Instructor’s Manual/Test Bank to accompany
Greenberg ♦ Page America’s Democratic Republic Fourth Edition Penguin Academic Series
Prepared by Derek Mosley Meridian Community College
CONTENTS Chapter 1. The American Democratic Republic………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 2. The Constitution…………………………………………………………………………………17 Chapter 3. Federalism: States and Nation……………………………………………………………………31 Chapter 4. Civil Liberties……………………………………………………………………………………47 Chapter 5. Civil Rights………………………………………………………………………………………63 Chapter 6. Public Opinion………………………………………………………………………………...…79 Chapter 7. The News Media…………………………………………………………………………………95 Chapter 8. Interest Groups……………………………………………………………………………….…111 Chapter 9. Political Parties…………………………………………………………………………………125 Chapter 10. Elections and Citizen Participation……………………………………………………………139 Chapter 11. Congress………………………………………………………………………………………155 Chapter 12. The Presidency……………………………………………………………………………...…171 iii ..
Chapter 13. The Federal Bureaucracy………………………………………………………………………187 Chapter 14. The Courts………………………………………………………………………………….…203 Chapter 15. The Budget and Economic Policies……………………………………………………………217 Chapter 16. Social Safety Nets…………………………………………………………………………..…231 Chapter 17. Foreign Policy and National Defense…………………………………………………………245
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Chapter One The American Democratic Republic Chapter Overview • • •
The meaning and appeal of eighteenth-century republicanism The meaning and appeal of democracy The hybrid American political system
The opening chapter sets forth the text’s basic theme that the “American democratic republic is the product of the encounter of the democratic aspirations of the American people with eighteenth-century republican constitutional foundations.” The chapter begins with a short account of the 2000 election and then asks the question of how George W. Bush could become president of a country that prides itself as being the world’s leading democracy when the person he was running against in the election received more popular votes. The answer that is provided is that the nation’s founders were not interested in creating a political system that would be directly responsive to popular majorities. While the Founders believed that government should be based on popular consent, they were most concerned with protecting individual rights. They feared that majority tyranny posed just as much of a threat to individual rights as the tyranny of an individual did. The authors provide a brief history of the republican principles that most of the Founders subscribed to, and discuss why these principles were so appealing to the new nation’s leaders. They summarize the central ideas of the republican tradition as follows: • • • •
Government should be based on the consent of the governed. Government should be limited in its powers and responsibilities. A written constitution should spell out the form and purposes of government. Governments should protect individual and property rights.
The republican tradition with its emphasis on limited government and protecting individual rights from majority tyranny is then contrasted with the democratic tradition. The democratic tradition celebrates the ability of ordinary people to rule themselves and sees government as the tool for carrying out the majority’s will. In reviewing the different democratic systems that have existed throughout history, the authors distinguish between direct democracy and representative democracy and explain why democracy in a large country like the United States must take the representative form. They suggest three benchmarks to use when evaluating how democratic a society is. The first of these benchmarks is popular sovereignty, the idea that the ultimate source of all public authority is the people. Popular sovereignty exists in those countries where: 1) government policies reflect the wishes of the people; 2) government leaders are elected; 3)
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elections are free and fair; 4) people participate in the political process; 5) people have access to credible political information; and 6) the majority rules. The second benchmark of democracy is political equality, the idea that each person’s vote counts the same and the people are treated equally under the law. The “equal protection” clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the 1965 Voting Rights Act have helped to extend political equality in the United States. Opinions remain divided on the relationship between political equality and economic equality and the extent to which substantial levels of economic inequality violate the norm of political equality. The third benchmark for democracy is political liberty, the idea that people should be free to express themselves and to work together to achieve their political objectives. Other basic freedoms include freedom of religion and conscience and freedom from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. While some political philosophers have viewed democracy as a threat to individual liberties, the authors argue that self-government and liberty are inseparable since a majority cannot deprive people of their liberty without violating democracy itself. In the chapter’s concluding section, the authors argue that there are many compelling reasons why democracy has grown so popular since the time of the nation’s founding. However, in the United States, democracy remains a work in progress because of the obstacles imposed by the nation’s republican constitutional foundations. In subsequent chapters, the authors will attempt to answer the question of “how democratic are we?” by applying the three basic benchmarks for democracy—popular sovereignty, political equality, and political liberty—introduced earlier in the chapter.
Key Concepts and Objectives Important concepts and objectives to stress in Chapter One include: • • • • •
The basic principles of the republican tradition and why they appealed so strongly to the nation’s early leaders; The basic principles of the democratic tradition and why their appeal has increased since the eighteenth century; How the encounter between popular democratic aspirations and the nation’s republican constitutional foundations produced the hybrid system we live under today; Areas in which republican and democratic principles complement one another and areas in which they come in conflict with one another; and The benchmarks or standards to use when assessing how democratic a political system is.
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