Issuu

Lecture Suggestions A Grand Experiment in Self-Government (Structure) 1.1

Describe the nature of the “grand experiment in selfgovernment” in America.

LECTURE 1: Government comprises those institutions that make authoritative public policies for society as a whole. In the United States, four key institutions operate at the national level to make such decisions: Congress, the president, the courts, and the federal administrative agencies (the bureaucracy). Lecture on the fundamental questions arising about government from Harold Laswell’s famous definition of politics as “who gets what, when, and how.” How should we govern? What should the government do? Include specific examples in your discussion.

LECTURE 2: Some countries, like the former Soviet Union, claim to be representative democracies. They even hold regular elections boasting near universal voter turnout and resounding victories for the ruling party. Obviously, representative democracy requires more than just holding occasional elections. ▪

Outline the major features of representative democracy, including the requirements that candidates be selected by the voters, that elections are open to competition from candidates and parties with competing ideologies, that candidates and voters have the freedom to express their own views, and that representatives are subject to regular reelection.

▪

Differentiate such democratic systems with political systems that attempt to legitimate themselves through claims of democracy while masking authoritarian and antidemocratic features.

LECTURE 3: Government is the institution charged with making authoritative decisions that extend to all of society. While other institutions may make decisions that apply to specific groups, only government can make wide-ranging decisions that affect everyone. However, the ability of the state to make binding decisions depends on the legitimacy it enjoys. The source of legitimacy has been a central question of interest to political scientists since the days of Machiavelli, who famously asked if it is better for a prince to be feared or loved. Differentiate between the three sources of authority outlined by Max Weber: ▪

Charismatic authority is based on the personal qualities of the individual. Examples might include Adolph Hitler or Gandhi.

▪

Traditional authority establishes legitimacy by belief in the sanctimony of immemorial traditions. Most monarchs claim traditional authority, as does the pope.

▪

Legal-rational authority is based on the consistent performance of impersonal rules through institutions. Most contemporary democracies, and indeed the very notion of the rule of law, are rooted in legal-rational authority.

U.S. Government and Politics in Context (Structure) 1.2

Describe the importance of citizen participation in constitutional democracy.

LECTURE 1: Perhaps the least controversial element of government policy centers on the provision of public goods—things that everyone can share, such as clean air or national defense. Because of the nonexcludability of public goods, people have little incentive to pay for them. Consequently, the nature of public goods makes them difficult for the private sector to provide. Instead, they are often provided by the government and paid for through tax revenues. In recent years, however, a number of alternative mechanisms have been developed to shift public goods into private goods to be provided through the market. The creation of carbon markets, for example, attempts to privatize negative externalities associated with pollution to create a cleaner environment. Similarly, the widespread use of private military contractors changes the historical role of the government in the maintenance of national defense. 3 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Discuss the nature of public goods and the historical role of the government in providing them. Then consider alternative mechanisms for the provision of public goods. LECTURE 2: Contemporary politics often centers on the appropriate role and size of government in American society. The media usually characterize Republicans as favoring a smaller government and Democrats as favoring a larger one. However, such a picture is often overly simplistic, as Republicans and Democrats both favor a government that performs specific functions corresponding to their parties’ platforms and worldviews. ▪

Engage in a lecture and discussion centering on the appropriate role of government in the United States and cover the following questions and information: 

Is the scope of government currently too broad or too narrow? What does government being “too big” mean? Do students think the U.S. government is currently “too big”? Why? 

By what criteria might we measure the size of government? By some measures government today is smaller than it has been historically. In 1988, the year President Ronald Reagan left office, the federal government had approximately 2.22 million employees. By 2014, that number had fallen to 2.07 million. (See the U.S. Office of Personnel Management at www.opm.gov and search “historical tables” for figures since 1940.)



By other measures, the size of the government has grown. Federal spending was 18.2 percent of gross domestic product in 1988. By 2017, it had risen to approximately 19.2 percent (See the Presidency Project at the University of California Santa Barbara at www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/budget.php for historical figures from 1930 through 2017.)



Why, despite evidence to the contrary, do Americans hold the view that the size of the federal government has grown beyond control?

LECTURE 3: Start by asking your students to describe their typical daily schedules. For instance, they wake at 6:00, have breakfast, get ready for school, check their e-mails, and leave 4 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

the house by 7:30. They drive to school and attend classes from 8:00 to 1:00. They work from 1:30 until 6:30 and then do homework. ▪

Put a good generic schedule in place.

▪

Ask students to identify all the ways in which the government impacts the activities they engage in every day. For example, they can identify how the government ensures our food is safe to consume, regulates (and in many cases directly provides for) the delivery of water to our households, establishes the rules that govern who can drive, builds and maintains the roads, provides student loans and other financial aid programs that help pay for education, and establishes minimum wage and worker protection laws (OSHA) that ensure safe workplaces and fair treatment.

Although students sometimes require prompting, once they get rolling they are often surprised by the vast number of ways we interact, often in very hidden ways, with the government every day.

Defining Democracy (Structure) 1.3

Describe democracy and the conditions conducive to its success.

LECTURE 1: Traditional democratic theory rests on several principles that specify how a democratic government makes its decisions. Democratic theorist Robert Dahl refers to five criteria essential for an ideal democratic process: equality in voting (i.e., one person, one vote), effective participation and representation, a free press and the right of free speech, a collective right to control the government’s policy agenda, and an inclusive citizenship. In addition, democracies must include the principle of majority rule accompanied by protection of minority rights. Students often intuitively grasp these elements of a democratic polis without necessarily being able to specify why they are necessary for democracy. ▪

Outline how Dahl’s five criteria play out in the United States.

▪

Differentiate between pluralist theories of politics, which argue that many centers of influence compete for power and control in the United States, and elite theories 5 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

of politics, which argue that despite the prevalence of mechanisms for participation, government remains controlled in practice by a relatively small group of ruling elites.

LECTURE 2: Democracy requires the active participation of citizens in making public policy. People in the United States have multiple avenues for political participation to try to influence policy. These include the following: ▪

Electoral politics: people can vote, demonstrate and gather support for candidates, provide campaign funding and other campaign support, or run for office.

▪

Lobbying: people can present information or persuasive arguments to government officials.

▪

Judicial action: people can initiate litigation to pursue their goals.

▪

Cultural change: this form of action involves large-scale changes in public opinion as a result of changes in contemporary values and visions.

▪

Grassroots mobilization: people can encourage and mobilize other citizens to support their goals and can form groups to show widespread support for their causes.

Consider these two other themes. First, the diversity of the American public plays an important role in defining issues and determining their outcomes. Second, the long-term stability of the American political system is due to several factors, including the existence of pathways to bring about peaceful change and a shared political culture.

LECTURE 3: In a representative democracy, citizens elect officials to make decisions on their behalf. Who they elect and how those official weigh their constituents’ values and preferences matter for understanding what representation means in practice. ▪

In descriptive representation, elected officials are similar to their constituents in their characteristics or backgrounds. Relevant characteristics include age, race, gender, and socio-economic status. While women and minorities have made gains in descriptive representation, these groups are still underrepresented in Congress.

▪

Compare and contrast these types of representation and review recent trends in the number of women and minorities in Congress. Ask students to evaluate the importance of descriptive representation. For instance, how might it affect the issues that elected officials prioritize and the positions they take?

LECTURE 4: One of the primary responsibilities of the government is to enforce laws. But what happens when the people no longer believe the government is able or willing to perform its basic functions? In recent years, the perceived failure of government to protect the southern borders of the United States has led some groups and citizens to take the law into their own hands to prevent undocumented immigrants from entering the country. ▪

Identify the key functions of government. Then identify ways in which government fails to live up to the expectations of some citizens in those areas.

▪

Ask your students to consider what they believe are appropriate actions for citizens to take when they feel as though government is not providing essential services. This could also be accomplished as a small breakout discussion during the lecture.

▪

Conclude your lecture with a discussion of the ways in which expectations placed by citizens on the government may change over time.

LECTURE 5: While students are often comfortable with the idea that the United States is a democracy, they often have more difficulty understanding the forms democracy may take. ▪

Begin by outlining the central features of American democracy: principles of political equality, majority rule and minority rights, and equality before the law.

▪

Contrast this with authoritarian and totalitarian systems, in which such principles are not in place.

▪

Contrast direct and representative democracies as competing forms of democratic government.

▪

Consider why the founders established representative democracy rather than direct democracy in the United States, as seen in the Congress (particularly the election of the U.S. Senate prior to the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913 and the use of the Electoral College to select the president). 7 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Roots of the American Constitutional Experiment (Structure) 1.4

Identify pre-Revolutionary concepts central to the new government and the problems under the Articles of Confederation.

LECTURE 1: The idea of democracy was first articulated by early Greek philosophers, who understood it as “rule by the many.” Critics (perhaps including Thomas Jefferson) have quipped that democracy is nothing more than “mob rule.” ▪

Outline the major principles inherent in democracy, including protection of individual rights, equal protection before the law, opportunities for political participation, and majority rule based on the principle of one person, one vote.

▪

Be sure to consider the reasons why the founders considered and rejected Athenian notions of direct democracy, based precisely on their concern over “mob rule.”

LECTURE 2: In The Federalist Papers, No. 10, James Madison warned of the dangers of “pure democracy,” noting that such a system “can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction.” For Madison, in other words, the danger of direct democracy was that it provides no guarantees against abuse of the minority by the majority. ▪

Explain the specific ways in which the founders sought to check the unlimited power of majority rule in direct democracy.

▪

Focus in particular on the specific manifestations of limited government expressed in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, including 

the First Amendment (free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press),



the Fourth Amendment (protection from unreasonable search and seizure), and



the Fifth Amendment (due process protections).

LECTURE 3: Discuss the Declaration of Independence as an instrument of propaganda targeted toward two audiences. ▪

An internal audience: early on, the revolutionaries promoting independence from Great Britain were a minority. The Continental Congress needed to convince its fellow colonists that the Revolution was a cause they should support. The Declaration justified the Revolution and presented a persuasive argument. Copies were made, and it was read from the town square in cities and villages throughout the colonies. Viewed this way, the Declaration was a great success as it shifted public opinion enough that the majority of the colonists supported the Revolution. This approach shows that the colonists used some of the same pathways of change that modern Americans use.

▪

An external audience: the Congress knew that its only hope for success was if it could engage in commerce abroad and buy weapons openly on the international market. This was only possible if other countries recognized the legitimacy of the rebellion. Copies of the Declaration were sent to foreign capitals with emissaries. England was the superpower of its day, so foreign governments had to be careful not to antagonize the British. The Declaration was successful in this regard as well, as France and Spain ultimately sided with the colonists, which turned the tide in the war. This approach puts the American Revolution in the larger global context and helps students see that foreign relations were as complicated then as they are now.

In a letter to John Jay dated 1786, George Washington wrote, “We have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation. Experience has taught us, that men will not adopt and carry into execution measures the best calculated for their own good, without the intervention of a coercive power.” Weighing in on the other side, Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison in the same year, “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” LECTURE 6: Explain how the structure of the Constitution reflected the founders’ beliefs in national supremacy, federalism, republicanism, separation of powers, and checks and balances.

To Adopt or Not to Adopt? (Impact) 1.6

Evaluate the arguments for and against the ratification of the Constitution.

LECTURE 1: Students often assume that the adoption of the Constitution was a foregone conclusion. They fail to appreciate the intensity of the debate between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The fierce battle between those who supported adoption of the new Constitution (the Federalists) and those who opposed it (the Anti-Federalists) played a central role in defining the politics of the young country. Outline the positions of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, contrasting their demographics and their political philosophies. ▪

The Federalists included James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. Writing under the name Publius, they authored The Federalist Papers, a series of 85 articles published in newspapers across the country in defense of the Constitution. In addition to defending the Constitution detail by detail, The Federalist Papers also represented an important statement of political philosophy.

▪

The Anti-Federalists were led by Patrick Henry and included Samuel Adams, James Monroe, George Clinton, George Mason, and Richard Henry Lee. Thomas 15 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Jefferson was sympathetic to the Anti-Federalists, though he was serving as the U.S. ambassador to France during the ratification process and therefore played little role in the Federalist–Anti-Federalist debate. The Anti-Federalists questioned the motives of the writers of the Constitution; they believed that the new government was an enemy of freedom. Many Anti-Federalists felt that the new Constitution was a class-based document, intended to ensure that a particular economic elite controlled the public policies of the national government. They feared that the new government would erode fundamental liberties and weaken the power of the states. ▪

Perhaps the most important outcome of the debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists was the development of a Bill of Rights for inclusion in the Constitution. In a compromise to assure ratification, the Federalists promised to add amendments to the document specifically protecting individual liberties. James Madison introduced 12 constitutional amendments during the first Congress in 1789. Ten of the amendments—known as the Bill of Rights—were ratified by the states and took effect in 1791.

LECTURE 2: Perhaps one of the most controversial decisions made at the Constitutional Convention was the decision to permit the new Constitution to come into force once nine states had approved it. The Articles of Confederation established that amendments required the unanimous consent of all states to be approved. ▪

Discuss why the founders would permit the new Constitution to be approved once nine states had ratified it.

▪

Provide a counterfactual: 

Would the new Constitution have been approved if all states had to ratify it?



Would that requirement have provided greater incentive for states to hold out in negotiations, thereby undermining the compromises reached at the Constitutional Convention?



LECTURE 3: Students (and Americans in general) have a tendency to venerate the founders as almost mythical figures. We often fail to understand who they were and what drove them to do what they did. Compare and contrast the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists for your students. ▪

The Federalists were generally drawn from among the property owners, creditors, and merchant classes. They favored a stronger central government established under the new Constitution. They were driven by a fear of “excessive democracy” and generally focused on the importance of order and stability over liberty. Collectively, they wrote under the pen name Publius, Latin for “public.” The most famous federalists were James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay.

▪

The Anti-Federalists, by contrast, were generally drawn from among the small farmers, debtors, and shopkeeping classes. They preferred governmental power to be kept at the state level, where the people could keep a closer eye on it. They opposed the new Constitution, favoring a more democratic approach focused on the preservation of individual liberty above all. Collectively, they wrote under the names Brutus, Centinel, and Federal Farmer. Among the most well-known Anti-Federalists were Patrick Henry, George Mason, and George Clinton. Thomas Jefferson also supported the AntiFederalist approach but was ambassador to France at the time and so did not participate in the debates.

LECTURE 4: Compare and contrast the positions argued by the Federalists and the AntiFederalists. ▪

The nature of representation 

The Federalists argued that representatives would operate in the best interest of the represented. They generally held to a trusteeship model of representation, such as that developed by British member of Parliament and political philosopher Edmund Burke. Under this model, representatives should have a great deal of autonomy to deliberate matters and decide—not in the

interests of their constituents—but for the greater common good or in the national interest. 

As Burke wrote in 1774, “His unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. . . . Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”



By contrast, the Anti-Federalists were suspicious of representative democracy. They generally favored a more direct form of democracy and, where representation was required, they held to a delegate model of representation in which the representative acts according to the expressed wishes of his constituency.

▪

The danger of tyranny 

Drawing on the instability and social unrest experienced during the post– Revolutionary War era, the Federalists warned of the dangers of the masses, a tyranny of the majority. These concerns are seen, for example, in the indirect election of senators and the president.



The Anti-Federalists were far more concerned with the threat posed by a new political elite or aristocracy. They were often anti-elitist in their orientation.

▪

Scope of governmental power 

The Federalists, responding to the weakness of the national government under the Articles of Confederation, were determined to broadly expand the powers of the national government while still maintaining limits in the form of checks and balances and separation of power.



The Anti-Federalists continued to desire a weak national government and stronger state and local governments, like what existed under the Articles of Confederation.

▪

Driving philosophy 

The Federalists were concerned above all with the threat posed by the economic and social instability of the post-Revolutionary era. They viewed 18 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

the new Constitution as an important mechanism to ensure political stability in the young country. 

The Anti-Federalists were more concerned with the maintenance of individual liberty and viewed the powers granted to the national government under the new Constitution as a threat to that liberty.

LECTURE 5: The ratification of the new Constitution was a contested process. Delaware was the first state to approve the Constitution, voting 30–0 to ratify the document on December 7, 1787. Several other states approved it shortly thereafter. However, in many states, approval was hotly contested and the vote was close (see table below). Date of Vote December 7, 1787 December 12, 1787 December 18, 1787 January 2, 1788 January 9, 1788 February 6, 1788 April 28, 1788 May 23, 1788 June 21, 1788 June 25, 1788 July 26, 1788 November 21, 1789 May 29, 1790

State Delaware Pennsylvania New Jersey Georgia Connecticut Massachusetts Maryland South Carolina New Hampshire Virginia New York North Carolina Rhode Island

Votes in Favor 30 46 38 26 128 187 63 149 57 89 30 194 34

Votes Opposed 0 23 0 0 40 168 11 73 47 79 27 77 32

Several interesting stories emerge in the context of the ratification debate. ▪

Although New Hampshire’s ratification of the Constitution met the requirement for adoption implemented at the Constitutional Convention (9 of 13 states approving), many of the most important states had not yet approved the new document. In particular, New York and Virginia were two of the most important states in the union, and neither had adopted the document. Indeed, so important was New York that despite the fact that the Constitution had already been technically adopted, the majority of the debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists over approval of the Constitution occurred to convince the state to approve it.

▪

Notice how close some of the votes were. New York and Rhode Island approved the Constitution by the narrowest of margins. Convincing hesitant states to adopt the new Constitution required compromise, most notably in the form of the inclusion of a Bill of Rights, which became the first 10 amendments to the Constitution.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: What are the strengths and weaknesses of democracy in the contemporary era? What can we do about the American political system’s weaknesses that will not undermine our strengths? This could also be used for a reading and writing connection, asking students to keep a journal or blog that focuses on these questions throughout the semester. ▪

This activity provides a good way to introduce the key themes addressed in the remainder of the course, focusing in particular on the nature of American democracy.

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: The provision of public goods—like national defense and the construction of roads—has long been the least controversial of the government’s basic functions. Ask your students to identify the roles of government and the concept of “public goods.” Are there other institutions, other than government, that might perform these roles and provide public goods? What are they? Is such a consideration realistic? Also, consider what other kinds of goods might be considered “public” goods, especially in an information/knowledge economy. ▪

This discussion item gets students considering the role and basic functions of government. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: The idea of direct democracy has gained traction recently as the Internet could expand the role of citizens in the development of public policy. But the Framers explicitly rejected the idea of direct democracy, even when the United States was a much smaller country. ▪

Why did the founders reject the idea of direct democracy? What were their primary concerns?

▪

What are the strengths and weaknesses of direct democracy?

▪

Do recent technological innovations make the idea of direct democracy more attractive and feasible? Would direct democracy improve the American political system? Why or why not?

▪

This discussion item introduces the idea of direct democracy and highlights some of the key decisions made by the founders in shaping the American political system.

CLASS ACTIVITY 4: The basic concepts of freedom and liberty have wide support in the United States. Yet, controversy often arises when some citizens’ rights are seen as potentially violating other citizens’ rights. ▪

Have your class identify cases in which they believe the exercise of some rights violates the protection of others. If they are having a hard time identifying specific examples, suggest flag burning and the detention of terror suspects without trial.

▪

Assign each example to a group and ask that group to explain why the case might be violating rights as well as why they might not be.

▪

Have each group report its findings back to the class. Then have a discussion based around the following themes: 

How do we balance competing rights claims?



How has our understanding of rights changed over time? What explains the changes you note?

▪

This question encourages students to think about the basic rights afforded by the U.S. Constitution and how those rights often come into conflict. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Ask students to find a political cartoon relating to a recent event or issue. Daryl Cagle’s PoliticalCartoons.com website (www.politicalcartoons.com) may provide a useful starting point. Then ask students to bring their cartoons to class and discuss how the cartoons illustrate a central theme in American politics. ▪

This activity provides an engaging way to think about the central themes of American politics. It also engages students who learn best through visual media. 21 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Within the first days of regular classes, ask each student to write a question he or she has about government. Collect all of the questions and “slot” each of them in the chapter concerning its answers. ▪

When one of the written questions falls into the normal sequence of classroom activities, read the question, with the name of the questioner.

▪

Address the answer, or even devote the entire lecture, to that individual personally. (Note: This will personalize lectures throughout the semester. It seems to be particularly effective with large introductory-format classes.)

▪

More generally, student-created journals can be effective teaching and learning tools. One method is to ask students to maintain journals of work accomplished during the semester.

▪

At the end of the semester, the journals should include both the results of assignments made in class and student-initiated research (such as newspaper clippings with key information highlighted and descriptions of Internet resources) and notes on attendance or participation in several political activities (such as attendance at political speeches and forums).

▪

This activity could also be assigned through Twitter. Ask students to post questions under a hashtag unique to each topic. Then integrate these tweets into a PowerPoint presentation, creating a moment where each student’s thoughts can be aggregated and addressed and allowing students to raise questions as they do work outside of class that can then be addressed in class.

▪

This activity gets students to examine the role of government in their daily lives and to think about the appropriate role and basic services provided by the state.

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Divide students into small groups and give each group a different set of assumptions about human nature, the nature of social interaction, preferred goals of social cooperation, and the like. One group, for example, might start with the assumption that human beings are self-interested and cooperation is difficult to achieve without coercion, while another might start with the assumption that human beings naturally seek to cooperate and that violence and conflict are not inherent to human relations. 22 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

▪

Have each group develop a social contract that meets the needs of humans in the context of the assumptions about human nature with which that group started.

▪

Ask each group to present its results to the class.

▪

Conclude with a discussion of what assumptions would lead to something like the Constitution of 1787.

▪

This activity encourages students to think about the assumptions that underlie the American political system and the trade-offs embodied in the U.S. Constitution. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Debate over the role and size of government is central to contemporary American politics. Is the scope of government too broad, too narrow, or just about right? ▪

Ask students to discuss, using contemporary examples, what is meant by government being “too big.” Have students prepare a list of items that they think constitute government that is too big and jobs that they think government must do.

▪

Do students disagree as to what “too big” is? Why?

▪

Ask students to develop a set of criteria, or values, with which they could evaluate what is “too big” about government today.

▪

Have them reevaluate their list in light of the values they discuss.

▪

Ask them to find the data they say are necessary to evaluate the statement and continue the conversation based on those findings.

▪

This debate provides students an opportunity to consider the appropriate role of the government and the wide scope of services people expect from the state.

CLASS ACTIVITY 9: Voter turnout in the United States has long been critiqued as abysmal. Divide the class into two groups (or multiple groups if the class is large). ▪

Have the two groups debate the following proposition: the United States should pass a constitutional amendment requiring all eligible citizens to vote.

▪

Be sure the discussion considers both the advantages and disadvantages of such a proposal. It may also be useful for students to prepare for the debate by examining other countries where compulsory voting is already in place. The CIA Factbook (www.cia.gov) list 21 countries with compulsory voting, as of 2020. 23 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

▪

This activity provides an opportunity to reflect on the right to vote and the idea that nonvoting may sometimes constitute a form of political participation, and it offers a comparative framework within which the American political culture can be situated. (Action)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Have students visit some websites of civic groups devoted to encouraging political participation or providing election information and some forums for political discussion such as a comments section on a news website. Ask students to write short reflection papers in which they consider what they learned from these sites. Can the Internet improve the quality of democracy in the United States? Why or why not? ▪

This activity encourages students to connect the abstract ideas of democracy examined in the course and text with the real, everyday practice of democracy in the United States. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Many people are talking about the impact of social media on democracy. Have students go on Twitter and explore the communications of an elected official, such as the president or a members of Congress. Ask your students to write short reflection papers addressing the following prompts: ▪

What are some of the common themes in the elected official’s tweets?

▪

What goals does the official seem to be pursuing through Twitter? For instance, is the official trying to educate the public about an important issue, raise money for re-election, or increase his/her appeal with voters?

▪

Who is the elected official/candidate trying to reach through Twitter? Is the official mainly tweeting to an audience of core supporters, or reaching out to a broader group?

▪

This activity provides an opportunity for students to consider how recent technological developments might affect American democracy. (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Have students prepare annotated bibliographies of three to five popular books published during the past decade concerned with the current American political, social, and economic scene. ▪

As a second step, have them write short essays that summarize the tone of their bibliographical lists. Are they optimistic? Pessimistic? Contradictory? How does current writing about the American future compare with the long-standing hopes and aspirations that make up the American Dream?

▪

This assignment provides a good opportunity to introduce basic research skills, including scheduling a library visit and orientation for your class.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital makes the case that Americans are increasingly disconnected from the social networks in which American democracy was based. His work continues a long tradition of analyzing civil society in the United States, a tradition that can be traced to Alexis de Tocqueville’s original observations in Democracy in America. ▪

Ask your students to write reviews of either de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America or Putnam’s Bowling Alone, emphasizing the importance of civil society in the establishment and maintenance of American democracy.

▪

This research assignment requires students to engage with classic texts on the American political system and to think about the relationship between social networks and political systems.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: One way to get students thinking about the political impact of structural factors (such as raising new issues on the political agenda, altering political dynamics, and balances of power between groups and types of people) is to have them consider how simple social changes—irrespective of individual groups, parties, or people in power—force government to act. ▪

Gather some trends from actual data from the 2010 U.S. Census (either via its web page at www.census.gov or from reference sources in your library) such as changes in median income or age of population, percentages of racial and ethnic groups, regional population shifts, and other trends. 25 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

▪

Break students into groups, each focusing on a different trend, and ask them to think about the possible implications of such trends for future political leaders (perhaps themselves).

▪

You can use this exercise as the basis for a stimulating discussion or as the basis for a short group report on potential future developments in American politics.

▪

This assignment gets students thinking about the effects that simple population/demographic, economic, and other changes have on politics. (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Satire is often one of the most powerful forms of political critique and engagement. Ask your students to watch a recent episode of a political satire show, like The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (www.thedailyshow.com) or Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (www.samanthabee.com), both of which post recent episodes on their websites. Have them identify the ways in which their critiques engage the themes raised in this week’s lesson. ▪

This activity requires students to apply the themes raised in this chapter to contemporary political debates through the medium of political satire.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Does democracy require equality of income and wealth? Discuss why democracy might make a country more egalitarian or less egalitarian. ▪

Ask your students to find data from countries around the world to defend their positions. Possibilities might include the Freedom House index (www.freedomhouse.org), the Gini index of economic inequality, the proportion of women in the national legislature, the level of human development as defined by the Human Development Index (http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics), or other appropriate measures.

▪

Have them write short papers addressing the question of whether democratic countries are more egalitarian or less.

▪

This activity provides students an opportunity to develop data literacy skills while simultaneously thinking about the relationship among democracy, economic development, and inequality in a global context.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: In class, ask students for the percentage of the federal budget they think is spent on the following items: foreign aid, Social Security, national defense, education, Medicare and Medicaid, interest on the national debt, and other programs. Have them record their estimates. Then, for homework, tell them to visit the website of the Government Printing Office (www.gpo.gov) and ask them to search for and then review the summary tables at the end of the most recent federal budget to find the actual figures for each of these categories. In short responses, ask them to reflect on ▪

How close they were to the actual figures,

▪

Where they were inaccurate and why, and

▪

What the budget allocations say about the priorities of government in the United States.

▪

This assignment requires students to think about the priorities of the U.S. government as reflected through the budget and encourages them to think about the size, role, and scope of state activity.

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Ask students to keep journals of their activities for a day, recording what they are doing every 15 minutes for an entire day. Then ask them to reflect on all the ways in which the government affects their lives on a daily basis. If students have a difficult time making the connection, you can provide a brief starting point. For example, if they say they woke up at 6:00 a.m., ask them how the state influenced the delivery of the basic services (water, sanitation, electricity) to their places of residence? Most students will be surprised to see the numerous ways government influences even the most basic activities. Ask them whether they think these services could be provided without government. ▪

This activity gets students reflecting on the impact that government has on their daily lives. (Impact)

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have students visit the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website (www.uscis.gov), where they will the list of 100 questions used to orally test those who have applied for U.S. citizenship. ▪

Once students have looked at the questions, ask them to reflect on the reason for the test. In a short response, have them answer one or more of the following questions: 

Why do we require potential citizens to learn about the history, customs, and traditions of the United States?



Why should they know about the country’s political institutions?



Should natural-born American citizens be required to take a similar test? Why or why not?

▪

This assignment encourages students to reflect on the nature of citizenship and the shared knowledge, values, and beliefs of political communities.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Ask your students to write letters to the editor dealing with contemporary political issues as they relate to the themes of this chapter. ▪

This activity provides students an opportunity to engage with the themes and issues raised in this chapter while relating them to topics of interest to them.

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: Social contract theory is at the heart of the American democratic experiment. This school of thought had a profound influence on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the other founders. Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan (1651) famously argues that people seek escape from an “anarchic” state of nature in which life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” by coming together and forming a state to provide for the rule of law. Perhaps the most influential social contract theorist was John Locke, whose Second Treatise of Government (1689) was widely read by the founders. Indeed, Jefferson’s assertion in the Declaration of Independence that individual freedom should ensure “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” was drawn from Locke’s belief that governments should provide for the protection of “life, liberty, and property.”

Similarly, Jefferson’s assertion that government derives its “just powers from the consent of the governed” is taken directly from Locke’s Second Treatise.

READING 2: Recent work in the fields of behavioral economics and game theory makes an interesting contribution to the field of political science. The two fields of economics suggest very different ways of understanding politics. Some good texts to consider in this context include David Friedman’s Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life (New York: Harper Business, 1996), Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (New York: William Morrow, 2006), and Levitt and Dubner’s followup, Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance (New York: HarperCollins, 2009). Cass Sunstein’s How Change Happens (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2019) similarly uses behavioral economics to understand the dynamics of social and political change.

READING 3: Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000) provides a groundbreaking analysis of the breakup of American civil society. Drawing on an extensive data set, including nearly half a million interviews, Putnam shows how changes to the structures of work, family, and suburban life have led to a decline in the social connections that make American democracy work. His follow-up work with Lewis Feldstein, Better Together: Restoring the American Community (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003), offers a prescription for restoring civil society and thus American democracy.

READING 4: Originally published in 1835, with a subsequent volume published five years later, Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (New York: Penguin, 2003) was among the first books to explicitly analyze the democratic experiment in the United States. In his effort to explain the American experiment to readers in France, de Tocqueville provided arguably one of the finest analyses of American democracy and American political culture. This classic text can also be found online at www.tocqueville.org.

READING 5: Written by former senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.), America, the Owner’s Manual: Making Government Work for You (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2010).targets college students with the message that effective government depends on their involvement. This engaging book then provides examples and “how to” advice for affecting political change.

READING 6: Drawing on extensive research from the fields of psychology and behavioral economics, Derek Bok argues in The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn from the New Research on Well-Being (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010) that the dismantling of the traditional welfare state, combined with strong antigovernment sentiment in the United States today, is undermining individual happiness and life satisfaction. READING 7: Daniel Q. Gillian’s The Loud Minority: Why Protests Matter in American Democracy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020) examines the impact of protests and public activism on democratic governance. Gillian argues that protests not only put pressure on elected officials, but also help voters assess politicians on specific concerns. READING 8: American Political Science Association, “American Democracy in an Age of Rising Inequality” Perspective on Politics 2, no. 4 (2004): 651–66 is the summary report of a blue-ribbon task force commissioned by the American Political Science Association on the impact of increasing inequality on American democracy. The report concludes with a warning that “rising economic inequality will solidify long-standing disparities in political voice and influence, and perhaps exacerbate such disparities.” READING 9: Andrew L. Yarrow and Cecilia M. Orphan’s “Why Students Need to Be Informed about Our Looming Fiscal Crisis: The America’s Futures Initiative,” PS: Political Science and Politics 43 (2010): 319–321, is a brief update on the America’s Futures Initiative and efforts to teach the debt crisis. This article provides useful strategies for teaching about the challenges posed by the increasing national debt.

READING 10: A vast literature in political science has explored representation and its implications for public policy. Jane Mansbridge’s “Clarifying the Concept of Representation,” 30 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

American Political Science Review 105 (2011): 621-630, deals with the nature of representation in democratic political systems. Lowande, Ritchie, and Lauderbach’s “Descriptive and Substantive Representation in Congress: Evidence from 80,000 Congressional Inquiries,” American Journal of Political Science 63 (2019): 644-659, examines how representation affects the daily work of members of Congress.

READING 11: In this contribution to the long-standing debate on the intersection of economic development and democracy, “The Economic Origins of Democracy Reconsidered,” American Political Science Review 106 (2012): 58–80, John R. Freeman and Dennis P. Quinn argue that processes of globalization occurring in the late twentieth century altered the historical relationship between economic liberalization and democratization.

READING 12: A rich array of academic journals covers American politics. While the American Political Science Association’s flagship journal, the American Political Science Review, often employs technical methodologies that may be difficult for undergraduates to work with, its sister journal, PS: Political Science and Politics, is quite accessible. Students can regularly be asked to visit the PS journal website (or the websites of similar journals) and find articles related to themes raised in the course. PS also has outstanding resources for teaching political science.

READING 13: The Immigration and Naturalization Service has a Self-Test for Naturalization (www.uscis.gov). Find out what aspiring citizens need to know to gain their citizenship. Explore the various study materials, including flash cards.

READING 14: The Statistical Abstract of the United States (go to www.census.gov and search for “statistical abstract of the United States”) provides an authoritative and comprehensive summary of social, political, and economic statistics in the United States from 1878 to the present. The U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov) also provides detailed demographic, geographic, and economic data at the national, state, and local level.

READING 15: The Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California (www.iandrinstitute.org) provides information on direct democracy across the United States. 31 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 16: The Avalon Project at Yale University (http://avalon.law.yale.edu) is a collection of historical documents of importance to the study of American government, ranging from the Magna Carta and the colonial charters to state constitutions, historical variants of the plans put forward at the Constitutional Convention, and ratification debates. The Core Documents of American Democracy project at the Government Printing Office (go to www.gpo.gov and click “Libraries” then “Core Documents of Our Democracy) lists a large number of documents considered integral to American democracy, ranging from the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Emancipation Proclamation to judicial decisions and congressional testimony.

READING 17: The National Archives website (www.archives.gov) maintains an outstanding collection of records useful in an American government class, including founding documents like the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, the Federal Register, and a collection of 100 milestone documents in the history of the United States (www.ourdocuments.gov). The site also has outstanding resources for teaching U.S. politics using primary resources.

READING 18: Many outstanding political cartoon websites can be used as discussion starters throughout the semester. Daryl Cagle’s PoliticalCartoons.com (www.politicalcartoons.com) provides an easy-to-navigate collection drawn from cartoonists across the web. The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (http://editorialcartoonists.com) also maintains a good collection. For historical cartoons and notes for teaching American government using political cartoons, the Library of Congress’ website (go to www.loc.gov and search under “political cartoons”) is also outstanding. FILM 19: A movie dramatization of George Orwell’s classic novel, 1984 (M. Anderson, director, United Kingdom: Holiday Film Productions Ltd., 1956) depicts a grim perspective on a society where individualism is suppressed and information is distorted by government to achieve ultimate control over its population. The 1956 version (Nineteen Eighty-four, M. Radford, director, United Kingdom: Umbrella-Rosenblum Films Production) is less haunting and grim than the 1984 remake but not nearly as good. (And the 1984 version contains full frontal nudity.) 32 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

FILM 20: An analysis of Tocqueville’s observations and criticisms of American democracy is made in Tocqueville’s Europe: The Paradoxes of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (1995), Insight Media.

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH Constitutional Democracy: The Big Picture Author video.

A Grand Experiment in Self-Government (Structure) 1.1

Describe the nature of the “grand experiment in selfgovernment” in America.

Enhanced Image: VIEW Mayflower Compact Signing Students move around the image and can zoom in on particular aspects of it. Caption will direct students on what to look for. Social Explorer: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the aftermath of this event. Journal Prompt 1.1 The idea of government by the people is appealing but not always easy. What, in your view, is a necessary condition for effective self-government? QUIZ 1.1 A Grand Experiment in Self-Government

U.S. Government and Politics in Context (Structure) 1.2

Describe the importance of citizen participation in constitutional democracy.

What is one issue dealing with government that matters to you, and why does it matter? QUIZ 1.2 U.S. Government and Politics in Context

Defining Democracy (Structure) 1.3

Describe democracy and the conditions conducive to its success.

Document: READ An excerpt from The Federalist, No. 10 Document: READ The Declaration of Independence Document: READ An excerpt from The Federalist, No. 10 Video: WATCH “Egyptian President Morsi Forced Out of Power” Document: READ This Excerpt from Marbury v. Madison Document: READ The Bill of Rights Social Explorer: TABLE 1.1 CONDITIONS FOR DEMOCRACY Video: WATCH Republican Government vs. Direct Democracy Journal Prompt 1.3 What do you think are a few of the reasons that the United States has succeeded in creating and maintaining a democracy? QUIZ 1.3 Defining Democracy

The Roots of the American Constitutional Experiment (Structure) 1.4

Identify pre-Revolutionary concepts central to the new government and the problems under the Articles of Confederation.

Document: READ Preamble to the Declaration of Independence Video: WATCH “Hamilton” Success May Keep Alexander Hamilton on $10 Bill” ABC footage on musical Hamilton and keeping Hamilton on the $10 bill. 34 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Video: WATCH Economic Upheaval Journal Prompt 1.4 What do you think were the biggest problems with the Articles of Confederation, and why? QUIZ 1.4 The Roots of the American Constitutional Experiment

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 (Action) 1.5

Identify the issues resolved by compromise during the writing of the Constitution.

Audio: LISTEN The Three-Fifths Compromise Controversy Sketchnote Video: WATCH The Great Compromise Journal Prompt 1.5 What was the role of compromise at the Constitutional Convention? Or What do you think is the role of compromise in government and politics? QUIZ 1.5 The Constitutional Convention of 1787

To Adopt or Not to Adopt? (Impact) 1.6

Evaluate the arguments for and against the ratification of the Constitution.

QUIZ: Take the Naturalization Exam Journal Prompt 1.6 Do you think the United States would be any different today if a Bill of Rights hadn’t been included in the Constitution? QUIZ 1.6 To Adopt or Not to Adopt?

How would you describe the level of trust that you have in government? Consider your local and state governments as well as the federal government. Give 2 or 3 examples that support your answer. SHARED WRITING PROMPT: Constitutional Democracy Should the Constitution be made more democratic, and if so, how? Video: WATCH Constitutional Democracy: So What? Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS Constitutional Democracy CHAPTER 1 QUIZ Constitutional Democracy

2 Constitutional Foundations Chapter Overview A country’s constitution is its basic law; it establishes political institutions, allocates power between them, and often provides basic guarantees of the rights of its citizens. Constitutions thus usually establish how political power is distributed and exercised in a given country. In this chapter, we explore the central principles at play in the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, we consider ideas of limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, and judicial review. We then turn to consider the ways in which the Constitution evolves over time. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good understanding of how the U.S. Constitution sets the stage for how politics in the United States works today.

Lecture Suggestions Constitutional Framework (Structure) 2.1

Describe the framework for government expressed in the Constitution.

LECTURE 1: Was a Bill of Rights necessary? It’s hard to imagine today, but the Constitution as it was originally drafted identified a very limited number of rights. The body of the Constitution includes only the prohibition against ex post facto laws and the guarantees of the writ of habeas corpus and trial by jury.

The Federalists believed that there is no need for a Bill of Rights. They believed that the powers of the national government are limited to those specifically enumerated in the Constitution—that the national government has only those powers that are specifically and explicitly granted to it. Consequently, they believed that no Bill of Rights is necessary. 37 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

▪

Begin a lecture by asking the class to identify the rights guaranteed by the original, unamended Constitution.

▪

Then outline the specific protections afforded by the Bill of Rights.

▪

Ask your students to think about how the American political system might have evolved without the Bill of Rights.

▪

Students may also be surprised to learn that the protections afforded by the Bill of Rights served only to protect the people against intrusion by the national government; states were not bound by the Bill of Rights and could engage in activities prohibited to the federal government until the Bill of Rights was incorporated.

▪

It was not until after the Civil War (specifically the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868) that states were prohibited from depriving individuals of “life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”

LECTURE 2: Review for your students the key structural arrangements articulated in the U.S. Constitution. Your lecture should focus on the following elements: ▪

National Supremacy. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution is the National supremacy clause, which ensures that the Constitution supersedes any conflicting state laws. This was a dramatic change from the Articles of Confederation, under which state laws often conflicted and could even override the decisions of the national government.

▪

Federalism. Federalism divides power between the national and state governments, reserving specific areas of decision-making authority for each. Federalism provides that states can pass their own laws (so long as they do not conflict with the national supremacy clause) and levy their own taxes. Over time, the relative balance of power between the states and the national government has shifted back and forth. Early in the history of the republic, the federal government was relatively weak and the states were relatively strong. Over time, however, the power of the federal government has gradually expanded, often at the expense of the states. 38 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

SHARED WRITING PROMPT: Constitutional Foundations What do you think is the most important problem facing the nation that might be better resolved if there was an agreed-upon method of interpreting the Constitution? What is the best way to interpret the document? How could you require that method?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH Constitutional Foundations: So What? Author video. Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS: Constitutional Foundations CHAPTER 2 QUIZ: Constitutional Foundations

3 American Federalism Chapter Overview “Federalism” refers to the division of power between the national government and the states. Under our federal system, significant government powers are divided between the central government and small governmental units; none completely control the others, and each has some room for independent action. We begin by explaining the constitutional foundations of federalism and distinguishing federalism from other forms of government. We then trace the historical evolution of federalism and analyze the impact of federalism on relationships among national, state, and local levels of government. Next, we analyze the impact of federalism on the budget. We conclude by examining the link between federalism and the growth of the national government.

Lecture Suggestions The Constitutional Foundations of Federalism (Structure) 3.1

Explain the constitutional foundations of federalism.

LECTURE 1: “Dual federalism” refers to the idea that the two levels of government (national and state) have dual sovereignty; that they are both dominant over their separate functions and areas of authority. This model of federalism posits a distinct division between the powers of the national and state governments.

▪

The idea of dual federalism dominated American politics from the founding until the 1930s, when New Deal–era reforms began to increase the power of the national government at the expense of the states.

▪

The idea of dual federalism is reflected in the Constitution, which explicitly grants the federal government the power to set tariffs, grant patents, manage the currency, enter into treaties with other countries, and provide for defense and postal services. The Constitution also specifies certain shared powers, possessed by both the national and state governments. These include the power to collect taxes, establish courts, build roads, and borrow and spend money. The Tenth Amendment—often called the reserved powers clause—reserves all other powers for the states.

LECTURE 2: A lecture on several contemporary areas where the idea of dual federalism plays out provides a more concrete grounding for your students to consider the theoretical implications of federalism. The defining feature of dual federalism—that the national and state governments collaborate even when they have separate areas of responsibility and authority—can be demonstrated using several contemporary examples. ▪

Environmental Protection. While the national government takes the lead in some areas, such as the management and disposal of nuclear waste generated by national defense needs, states have primary authority in others, such as limiting noise pollution and managing non-endangered wildlife within their borders. Both of these are environmental concerns, but the two levels of government work on them independently. Similarly, the federal government must approve new pesticides, but a state, or a city if allowed by the state, may decide which of these allowable pesticides can be used within its borders and in what ways.

▪

Perhaps one of the most striking examples of this tension in recent years has been the debate over immigration policy. Immigration is an area in which the federal and state governments historically collaborate. While the federal government has responsibility for immigration itself, states often pass laws that address issues related to immigration. 71 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, from 2009 to 2019, states enacted an average of 153 immigration-related laws per year. Federal law remains supreme, but states have enforcement roles and can make decisions about which benefits and services immigrants may receive. ▪

Sometimes, dual federalism results in conflicts between the national government and the states. In 2010, for example, the State of Arizona and the federal government clashed over a law passed by the Arizona legislature that authorized police to check the residency status of individuals they were investigating for other behaviors, such as traffic violations. The U.S. Justice Department sued the state, and the case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012. The Court struck down most of the Arizona law as a violation of the national supremacy doctrine.

LECTURE 3: The Constitution divides powers between the national and state governments. Explain that division of power to your students and provide examples of those powers. ▪

Delegated, or Enumerated, Powers. These are the powers specifically granted to the national government. Article I, Section 8, for example, specifically grants 17 powers to the U.S. Congress. These include authority over war and foreign affairs, authority over the economy (“interstate commerce”), control over the money supply, and the power to tax and spend “to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare.”

▪

Implied Powers. Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution also grants the Congress the power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States or in any department or officer thereof.” This statement, often referred to as the necessary and proper clause, suggests that the national government has additional powers not specified in the Constitution but arising from the exercise of its delegated powers.

▪

National Supremacy Clause. Article VI of the Constitution provides that the laws and agreements of the national government are binding on the states. 72 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

4 The American Political Landscape Chapter Overview This chapter explores the meaning and types of ideology in American political life and how they are shaped by our political culture. We begin by assessing the role of various factors in shaping a national and local identity, including geography, natural resources, and type of community. Next, we analyze the impact of social and demographic factors such as race and ethnicity, religion, gender, family structure, education, and age on American politics. We conclude by describing the importance of income, wealth, occupation, and social class in American politics. A major goal for this chapter should be helping students to understand what lies behind the common political rhetoric of the day. In addition, you can teach your students to understand the positive role of shared values and ideologies and to clarify their own ideological predispositions.

Lecture Suggestions Geography, Natural Resources, and the Importance of Where We Are From (Structure, Action, and Impact) 4.1

Assess the role of geography, natural resources, and type of community in building a national and local identity.

LECTURE 1: As early as 1830, the French political commentator Alexis de Tocqueville noted that the geography of North America would influence U.S. politics. De Tocqueville observed that the United States has no political or economic rival on its border and is protected by oceans to the east and west. Describe for your students how the unique geography of the United States has affected its historical development and national identity. ▪

Sense of Invulnerability. Apart from English attacks during the War of 1812, the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, and the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, no enemy has been able to successfully strike the continental United States. Early in its history, the relative isolation of the United States granted the country the ability to remain aloof from many international events and conflicts. Since World War II, the United States has engaged more directly on the global scene. More recently, terror attacks have forced the United States to rethink the nature of national defense and homeland security.

▪

Size. Historically, the western frontier provided opportunity for Americans to migrate west. This also influenced the development of American political culture, reinforcing the “bootstrap myth” and the idea of rugged individualism. The vast western frontier also provided ample resources for American development.

LECTURE 2: Although written in 1981, Joel Garreau’s Nine Nations of North America provides an interesting way to explore regional division in the United States. Garreau argues that nine distinctive regions in North America each have their own political culture and identity: New England, the Foundry (sometimes called the Rust Belt), Dixie (the American South), the Breadbasket (the Midwest), the Island (South Florida), Mexamerica (the American Southwest), Ecotopia (the Pacific Northwest), the Empty Quarter (much of the Rockies and the interior Northwest), and Quebec. An engaging lecture could be developed contrasting these regions. Supplemental information, including graphics and discussion of the relevance of Garreau’s work today, can be found at https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/nationsnorth-america-revisited-and-considered/7768/.

LECTURE 3: Outline for your students the primary regional divisions in the United States. ▪

The South. Historically, the primary political division in the United States was between the North and the South. The South relied on agriculture, while the North was centered economically on industry and commerce. From the 1960s onward, the South was solidly Republican. Today, however, the South is becoming less well defined as a region, though there are reasons to think this historical trend is weakening.

▪

The Sun Belt. Comprising the South plus New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Southern California, the Sun Belt has experienced rapid population growth over the past 30 years (largely at the expense of the Rust Belt, which comprises northeastern states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Indiana).

▪

More generally, a strong rural-urban divide also characterizes the United States. Throughout the twentieth century, the rural population of the United States gradually declined, as individuals migrated from the countryside to the cities. In the post–World War II era, migration also occurred from the cities to the suburbs, as individuals fled the central core of cities in favor of less densely populated regions on city outskirts.

LECTURE 4: The idea of a “culture war” has gained influence in recent years, and several books have been published on the topic. James Q. Wilson, for example, contends that the United States is more polarized now than at any time in its history. ▪

The polarization of the United States is usually characterized as the division of the country into red and blue states, corresponding to Republican/Conservative (red) and Democratic/Liberal (blue). Maps displaying the results of the Electoral College are often colored this way.

▪

However, between 2000 and 2016, twelve states were “purple,” or battleground states, swinging between the two parties in presidential elections. In an effort to reduce the level of partisan division, in his 2004 address to the Democratic National Convention, then-Illinois state senator Barack Obama famously asserted, “There are no red states or blue states, just the United States.” In the 2020 presential election, Joe Biden repeated this statement.

▪

Explain the idea of the culture war and arguments for and against its existence. In his speech before the 1992 Republican National Convention, presidential candidate Pat Buchanan argued that “There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself. . . . The agenda [Bill] Clinton and [Hillary] Clinton would impose on America—abortion on demand, a litmus test for the Supreme Court, homosexual rights, discrimination against religious schools, women in combat—that’s change, all right. But it is not the kind of change America wants. It is not the kind of change America needs. And it is not the kind of change we can tolerate in a nation that we still call God’s country.”

▪

Divisions on hot button issues have been used to mobilize the electorate in support of particular candidates or parties. For instance, in the 2016 election, Donald Trump made immigration policy a centerpiece of his campaign. In 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement was a source of debate in the presidential election.

▪

Then ask the students to consider the degree to which the idea of a culture war has influenced American politics over the past decade. 111 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

5 Interest Groups Chapter Overview Interest groups have long been central to American politics. During the debate over ratification, James Madison discussed the role of “factions” in a democratic polis. His writings, particularly in The Federalist, No. 10, outlined a vision of a political system that checks the power of factions. Today, we generally refer to these “factions” as “interest groups,” the topic of this chapter. We begin our analysis of interest groups by describing why interest groups form and how they attract members. We then describe different types of interest groups and analyze the methods interest groups use to influence politics. Next, we evaluate the factors that affect the relative success of interest groups. We conclude by assessing the effectiveness of regulations designed to control interest groups. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good understanding of the nature and role of interest groups in the United States.

Lecture Suggestions The Reasons Interest Groups Endure and the “Mischiefs of Faction” They Produce (Structure) 5.1

Describe why interest groups form and how they attract members.

LECTURE 1: Interest groups can have a positive and a negative impact on American society. It is important to support organized action but also to understand that sometimes the desires of an interest group may not be in the best interest of the public. ▪

Discuss the undemocratic nature of interest groups. 

The organizations themselves are often undemocratic. They are, for example, unelected and typically comprise members from the middle class.



Not all interest groups are able to exercise the same degree of influence or have the same kind of access. Indeed, groups with stronger membership and more money are frequently more effective in accomplishing their goals than those without.



In promoting their own interests, interest groups also promote the public interest.

▪

Yet, at the same time, interest groups play a central role in American democracy. 

Pluralist politics depends on the competition between interest groups. This is a key organizing principle of American democracy.



Interest groups provide effective s for individuals to interact with the government and act as checks on the power of the government.



Many of the most important achievements in American history, such as the expansion of the franchise, the establishment of protections for workers and the environment, and the enactment of government programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, are all the results of pressure brought by interest groups.

LECTURE 2: In The Federalist, No. 10, James Madison addresses the topic of special interests in describing what he calls “factions.” ▪

Madison argues that the design of our republic would not eliminate factions but would limit the influence they might have. Madison could not have foreseen what would happen with interest groups over time.

▪

First is the tremendous expansion of society that contributed to the explosion of groups. Second is the prevalence of logrolling. Logrolling among interests is facilitated by a third development, the rise of professional politicians who, in seeking reelection, broker the group deals in return for the electoral support that interest groups provide. To analyze this, we first must understand exactly what Madison was arguing in The Federalist, No. 10. 

Factions. Madison begins this essay stating, “Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.” In the first portion of the essay, Madison discusses the desirability and possibility of removing the causes of faction. He rejects that possibility, stating that factions are sown in the nature of man. Madison concludes, “The inference to which we are brought is that the causes of faction cannot be removed and that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its effects.”



Controlling Factions. How, then, does a government control the effects of faction? If a faction is composed of a numerical minority, then, in a democracy (Madison uses the word “republic”), it is controlled, since it will be outvoted by the majority. The real problem is majority faction. Part of the cure comes in Madison’s second usage of the word “republic.” Earlier in the essay, Madison used the word “republic” as synonymous with “majority rule.” Now, he defines it as a representative democracy. It helps cure the mischief of faction because it allows for a large republic.



Advantages of a Republic. A republic provides two advantages over a pure (direct) democracy. First, the people themselves do not make decisions. Instead they decide who will make the decisions in elections. Second, a republic can cover a larger area. One effect of this difference is to “refine and enlarge” the public’s views by “passing them through a chosen body of citizens whose wisdom by best discern” the true interests of the citizens. Here Madison is first concerned with a problem experienced in pure democracies: folly. By folly, he means that strict majority-rule democracies often make bad decisions. As stated in another Federalist Paper, citizens may intend good, but they don’t always make decisions in their best interests.

▪

A second major argument made in The Federalist, No. 10 is that a large republic is better than a small republic. Here is the argument from Publius’s perspective. It is probably the most important component behind the Framer’s design of the Constitution. Some would say it is Madison’s major contribution to American political thought, calling it pluralism. 

The Large Republic Argument. Having argued that a republic is better than a pure (direct) democracy, Madison now argues that a large republic is better than a small republic. It is at this point in his argument that Madison is credited with endorsing pluralism. Why is a large republic better than a small republic? Madison asserts that no matter how large or how many people there are in a country, the number in the legislature is not going to vary that much. This is important because it means that a large republic will not have that many more legislators than a small republic. The importance of this point is that legislators in a large republic will represent more people (and, hence, usually larger geographical areas). This will result in a higher caliber of individuals getting elected to the legislature. Remember, Madison had already argued that a republic is better than a pure democracy because, in a republic, legislators will be wiser and thus can refine the public’s wishes.

6 Political Parties Chapter Overview In his farewell address, President George Washington warned against the growing influence of political parties. From his perspective, parties represented a threat to democracy in the United States. But in spite of his caution, political parties today play a central role in American democracy. In this chapter, we analyze the role of political parties in American politics. We begin by tracing the development of political parties in the United States. Next, we identify the primary functions of political parties and their structure at the national, state, and local levels. We then evaluate the role of minor parties in the U.S. electoral system and describe the significance of party identification in America today. We conclude by assessing the reasons for the persistence of the two-party system. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good understanding of the role of political parties in American politics.

Lecture Suggestions A Brief History of American Political Parties (Structure) 6.1

Trace the development of political parties in the United States.

LECTURE 1: Explain dealignment and realignment in the United States. ▪

Dealignment describes the decline in attractiveness of the political parties to the voters, the growing reluctance of people to identify themselves with either party, and a decrease in reliance on a candidate’s party affiliation in voter choice.

▪

Despite the decline in partisan identification in the electorate, it is important to note that party identification is a strong influence in voter choice in elections.

▪

Although Democratic Party loyalty has eroded over the last 30 years, it is not clear whether or not this erosion is a classic party realignment.

▪

Sectionalism is evident in the strength of the Republican Party in the mountain, plains, and southern states. The Democratic Party is increasingly bicoastal.

LECTURE 2: Students often say that there is no real difference between the two major parties. Are they correct? The answer is yes and no. An engaging lecture can be developed around this question. ▪

Frank Sorauf, in Party Politics in America, divided the two major national parties into three groups: party in electorate, party in organization, and party in government. 

The party in electorate for the two major parties does not differ that much.



The party in organization and party in government for each major party do differ. This can be clearly seen in studies of the views of delegates attending the national conventions (party in organization) and the views of those holding public office (party in government).



Perhaps the most recognized document that distinguishes the parties from each other is the party platform, drafted every four years. 167 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

▪

Finally, for those who believe that party platforms are made to be broken, Gerald Pomper’s study of platforms shows that what a party says it believes in matters. He examined the major party platforms from 1944 to 1976 and concluded that about two-thirds of platform pledges are carried out.

LECTURE 3: Why don’t we have a party system based on principles, with a liberal party and a conservative party, each offering the voters a real ideological choice? An engaging lecture can be developed around this question using the median voter theorem. ▪

Let’s assume that voters generally choose the party closest to their own ideological position. If the liberal party takes a strong ideological position to the left of most voters, the conservative party will move toward the center, winning more moderate votes, even while retaining its conservative supporters, who will still prefer it to the more liberal opposition party. Likewise, if the conservative party takes a strong ideological position to the right of most voters, the liberal party will move to the center and win.

▪

The consequence of this is that both parties must abandon strong ideological positions and move to the center, becoming moderate in the fight for the support of moderate voters.

▪

In practice, however, the question is more complicated. Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns tended to focus more on the mobilization of the party’s existing voters rather than capturing the median voter. In this case, Trump’s strategy diverged from the median voter theorem.

LECTURE 4: Trace the evolution of the political parties in the United States over the course of American history. ▪

Federalists and Democratic-Republicans were the first political parties. 

Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and their supporters called themselves Federalists after their leaders’ outspoken defense of the Constitution during the ratification process.



By the 1790s, Jefferson and Madison, as well as many Anti-Federalists who had initially opposed the ratification of the Constitution, began calling 168 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

themselves Republicans or Democratic-Republicans, terms that had become popular after the French Revolution in 1789. 

Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party first saw the importance of organizing voters, circulating literature, and rallying the masses to its causes.

▪

Andrew Jackson led his supporters to found a new party, the Democratic Party, to organize popular support for his 1828 presidential bid. At the same time, Jackson’s opponents formed the Whig Party, named after the British party of that name. 

The new party system that emerged from the Civil War featured a victorious Republican Party that generally represented the northern industrial economy.



It also included a struggling Democratic Party that generally represented a southern agricultural economy.

▪

At the GOP (“Grand Old Party,” as the Republicans began labeling themselves) convention in 1912, party regulars rejected the unpredictable Theodore Roosevelt in favor of Taft, even though Roosevelt had won the few primary elections that had recently been initiated. 

By 1932, a majority New Deal Democratic coalition had been formed in American politics consisting of the following groups: o Working classes and union members, especially in large cities; o White ethnic groups who had previously aligned themselves with Republican machines; o Catholics and Jews; o African Americans, who ended their historic affiliation with the party of Lincoln to pursue new economic and social goals; o Poor people, who associated the New Deal with expanded welfare and Social Security programs; and o White southerners, who had provided the most loyal bloc of Democratic voters since the Civil War.

▪

The American political system underwent massive convulsions in the late 1960s as a result of both the civil rights revolution at home and an unpopular war in Vietnam. 169 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

7 Public Opinion, Ideology, Participation, and Voting Chapter Overview Public opinion is defined as the collective political beliefs and attitudes of the public and groups within the public. Public opinion can be measured to provide insight into what the electorate is thinking about politics. In this chapter, we examine the nature of public opinion and voting in the United States. We begin by exploring the process and agents of political socialization. We then consider the question of measuring public opinion. Next, we explore the various political ideologies that are operational in the United States and identify the factors that influence political participation. We conclude by analyzing why people vote the way they do. By the end of the chapter, students should have a thorough understanding of the role and limits of public opinion, political participation, and voting in American politics.

Lecture Suggestions Forming Political Opinions and Values (Structure) 7.1

Explain how the agents of socialization influence the development of political attitudes.

LECTURE 1: Political socialization is the learning process by which individuals absorb information and selectively add it to their knowledge and understanding of politics and government. This process tends to be governed by two important principles: ▪

Primacy refers to the notion that what is learned first is learned best. Political socialization begins during childhood, and political learning during childhood and adolescence seems to be particularly important in the development of an individual’s core beliefs and political outlook.

▪

Persistence means that political lessons, values, and attitudes learned early in life tend to structure political learning later on in life.

▪

The most common expression of values, attitudes, and beliefs is the identification of an individual’s ideology—a consistent set of ideas about a given set of issues.

LECTURE 2: Identify and explore some of the formative political events over the past 50 years. ▪

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and economic stagnation contributed to a strong antigovernment sentiment that often cut across political divides.

▪

In the 1980s, the Cold War and Reagan’s anticommunist policies shaped political views.

▪

The 1990s were a period of steady economic growth and stability.

▪

The September 11, 2001, terror attacks clearly shaped political opinion and socialization in the United States.

▪

The economic slowdown of the 2010s likely affected political views, though perhaps in different ways than the Great Depression did in the 1930s.

▪

Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic caused dramatic social and economic upheaval.

▪

Ask your students to identify other events that shaped political socialization in the United States.

LECTURE 3: Political socialization consists of several stages that span from early childhood to adulthood. Socialization occurs through agents of socialization and socializing events. ▪

Children learn first from their families, particularly parents—their most important socializing agents. Parents are more likely to be open about their political beliefs in front of children than are other agents (teachers, friends, etc.). If parents spend little time talking about politics, the mechanisms of political socialization do not work as well. Early time spent with family watching political programs or discussing political values helps children to develop their own political views and ideas. The most reliable area of transmission is political party—partisanship is inherited because it is easy to understand, more so than an opinion on a particular issue.

▪

Religion is also an important agent of political socialization. While religions are dedicated to the spiritual realm rather than the political, different religions teach different values with respect to punishment and mercy, social justice, and so on. These values play an important role in thinking about politics; Jews tend to vote Democratic, whereas Evangelical Christians tend to vote Republican. Even when churches do not endorse a particular candidate or party, the religious values they preach can inform the values of members of the congregation.

▪

Peer groups also influence political socialization. The friends that children most closely associate with will also have a significant impact on their development of political views, especially during adolescence. However, the salience of politics is generally low to adolescents, so the transmission is relatively limited.

▪

Schools can be powerful agents of socialization. Public schools actively seek to inculcate students with a respect for the law, authority, and democratic values. Children learn to appreciate the American political system and learn the rituals and symbolism. Because schools tend to be homogenous (similar kids going to school together), it is hard to parse out the educational system from the family. There is little evidence that school has a significant impact on partisan or issue attitudes.

▪

The media also play a role. Socialization depends on relevant information, which the media provides. What the media choose to cover, how they choose to do so, and the accessibility of coverage all matter.

▪

Finally, events can also socialize. 

One type of socializing event is a generational effect, when younger members of a body politic are influenced by events in a way that makes their attitudes and beliefs different from those of older generations. Many people coming of age in the 1960s and 1970s reacted to the Vietnam War, which affected their politics. Antiwar protestors tended to vote Democratic, while nonprotestors did not. Those differences often held into adulthood.



Second, there are period effects; sometimes events exert noticeable impact across political generations and affect everyone.



Finally, the process of getting older can affect opinion as well—this is known as the life-cycle effect.

LECTURE 4: Polling reveals differences in political attitudes that break along racial and ethnic lines. In the United States, for example, sharp differences can often be found between Black and White Americans. Significant differences can also be found between Hispanic and non-Hispanic White Americans. Explore some of these differences with your students. ▪

While Black and White Americans tend to agree on the core elements of American political culture, significant differences emerge on specific policy issues.

8 Campaigns and Elections Chapter Overview Elections and campaigns are usually viewed as the defining feature of a democratic political system. But Americans often have a weak understanding of how campaigns and elections in the United States actually function, despite their importance. In this chapter, we explore the process of seeking elected office in the United States. We begin by exploring the fundamental election procedures—the rules of the game—that define how candidates are nominated and how winners are determined in American elections. Next, we analyze the conduct of electoral campaigns, focusing in particular on the role of money in political campaigns and elections in the United States. We then consider the presidential and congressional election processes in greater detail. Finally, we conclude by addressing proposed reforms to the American electoral system. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good command of the formal structures and functions—as well as the behind-the-scenes politics—of campaigns and elections in the United States.

Lecture Suggestions Elections: The Rules of the Game (Structure) 8.1

Outline the procedures for presidential and congressional elections.

LECTURE 1: In a primary election, voters decide which candidate will represent the party in the general election. Differentiate between competing types of primaries used in the United States. ▪

In closed primaries, only registered members of the party are allowed to vote. For example, only registered Republicans are permitted to vote for the Republican candidate, and only registered Democrats are permitted to vote for the Democratic candidate. Closed primaries allow the party maximum control and promote party strength.

▪

In open primaries, anyone is permitted to vote regardless of party affiliation. Republicans and Independents are allowed to vote in the selection of the Democratic nominee and vice versa. Open primaries are considered more democratic since participation is open to all voters, regardless of party affiliation

▪

Blanket primaries are similar to open primaries, except that voters may choose to vote in either party’s primary, but not both, on an office-by-office basis. The central difference is that in an open primary, a voter must select a single party in whose primary election he or she will participate. In a blanket primary, by contrast, a voter might participate in the Republican primary for president, the Democratic primary for governor, and so on.

▪

In a runoff primary, the two candidates with the most votes stand in the general election, regardless of party. A runoff primary could result in a general election in which two members of the same political party compete against one another for the office.

LECTURE 2: Explain the changes to the presidential nominating process since 1972. ▪

The process for selecting nominees for president is not governed by the U.S. Constitution but has developed instead through the practices of states and political parties. Prior to 1972, party leaders chose the state delegations responsible for nominating a party’s candidate for president. This change was facilitated by the chaos at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, where Hubert Humphrey secured the party’s nomination despite strong support for Eugene McCarthy. Following the 1968 fiasco, the McGovern-Fraser Commission, sponsored by the Democratic National Committee, recommended reforms to the nomination process to introduce greater transparency. The Republican Party adopted similar reforms.

▪

Today, the vast majority of delegates to the national party conventions are selected by the voters, either through caucuses or primary elections. In general, these delegates are pledged to vote for a particular candidate. 

Caucuses are meetings of the party where participants select candidates for offices. Iowa, Texas, and Nevada all use party caucuses to decide their presidential nominees.



Primary elections are votes, usually by party members, to select a candidate to represent the party in the general election. Primaries can be open or closed. Most states use primary elections to select their presidential nominees.

▪

In the Democratic Party, a handful of delegates are appointed by the party at either the national or state level. These delegates, often referred to as “superdelegates,” are members of Congress, governors, and other distinguished party members. They are not promised to a particular candidate and are free to vote for any candidates they choose. In most years, superdelegates are not important, as the party is generally unified behind a single candidate by the time the party convention takes place. In the 2008 election, though, it looked like the competition for the Democratic nomination—between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama—might come down to the decision of a small number of superdelegates. In 2018, the Democratic 236 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

National Committee reduced the influence of superdelegates by preventing them from voting on the first ballot at the Democratic National Convention.

LECTURE 3: Differentiate between the processes used in the Democratic and Republican Party primaries. ▪

The Democratic Party allocates delegates through primary elections on a proportional basis. Thus, if a candidate receives 40 percent of the popular vote in the primary election, he or she will receive 40 percent of the delegates from that state.

▪

Until 2012, the Republican Party allocated delegates through primary elections on a winner-take-all basis. Thus, no matter how narrow a candidate’s margin of victory, that candidate received all of that state’s delegates. This had the advantage of making elections more decisive and often meant that the Republican nominee was selected earlier than the Democratic nominee. 

Today, some Republican primaries are allocated on a proportional basis. While this makes it easier for candidates to accumulate delegates, it also stretches out the primary campaign season.



In other states, Republican primaries have become more exclusive, with strict requirements for candidates to even make it onto the ballot. In Virginia, for example, candidacy requirements are so strict that only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul even made it onto the ballot in 2012. Other popular candidates— including Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Michele Bachman, and Rick Santorum—failed to qualify.

LECTURE 4: Students are often surprised to learn that when they cast their ballots in the presidential election, they are not actually voting for a candidate but are instead selecting a slate of electors who will vote for the president on their behalf. Explain the functioning of the Electoral College to your students. ▪

The Electoral College was put into place by the Framers so that people wouldn’t directly choose the president—which would privilege the large states—and so that 237 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

9 The Media and U.S. Politics Chapter Overview The power of the mass media has expanded dramatically since the beginning of the twentieth century. In this chapter, we examine how the mass media function as part of the American political process. We start by examining the origins, structure, and functions of the news media, and the nature of constitutional protections of Freedom of the Press. We then describe the effect of recent trends in how Americans get their news. Next, we assess the influence of the news media on American public opinion and elections. We conclude by describing the news media’s relationship to governance in the United States. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good understanding of how the media function as a political institution and how they interact with other political actors and institutions to affect politics in the United States.

Lecture Suggestions The Structure and Functions of the News Media and the Constitutional Protections of Freedom of the Press (Structure) 9.1

Explain the origins, structure, and functions of the news media, and the nature of constitutional protections of freedom of the press.

LECTURE 1: The news media have changed dramatically throughout the course of U.S. history. ▪

When the Constitution was being ratified, newspapers consisted of a single sheet.

▪

The new nation’s political leaders, including Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, recognized the need to keep voters informed. Political parties as we know them did not exist, but the support the press had given to the Revolution had fostered a growing awareness of the political potential of newspapers. Hamilton recruited staunch Federalist John Fenno to edit and publish a newspaper in the new national capital of Philadelphia.

▪

Jefferson responded by attracting Philip Freneau, a talented writer and editor and a loyal Republican, to do the same for the Republicans. (Jefferson’s Republicans later became the Democratic Party.) The two papers became the nucleus of a network of competing partisan newspapers throughout the nation. They became a model for future partisan papers.

▪

Some newspaper publishers began to experiment with a new way to finance their newspapers. They charged a penny a paper, paid on delivery, instead of the traditional annual subscription fee of $8 to $10, which most readers could not afford. The “penny press,” as it was called, expanded circulation and increased advertising, enabling newspapers to become financially independent of the political parties. 276 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.