...amount of power. The colonies declared independence from Britain in 1776 where the Articles of Confederation were created as the first constitution of the United States. In May 1787, delegates gathered at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia , where Madison was able to start his ideas for an effective government system in his “Virginia Plan,” which described a government with three branches known as legislative, executive, and judicial. Madison helped Virginia evolve their constitution, securing the Virginia Plan that served as the basis for the debate in the addition of the U.S. constitution. He argued firmly for a strong central government that would bring the country together. Playing a strong role in the ratification process, Madison...
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...on societies. It undermines democracy and the rule of law, leads to violations of human rights, distorts markets, erodes the quality of human life, and allows organized crime, terrorism and other threats to human security to flourish. This evil phenomenon is found in all countries… but it is in the developing world that its effects are most destructive. Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting funds intended for development, undermining a Government’s ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice and discouraging foreign aid and investment. Corruption is a key element in economic under-performance and a major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development.” Koffi Anan, foreword, United Nations Convention against Corruption, 2003. When Democracy and central governance was formed in ancient Greece, it was for the very purpose of preventing the powerful few putting their needs above those of the masses they ruled – after all ‘Democracy’, stems from the Greek demos and kratia literally meaning the power of the people. For peoples familiar only with autocracies and hereditary monarchies, this was a radical notion. Why then, in some modern democracies, has the word government come to be almost synonymous with corruption? Corruption in government is now seen to be an unavoidable consequence of humans holding power, and the oft-cited moniker from British Lord Acton of ‘power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely’ seems truer now than ever...
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...latin, science and philosophy, along with other subjects. Although he officially graduated in 1771, he stayed to continue his studies with the president of the school. When he returned home in 1772 he got involved in politics and in 1774 he was elected to the Orange County Committee of Safety and in 1775 he joined the militia of virginia as a colonel. In 1776 he served at the Virginia convention as Orange County’s representative, at which time he met Thomas Jefferson, and the two soon became extremely close. When James Madison was asked to serve on the committee to write Virginia’s Constitution, he and George Mason worked together on the draft. One of his many contributions was reworking some of the language about religious freedom. Madison was a strong believer in the American-French alliance during the Revolution. In 1780 in Philadelphia he served as one of Virginia’s delegates to Continental Congress. In 1783 he returned to virginia and he became the champion for church and state and helped virginia gain religious freedom. In 1787, James Madison represented Virginia at the Constitutional convention, and he campaigned for a strong central government. He expressed his ideas about a three-part government that would consist of executive, legislative and judicial branches. He also believed in the importance of checks and balances, to prevent the abuse of power by any one group. Many of his ideas were included in the constitution, however, the document faced some opposition in his...
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...the creation of America,especially with his assistance in the Constitutional Convention, Madison had proven himself time after time again to be one of the most significant people in American History. His many influences, including his position as a politician, service as secretary of state for President Thomas Jefferson, and the responsibility of being a president himself, have remarkably strengthened America’s impact on the world. James Madison was the most influential person to America due to his contributions as a Founding Father, a secretary of state, and as the fourth president of the United States of America. Madison’s life all began in the city of Port Conway, Virginia. He was born on March 16th, 1751 to James Madison Sr. and Nelly Conway Madison, who were both wealthy tobacco merchants (“James Madison” C). He was the first child born in the family and was the eldest out of his eleven siblings (“James Madison” C). When he became an adult at the age of eighteen, he...
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...already constructed. The great majority of the new state's approximately 100,000 white inhabitants were natives of the South, who, as they settled in the eastern timberlands and south central plains, had built a life as similar as possible to that experienced in their home states. Their economy, dependent on agriculture, was concentrated first on subsistence farming and herding and then on production of cotton as a cash crop. This meant the introduction of what southerners called their "Peculiar Institution"-slavery.qv In 1846 Texas had more than 30,000 black slaves and produced an even larger number of bales of cotton (see COTTON CULTURE). Political institutions were also characteristically Southern. The Constitution of 1845,qv written by a convention in which natives of Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia alone constituted a majority, depended heavily on Louisiana's fundamental law as well as on the existing Constitution of the Republic of Texas.qv As befitted an agricultural state led...
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...ABOUT THE BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law is a non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on fundamental issues of democracy and justice. Our work ranges from voting rights to redistricting reform, from access to the courts to presidential power in the fight against terrorism. A singular institution – part think tank, part public interest law firm, part advocacy group – the Brennan Center combines scholarship, legislative and legal advocacy, and communications to win meaningful, measurable change in the public sector. ABOUT THE BRENNAN CENTER’S LIBERTY AND NATIONAL SECURITY PROJECT The Brennan Center initiated its Liberty and National Security project two years ago to foster better public understanding of the importance of accountability, transparency, and checks-and-balances in the formulation and implementation of national security policy. We have since been at the forefront of advocating for sound, rights-respecting policy prescriptions based on broad public participation and informed discussion. Our staff engages in a spectrum of public education, legislative advocacy, litigation and scholarly activity. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jonathan Hafetz is Litigation Director of the Liberty and National Security Project at the Brennan Center. He is actively involved in post-9/11 litigation involving detainee rights and other national security issues, and is lead counsel in several leading detention...
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...the abolition of slavery (slaves were considered a major asset in the southern states), the following timeline shows there were many other factors involved as well. From the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the firing of the first shots at Fort Sumter, America’s journey for equality and unity was a hard one, leaving in its wake destruction, discord, and civil unrest. ____________________________________________________________ ____________ 1776: Declaration of Independence • Was written by Thomas Jefferson • Was signed on July 4th, severing all ties to Britain 1787: Northwest Ordinance • Was passed on July 13th establishing the intent to expand into the West adding new states to the Union. Constitutional Convention • Held their final meeting on September 17th signing into effect the Constitution of the United States. 1794: The Cotton Gin • Was patented by Eli Whitney, increasing the production of clean cotton • The value of and need for slaves increased within the cotton states. 1820: The Missouri Compromise • Was established to...
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...foundation for the government of the United States. The Constitution was written in 1787. This was four years after the U.S. signed a peace treaty with Great Britain. This peace treaty gave the thirteen British colonies their independence. They formed a new country, the United States of America. The men who wrote the Constitution are called our “Founding Fathers.” Some of them were: George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Gouveneur Morris, and Benjamin Franklin. The Founding Fathers took ideas from many places. They took parts from their state constitutions. They took parts of Britain’s Magna Carta. They studied the governments of ancient Greece and Rome. They got ideas from philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Charles de Montesquieu and Thomas Paine. They used some ideas from Iroquois Indians union of tribes. Cover painting; “The Signing of the Constitution” by Chandler Howard Christie hangs in the House of representatives...Courtesy TeachingAmericanHistory.com 2 The Constitution in Simple English ©2010 Elizabeth Claire, Inc Fifty-five delegates from twelve states met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in May 1787. These delegates had come to fix the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation had held the states together during the War for Independence. However, it was not strong enough to hold the states together after that. Soon the delegates saw that the Articles of Confederation could not be fixed. They had to write a...
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...UNIT 1 Answer Key CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 1 Section 1 Prereading and Vocabulary 2 Reading Comprehension 3 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. oligarchy citizen democracy constitution state two basic levels; certain decisions; only the federal government; each of the states Federalism is a system of government in which power is divided between a central government and several regional, or state, governments. 1. Population; the people who live within the boundaries of the state 2. Territory; land with known and recognized boundaries 3. Sovereignty; the supreme and absolute power within a state’s territory to decide its own foreign and domestic policies 4. Government; the institution through which society makes and enforces public policies 5. Force theory; the state was born of force, when one person or a small group gained control over people in an area and forced them to submit to that person’s or group’s rule. 6. Evolutionary theory; the state evolved from early families that united to form clans. Later, clans united to form tribes. As tribes settled into agricultural groups over time, they formed states. 7. Divine right theory; God created the state and gave a chosen few the right to rule. 8. Social contract theory; people voluntarily agreed to create a state and give to the government just enough power to promote the safety and well-being of all. Government exists to serve the will of the people, and the people are the sole source of political...
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...OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY OUTLINE OF OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY C O N T E N T S CHAPTER 1 Early America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 CHAPTER 2 The Colonial Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 CHAPTER 3 The Road to Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 CHAPTER 4 The Formation of a National Government . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 CHAPTER 5 Westward Expansion and Regional Differences . . . . . . . 110 CHAPTER 6 Sectional Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 CHAPTER 7 The Civil War and Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 CHAPTER 8 Growth and Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 CHAPTER 9 Discontent and Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 CHAPTER 10 War, Prosperity, and Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 CHAPTER 11 The New Deal and World War I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 CHAPTER 12 Postwar America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 CHAPTER 13 Decades of Change: 1960-1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 CHAPTER 14 The New Conservatism and a New World Order . . . . . . 304 CHAPTER 15 Bridge to the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 PICTURE PROFILES Becoming a Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....
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...I. “REVOLUŢIA GLORIOASĂ” 1. ORIGINILE REVOLUŢIEI ENGLEZE Anglia secolului XVI cunoscuse o rapidă dezvoltare industrială bazată pe meşteşuguri, comerţ, minerit şi transporturi, concomitent cu apariţia fermei de tip capitalist bazat pe fenomenul „împrejmuirilor”. In 1603, la moartea Elisabetei I, tronul englez a revenit regelu Scoţiei, Iacob I Stuart. Ocuparea tronului de către Stuarţi aducea modificări importante în Anglia, unde Tudorii guvernaseră ca monarhi absoluţi, graţie abilităţii şi personalităţii lor. Stuarţii urmăreau instaurarea unui absolutism de drept, ceea ce contravenea realităţilor politice din Anglia, unde Parlamentul - format din Camera Comunelor şi Camera Lorzilor - împărţea puterea cu monarhia. Atât Iacob I, cât şi fiul său, Carol I (1625-1649), au încercat să guverneze fără a convoca Parlamentul, cu ajutorul Consiliului Privat, pe ai cărui membri îi numeau sau revocau după bunul lor plac. Ei legiferau prin proclamaţii regale şi exercitau puterea juridică prin Camera înstelată şi Curtea înaltei Comisiuni. Stuarţii agreau catolicismul într-o ţară anglicană, unde se dezvoltase mişcarea numită puritanism, care urmărea înlăturarea oricărei rămăşiţe a catolicismului.Apar contradicţii între absolutismul monarhic al regilor din familia Stuart(Iacob I şi Carol I), susţinut de vechea aristocraţie şi regimul parlamentar susţinut de Londra, burghezie şi noua nobilime. În plan religios biserica anglicană se confruntă cu curentele radicale protestante ce solicită înlăturarea...
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