Credit Sprint / Study guides / U.S. Government Unit 1

Credit Sprint's Guide to AP® U.S. Government and Politics, Unit 1: Foundations of American Democracy

The Constitution was written to fix a weak national government without creating a tyrant. Its answers were limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances and federalism. Unit 1 covers the ideas behind the founding, the debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and how power is shared between the nation and the states.

What you need to know

• The Declaration of Independence rests on natural rights and the idea that government gets its power from the consent of the governed. Social contract thinkers such as Locke argued that people form governments to protect life, liberty and property.
• The Articles of Confederation created a weak national government: no president, no national courts, no power to tax or regulate trade, and a requirement of nine of thirteen states to pass laws and unanimity to amend. Shays' Rebellion showed the weakness and led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
• The Great Compromise created a bicameral Congress, with equal representation in the Senate and population-based representation in the House. The Three-Fifths Compromise counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxes. The Electoral College was a compromise between election by Congress and a direct popular vote.
• Federalist No. 10 (Madison) argues that a large republic controls the dangers of faction better than a small one, because many competing interests check each other. Federalist No. 51 explains separation of powers, checks and balances and federalism as ways to make ambition counteract ambition. Federalist Nos. 70 and 78 defend a single strong executive and an independent judiciary.
• Anti-Federalists, such as the author of Brutus No. 1, feared a large, distant national government, a strong executive and the lack of a bill of rights. The Bill of Rights was added to win ratification.
• The Constitution separates power among three branches: Congress makes laws, the president enforces them, and the courts interpret them. Checks and balances give each branch tools to limit the others, such as the veto, the override, Senate confirmation and judicial review.
• Federalism divides power between the national government and the states. Delegated (enumerated) powers belong to Congress, reserved powers to the states under the Tenth Amendment, and concurrent powers to both. The Supremacy Clause makes federal law supreme when it conflicts with state law, and the Necessary and Proper Clause gives Congress implied powers.
• Federalism has shifted over time. Dual federalism kept the levels mostly separate. Cooperative federalism (the New Deal onward) blended them, often through grants. Categorical grants carry strict rules, block grants give states more discretion, and mandates (funded or unfunded) require states to act. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) and United States v. Lopez (1995) are the key cases on the reach of national power.
• Types of government and democracy: direct democracy, representative democracy (a republic), participatory, pluralist and elite models of democracy describe who really influences policy.
• The Constitution can be changed by formal amendment (two-thirds of both houses and three-fourths of the states, the usual route) or through informal change such as judicial interpretation, custom and executive action.

Exam traps

Key terms

• Social contract: The idea that people agree to form a government to protect their rights, and that government gets its authority from their consent.
• Natural rights: Rights people are born with, such as life, liberty and property, which government must protect and cannot take away without cause.
• Popular sovereignty: The principle that the people are the source of government's authority, exercised through voting and representation.
• Consent of the governed: The idea from Locke and the Declaration that a government is legitimate only when the people agree to be ruled.
• Republicanism: A system in which citizens elect representatives who make laws on their behalf instead of voting on every law directly.
• Limited government: The principle that government has only the powers given to it and must follow rules such as a written constitution.
• Articles of Confederation: The first national constitution, which created a weak central government with no president, no national courts and no power to tax.
• Shays' Rebellion: A 1786–1787 uprising of Massachusetts farmers over debt that showed the weakness of the Articles and pushed leaders toward a new constitution.
• Constitutional Convention: The 1787 meeting in Philadelphia that replaced the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution.
• Virginia Plan: A convention proposal for a strong national government with a Congress based on state population, favored by large states.
• New Jersey Plan: A convention proposal for a Congress where every state had equal votes, favored by small states.
• Great Compromise: The agreement that created a House based on population and a Senate with equal representation for each state.
• Three-Fifths Compromise: The agreement that counted each enslaved person as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation.
• Federalists: Supporters of the Constitution who wanted a stronger national government, led by Hamilton and Madison.
• Anti-Federalists: Opponents of the Constitution who feared a powerful national government and demanded a bill of rights.
• Federalist Papers: Essays by Hamilton, Madison and Jay under the name Publius that argued for ratifying the Constitution.

Practice questions

Five of the 105 Unit 1 questions in Credit Sprint. Every choice is explained in the app.