social change.

Conservative

A political ideology marked by the belief in a limited role for government in taxation, economic regulation, and providing social services; conservatives support traditional values and lifestyles, and are cautious in response to social change.

Ranchero culture

A quasi-feudal system whereby a property's owner, or patrón, gives workers protection and employment in return for their loyalty and service.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

A treaty that has helped remove trade barriers among Canada, Mexico, and the United States and is an economic stimulus for the Texas Border because it is a conduit for much of the commerce with Mexico.

The Articles established only one institution of government what is it?

A unicameral Congress (i.e. there was no separation of powers).

The Panhandle

Although railroads advancing from Kansas City through the Panhandle brought Midwestern farmers into this region, the modern Texas Panhandle shares few cultural attributes with the American Midwest. Its religious, cultural, and social institutions function with little discernible difference to those of northern West Texas. The Panhandle economy is also supported by production of cotton and grains, and the area depends heavily on the Ogallala aquifer.

The Marital Property Act

Amounted to major steps toward women's equality. The Act granted married women equal rights in insurance, banking, real estate, contracts, divorce, child custody, and property rights. This was the first such comprehensive family law in the United States.

Hernandez v. State of Texas (1954)

An all-Anglo jury in the small town of Edna had convicted Pete Hernandez of murder in 1950. Attorneys Gus Garcia, Carlos Cadena, John Herrera, and James DeAnda challenged the conviction, arguing that the systematic exclusion of Latinos from jury duty in Texas violated Hernandez's right to equal protection under the law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

The Valley( of the Rio Grande)

An area along the Texas side of the Rio Grande River known for its production of citrus fruits.

Political ideology on far rigth side of Texas?

Are called conservatives and favor less government participation in the economy. Conservatives tend to favor lower taxes and fewer government programs to help poor and disadvantaged people. Liberals may support a government-regulated economy, but conservatives fear governmental regulation will suppress liberty and hurt society. The Texas political culture is largely conservative.

Political ideology on far left side of Texas?

Are called liberals and typically favor more communal and governmental efforts to improve citizens' lives and society. Liberals tend to favor government participation in the economy and governmental efforts to increase equality, healthcare, public education, and support for the poor and the disadvantaged.

Texas Cultural Regions far west Texas

Bicultural, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Texas borders, Maquiladoras

Central Texas

Central Texas is often called the "core areas" of Texas, with its three corners being Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio. The centerpiece of the region is the city of Austin which has become the "Silicon Valley" of high-tech industries in Texas

What happened the summer of 1787?

Consequently, and among a host of other economic and domestic issues with this governing structure, a convention in the summer of 1787 was called to consider amendments and revisions to make the Articles workable. The delegates would eventually scrap the Articles altogether and draft what would be become the U.S. Constitution.

Ideology

Conservative and Texas Liberals'

The U.S. and Texas Constitutions create?

Create the political system that governs Texans

Women significantly identify as...

Democrats' more than men.

Texas Cultural Regions

East Texas, The Gulf Coast, A Boom Based in Houston, German Hill County, West Texas, The Panhandle

Bicultural

Encompassing two cultures.

United States v. Texas (1970)

Federal District Judge William Wayne Justice ordered the complete desegregation of all Texas public schools. The decision was one of the most extensive desegregation orders in history and included the process for executing the order in detail.

Texas' Struggle for Equal Rights

Female Texans(in republic of Texas), unable to vote, unable to serve on juries, retained some property rights.

A Boom Based in Houston

Growth in the Gulf Coast area created a boomtown psychology and the Houston area especially flourished. Houston's initial growth after World War II was fueled by a flood of job seekers from East Texas and other rural areas of the state. Houston's social and economic elite were generally composed of second- and third-generation rich whose wealth came from oil, insurance, construction, land development, or banking. Houston, the worldwide oil and gas capital, boasts many corporate headquarters.

Sweatt v. Painter

Heman Sweatt successfully integrated Texas public law schools after the U.S. Supreme Court began to chip away at the "separate-but-equal" doctrine in the landmark case Sweatt v. Painter, (1950).

What were delegates in the article of confederation more worried about?

In this Congress, every state was entitled to send at least two delegates but no more than seven; regardless of the delegation's size, each state only had one vote. Delegates were sent (and could be recalled) and paid by their respective state legislatures, so delegates were often more interested in polices that helped their states and not the common good of the country

A constitution safeguards...

Individual rights and liberties from government encroachment and regulation. For example, the U.S. and Texas Constitutions both protect the right of religious freedom.

North Texas

Located between East and West Texas, North Texas today is dominated by the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, often called the Metroplex. It is more economically diverse than most other Texas regions and relies heavily on banking, insurance, and the defense and aerospace industries.

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

Marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman and further stipulates that hostile states do not have to recognize same-gender marriage contracts from other states. Texans, by the overwhelming majority of 76 percent, added an amendment to the Texas Constitution in 2005 banning both gay and lesbian marriage and civil unions.

Texas Cultural regions North Texas

Metroplex

Maquiladora

Mexican factories where U.S. corporations employ inexpensive Mexican labor for assembly and piecework.

Texas was one of the first southern states to ratify the?

Nineteenth Amendment

Traditionalistic subculture

Politics is a privilege for the elite—not an obligation for everyone. Traditionalistic political culture is found mostly in the southern region of the United States, and the government is limited largely to defending or sustaining traditional values (originally the racial caste system).

Demographics

Population characteristics, such as age, gender, ethnicity, employment, and income, that social scientists use to describe groups in society.

Men significantly identify as...

Republican than women.

The Gulf Coast

Since the discovery of oil, the Gulf Coast has experienced almost continuous growth. In addition to being an industrial and petrochemical center, the Gulf Coast is one of the most important shipping centers in the nation.

Political culture is a...

Social construct that defines a government's proper scope and purpose and how people should conduct public affairs.

Which government had the most power in the articles of confederation?

Subsequently, the federal government had full responsibility over foreign affairs and relations with Native American tribes, but lacked any meaningful power over domestic affairs (e.g., regulating trade and commerce).

Taxes in Texas

Taxes are very low, and, despite the public's ambiguous attitudes about spending, the state has committed far fewer financial resources to public services than most other states.

Equality of opportunity

Texan political culture has an egalitarian tradition where all individuals are equal in their moral worth and so must have equality under the law, have equal access to the law and to decision making, and have an equal opportunity in life.

Individualism in Texas

Texans tend to believe that people, not governments, are responsible for their own well-being and personal achievement. Individuals are personally responsible for their own success or lack thereof.

Article 1, § 6 of the Texas Constitution ensures?

That Texans have "a natural and indefeasible right to worship" and that no person can be "compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship." Of course, these dictates are meaningless without a governing structure (e.g., a separation of powers) that carefully divides power to ensure that no governmental branch can invade individual liberty.

What was the first constitutional government of the U.S.?

The Articles of Confederation (ratified in March 1781 and formally replaced by the U.S. Constitution in 1789) was the first written constitution to govern the original 13 colonies during the Revolutionary War's later years and immediately after the colonies gained independence from Great Britain.

German Hill County

The Hill Country north and west of San Antonio was settled primarily by immigrants from Germany but also by Czech, Polish, and Norwegian immigrants. Primarily a farming and ranching area, the Hill Country is socially and politically conservative and has long been a stronghold of the Texas Republican Party.

Separation of powers

The U.S. Constitution's division of the powers of government into three separate and coequal branches of government, vesting the power to create laws with Congress, the power to executive the laws with the President, and the power to resolve legal disputes with the federal judiciary led by the Supreme Court. Article 2 of the Texas Constitution separates governmental power by ensuring that the "powers of the Government of the State of Texas shall be divided into three distinct departments."

2016 Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt decision

The U.S. Supreme Court handed down perhaps its most influential abortion-related decision since Roe. The Court held key portions of 2013 Texas abortion legislation unconstitutional, including the requirements that abortion clinics comply with the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) and that doctors performing abortions possess admitting privileges at nearby hospitals

Why did colonist choose to have the federal government large amount of power in the articles of confederation?

The colonists hesitated to enumerate significant power to a central government because they had revolted against a king who held all political power in Great Britain (i.e., unitary power).

West Texas

The defeat of the Comanches in the 1870s opened West Texas to Anglo-American settlement. West Texas is socially and politically conservative, and its religion is Bible Belt fundamentalism. Southern West Texas is the major oil-producing area of Texas. Northern West Texas is primarily agricultural.

Political culture

The dominant political values and beliefs of a people. It explains how people feel about their government—their expectations of what powers it should have over their lives, the services it should provide and their ability to influence its actions.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits?

The federal government from establishing or coercing citizens into supporting a national religion, and it prohibits the federal government from abridging the free exercise of religious, or nonreligious, practices.

The U.S. Constitution allowed?

The federal government was also provided with implied powers in that Congress can make laws necessary and proper for the federal government to carry out its enumerated responsibilities (e.g., the Articles did not allow Congress to pass any law unless it was expressly delegated the power to do so).

Federalism ensures...

The federal government's primacy in its defined responsibilities while allowing states to regulate the day-to-day lives of its citizens (i.e., local control).

Articles of Confederation

The first constitution to govern the original 13 colonies in the Revolutionary War's late years and in the years immediately after the colonies gained independence. The Articles created a confederate system of government, with a weak centralized government. For example, the only institution of government was a unicameral Congress that relied on the states to implement the policies.

Metroplex

The greater Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.

Individualistic culture

The idea that individuals should be free of government.

White Primary

The practice of excluding African Americans from primary elections in the Texas Democratic Party.

What was fear of creating a new government at the Constitutional Convention?

The trick was granting the federal government those responsibilities while vesting the states with the independence to govern their own affairs. The overarching fear was that granting the federal government power would make it tyrannical toward the people before subsuming the state governments, thus creating the centralized (unitary) government they declared independence from.

What was not ratified under the articles?

This allowed the least populous state (Rhode Island) to block amendments the other twelve states felt necessary, so, unsurprisingly, no amendments were ratified under the Articles.

Texas has not been reluctant to use the power of the state to enforce traditional values for what?

To restrict abortions, to prohibit same-sex marriages, and to impose relatively severe penalties on lawbreakers.

In 1946 Heman Sweatt applied for admission to the?

University of Texas Law School, which by Texas law was segregated. State laws requiring segregation were constitutional as long as facilities serving African Americans and whites were equal. Because Texas had no law school for African Americans, the legislature hurriedly established a law school for Sweatt and, for his "convenience," located it in his hometown of Houston

Texan Minnie Fisher Cunningham

Was a champion for women's suffrage in the state.

Great Compromise

a compromise between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan, where the delegates agreed to a bicameral Congress where the population of the lower chamber (the House of Representatives) would reflect states' populations, and the population of the upper chamber (the Senate) would be equal because each state would be guaranteed two Senators. In addition to providing Congress with additional powers, the delegates agreed to the Supremacy Clause, which allows federal law to trump state law in conflicts. Lastly, the delegates agreed to a president selected independently of Congress and to a federal judiciary staffed by judges appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate

The U.S. Constitution is actually the United States' second attempt at what?

a constitutional government

New Jersey Plan

a plan of government, supported by delegates of smaller states, that would give Congress the powers it lacked, but Congress's structure would remain a unicameral legislature in which states were equal. Further, instead of allowing Congress to veto laws passed by state legislatures, the New Jersey Plan advocated that the federal law would be considered supreme in conflicts between federal and state law. Lastly, Congress would select the president, who would in turn select judges for the federal judiciary.

Virginia Plan

a plan of government, supported by delegates of the larger states that envisioned a powerful bicameral Congress in which a state's population would determine its representation in both houses of Congress. Along with expanded federal powers, Congress would have the ability to veto laws passed by states and, once its membership was determined, the responsibility of selecting a president and judges for the federal judiciary.

Liberty

a political value that cherishes freedom from an arbitrary exercise of power that restricts a person's choices.

Rule of law

a system that has specific rules that are enforced equally against all people.

State power includes

all the power not given to the federal government nor restricted to the states by the U.S. Constitution (e.g., the understanding of state power is further protected by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution). This power, known as the police powers of the states, provides states with the authority to regulate its citizens' health, safety, and morals.

The Articles created a

confederate system of government—a governing system where independent states delegate specific powers to a relatively weak centralized government.

Diversity

having or being composed of di!ering elements.

Political Cultures taught to young Texans are?

individualistic and traditionalistic

East Texas

is a social and cultural extension of the Old South. It is basically rural and biracial. East Texas counties and towns are often dominated by old families, whose wealth is usually based on real estate, banking, construction, and retail merchandising. Fundamentalist Protestantism dominates the region spiritually and permeates its political, social, and cultural activities.

Self-government

political culture that supports the value that the people are the sovereign.

One compromise at the Constitutional Convention involved

safeguarding the supremacy of the U.S. Constitution, and all federal law pursuant to it, over state actions.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says

that no state shall deny any person the equal protection of the law. Why did the U.S. Supreme Court hold that state laws requiring racial segregation violate this provision?

Police powers of the states

the U.S. Constitution guarantees that all the power not given to the federal government nor restricted to the states by the U.S. Constitution, is left to the states. This provides states with the authority to regulate its citizens' health, safety, and morals. In other words, states are given the residual power to perform essential government functions (e.g., regulate the day-to-day lives of their citizens).

Federalism

the U.S. Constitution's careful division of power between the States and the federal government. Federal power is limited to and defined by those powers the Constitution enumerates to it and those powers that can be reasonably implied. The states retain all powers not enumerated to the federal government nor restricted by the U.S. Constitution.

Under the U.S. Constitution

the federal government could establish a uniform currency, regulate foreign and domestic commerce, and tax and spend for defense and for general welfare

States do not use the U.S. Constitution as...

their authority when enacting policies, but they must consider if any conflicts with a federal prerogative exist or if the U.S. Constitution prohibits them from acting.

Married women retained some Spanish law benefits because...

unlike under Anglo-Saxon law, Texas marriage law did not join the married couple into one legal person with the husband as the head. Texas married women could own inherited property, share ownership in community property, and make a legal will. However, the husband had control of all the property, both separate and community (including earned income), and an employer could not hire a married woman without her husband's consent.

House members are subject to reelection by

voters in a Congressional district every two years, and a third of the Senate is up for reelection every two years by their statewide constituencies. Every 4 years, a nationwide electorate elects the President.