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what's up everybody here's everything
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you need to know about unit one so let's
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go
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in this video I'm going to walk you
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through the most important Concepts from
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unit 1 using the study guide from the
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ultimate review packet so click the link
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below to get a free preview download the
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study guide and fill it in as you watch
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the video and be sure to smash that like
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button and subscribe because I'll be
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with you every step of the way from now
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through the AP exam unit 1 is
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foundations of American democracy there
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are three big ideas to look for first
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the balance of power between the federal
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and state government's second individual
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rights versus governmental power and
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third how the Constitution impacts us
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today let's get started the Declaration
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of Independence is the logical place to
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begin it provides the ideals of American
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democracy Jefferson described natural
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rights or what he called unalienable
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rights the idea that their rights that
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all people enjoy simply by being human
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then he gives us his version of the
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social contract the fundamental purpose
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of government is to protect People's
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Natural Rights saying that to secure
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these rights governments are instituted
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among men the rest of the sentence
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describes popular sovereignty that
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people are are the source of
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governmental power and people have the
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right to abolish a government that
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doesn't protect our rights our other
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main founding document the Constitution
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gives us our other two ideals it sets up
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a limited government but federal
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government has some Powers but those
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powers are limited the federal
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government only has powers granted to it
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by the Constitution additionally it sets
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up a Republican or representative form
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of government instead of people voting
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directly on laws people vote for
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Representatives who make the laws for
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them the U.S is not a pure democracy
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rather it's a republic or a
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representative democracy people do get a
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chance to vote but for people not
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policies there are three models of
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representative democracy that attempt to
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explain just how much political power
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people have and how they can influence
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policy this will definitely be on the
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exam participatory pluralist and Elite
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democracy participatory democracy
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emphasizes broad citizen participation
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in politics and Civil Society its focus
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on individuals getting involved and
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taking action for example people
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attending Town Hall meetings are
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protesting and demonstrating second
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pluralist democracy focuses on the role
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of group-based activism and groups
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competing for power and influence over
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policy for example there are multiple
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political parties and interest groups
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battling it out over various policies
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third Elite democracy suggests a more
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limited or filtered role for individuals
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like when people vote for
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Representatives instead of voting on the
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policies this model focuses on the role
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of a small group of Elites who have a
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disproportionately large share of
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political power there's also debate over
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the proper balance between governmental
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power and individual rights this is one
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of the major themes of apgov and kind of
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implicit in that question is another
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question what's the right balance of
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power between states and the federal
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government both of these debates are
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highlighted by two of the most important
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required documents Federalist number 10
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and Brutus number one in Federalist
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number 10 James Madison argued that the
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biggest threat to the nation was
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factions Madison was most concerned
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about majority groups that were opposed
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to the rights of smaller groups or the
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community as a whole He argued that in a
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pure democracy majority factions would
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trample the rights of minorities because
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there's nothing to stop the bigger group
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from doing whatever it wants whether
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it's good or bad so it's not wrong to
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say that Federal summer 10 is
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anti-democracy his solution was a larger
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public that would delegate power to
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elected representatives and would
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include so many different factions or
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groups that it would limit the ability
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of the majority to trample minority
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rights an anti-federalist paper Brutus
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number one argued in favor of democracy
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and local control over policies wanting
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people to have as much power as possible
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he preferred for power to be
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decentralized and warned about the
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threat to personal Liberty posed by a
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large centralized government that had
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the power to tax he warned that the
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necessary and proper clause would give
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Congress unlimited powers and of the
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supremacy clause would lead to the
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federal government obliterating state
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power since Federalist number 10 focuses
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on the role of groups you can use it to
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support pluralist democracy while you
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can use Brutus number one and its
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advocacy for the role of the individual
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to support participatory democracy but
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before we get to the Constitution we
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need to travel a little bit further back
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in time to the Articles Confederation
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which set up the original framework for
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U.S government the Articles of
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Confederation were based on the
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principle of State sovereignty where
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States had the ultimate authority over
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themselves it delegated a few specific
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powers to the national government like
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the power to declare war make treaties
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borrow money and create a currency but
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the only Branch was the legislative
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branch it had no enforcement Powers it
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couldn't regulate interstate commerce
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and most importantly it couldn't tax but
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this was totally on purpose remember
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they just got out of a super toxic
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relationship with Britain the last thing
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they wanted to do was create an overly
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strong central government unfortunately
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it ended up being too weak to most
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observers and when Shay's rebellion
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occurred the slow response from the
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federal government left a lot to be
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desired and it helped to shift public
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opinion in favor of expanding the power
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of the central government and this meant
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a new constitution tuition it's
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obviously important to know key features
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of the Constitution don't worry we'll
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get to that soon this section is all
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about negotiation and compromise this is
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one of the big ideas in all of apgov to
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get things done politically it usually
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takes negotiation and compromise nobody
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gets exactly what they want and then
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everybody can be upset together first
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example is the Great Compromise small
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states wanted each state to have equal
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representation in Congress while large
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states wanted representation based on
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population so the Great Compromise
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established a bicameral legislature in
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which the House of Representatives would
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be based off population and the Senate
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equally represented the states there was
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also the debate over whether Congress or
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the people should choose the president
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so the compromise was that instead the
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Electoral College would select the
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president and tell me that's not a
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perfect example of a compromise that
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leaves everybody confused and yelling at
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each other there's also the infamous
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Three-Fifths Compromise which decided
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that slaves would be counted as
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three-fifths of a person for the purpose
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of apportioning the house and the
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Electoral College and this led to
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Southern States being overrepresented of
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the house and the presidency for the
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first 70 years of the nation's history
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and lastly was the compromise on the
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importation of slaves which was an
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agreement that the slave trade could not
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be abolished for 20 years this
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compromise being the only way to secure
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Southern support for the constitution in
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Article 5 the Constitution set up an
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amendment process so that changes could
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be made in the future but not too easily
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the primary method requires two-thirds
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of both houses of Congress to propose an
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amendment followed by three-fourths of
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the states to ratify it the Federalists
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supported the new Constitution and a
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stronger central government while the
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Anti-Federalists oppose the constitution
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and advocated for states rights and
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demanded the inclusion of a Bill of
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Rights but this debate over the role of
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states and the federal government was
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far from settled by the Constitution in
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fact that debate is at the heart of the
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rest of unit 1. in Federalist number 51
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Madison describes the difficulty the
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framers are facing how do you establish
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a government that's strong enough to
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control the governed but is still
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limited and can't become come too strong
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the solution Madison proposes is a
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system of separation of powers where the
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different jobs of governing were split
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between three branches of the federal
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government the legislative branch makes
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laws the executive branch enforces laws
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and the Judiciary interprets laws
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additionally through checks and balances
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each branch would have certain ways to
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influence or limit the other branches on
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the AP exam be super careful because
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those terms are not interchangeable the
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key to recognizing checks and balances
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is that they involve interaction between
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branches not just one branch doing its
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job for example Congress has the power
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to impeach and remove the president or a
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federal judge from office if they are
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deemed to have abused their power but
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the framers weren't done dividing a
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Powers the Constitution set up an
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experiment with federalism the division
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of powers between the states and federal
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government under the Articles
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Confederation the states were Sovereign
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but now they agree to the Constitution
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which established shared sovereignty so
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now it depends on the issue whether the
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state or the federal government is in
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charge but but let's get specific
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delegated powers are powers the
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Constitution gave to the federal
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government things like coining money
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declaring war and regulating interstate
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commerce these are powers that belong
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only to the national government and are
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sometimes called exclusive Powers
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everything not delegated to the national
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government or denied to the states is
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reserved to the states there isn't a
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specific list instead it's basically
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everything left over including things
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like Education Health and Welfare
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licensing and a general police power and
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concurrent powers are exercised by both
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the states and the federal government
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they can both raise taxes and borrow
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money for example one of the things the
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AP exam loves to focus on is dynamic
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federalism which indicates the balance
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of power between states and the federal
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government has changed and continues to
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change over time in the past the
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relationship between states and the
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federal government could be described as
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dual or layer cake federalism meaning
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that it was pretty clear whether
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something was a federal or a state issue
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they each remain separate and supreme in
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their own spheres of influence and they
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didn't overlap educate patient was a
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state issue war was a federal issue
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simple but by the time of FDR and the
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New Deal we saw a shift to Cooperative
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or marble cake federalism this means
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that the lines between state and federal
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powers they became blur and the
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administration and costs of major
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programs are often shared between the
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two the primary way this happened is
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through government grants to the States
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Congress provides money to the state and
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in exchange the federal government gets
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influence over State policies there are
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four ways that money has gone from the
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federal to the state governments and
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trust me the AP exam loves to ask about
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them categorical grants provide money to
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States for a specific purpose the states
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get the money but Congress gets to tell
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the states exactly how to spend that
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money and Congress often includes
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incentives or conditions of Aid that
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states must follow to qualify to receive
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the money a classic example is when
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Reagan wanted to raise the drinking age
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to 21. Congress made doing so a
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condition of Aid to receive money for
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transportation technically states have
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the option to say yes or no but I'll let
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you tell me what happened Statesboro
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prefer to receive block grants because
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the money is for a broader purpose so
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they have more discretion but not total
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freedom over how the money gets spent
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until the late 80s there used to be
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something known as federal revenue
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sharing which states liked even more
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because they could spend the money on
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anything they wanted but this program
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ended decades ago on the other end of
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the spectrum are funded and unfunded
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mandates this is where the federal
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government establishes rules that states
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must follow and they may or may not
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provide money for implementation but
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either way states have no option and
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must follow those rules the big takeaway
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is that grants have helped shift the
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balance of power towards the federal
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government since it can now influence
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policy areas that are outside of its
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constitutional purview the other major
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explanation for the growth of federal
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power can be traced to three key
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constitutional Clauses in article 6 of
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The Constitution the supremacy clause
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tells us that when there is a conflict
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between state and federal law the
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federal law and Constitution are
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superior another big one is the
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necessary Syrian Proper Clause Article 1
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Section 8 lists all the powers of
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congress and then the last line
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basically comes along and says oh yeah
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Congress can do other stuff as long as
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it's necessary and proper for carrying
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out their enumerated powers enumerated
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powers are ones that are directly
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written down but with this Clause
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Congress also has implied powers
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expanding their power beyond what is
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directly written down the last of our
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big three the Commerce Clause allows
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Congress to regulate interstate commerce
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this Clause has been reinterpreted
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extremely broadly to allow Congress to
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regulate anything affecting interstate
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commerce and therefore is a major cause
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in the expansion of federal power there
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are two required federalism cases let's
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look at McCulloch vs Maryland First
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after Congress created National Bank
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some states got salty and tried to tax
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it the Supreme Court said that the
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necessary and proper clause means
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Congress has implied powers and can
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create a national bank and States can't
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tax the national government because of
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the supremacy clause total victory for
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the federal government US versus Lopez
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is a different story though Congress
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passed a law regulating guns at school
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and claimed that they could do so
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through their Commerce Clause Powers
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however the courts struck down that law
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and for the first time in nearly 60
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years how that there actually is a limit
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to congress's power under the Commerce
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Clause and reaffirmed that the 10th
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Amendment does reserve some powers to
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the states so the federal system gave
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citizens multiple ways to influence
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policy including federal state and local
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government institutions and like Madison
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wanted federal policy making is at times
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constrained by this sharing of powers
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between the three branches of government
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federalism allows for the federal
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government to make unified policies when
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necessary Nationwide but at the same
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time states can make their own policies
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in the absence of a national consensus
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and can also experiment with new
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policies this means they serve as
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Laboratories of democracy where we can
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observe What policies work in one state
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and don't work in another and then we
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can take the best ones and get rid of
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the worst alright that's it for unit one
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but there's a lot more in the ultimate
00:13:04
review packet like tons of multiple
00:13:06
choice practice 3 free full-length
00:13:08
practice exams complete with frqs and
00:13:11
tons of exclusive content that you can't
00:13:13
get anywhere else so do yourself a favor
00:13:15
and check it out until next time this
00:13:17
has been a la money production
