AP Gov 1.6 | Principles of American Government | NEW!
Summary
TLDRThis video delves into the principles of American government, emphasizing the framers' wariness of concentrated power. It outlines the system of separation of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, and the checks and balances that prevent any branch from dominating. The video also touches on the framers' intent to protect individual rights through a limited government. It raises the question of whether political parties affect the current effectiveness of these checks and balances. Additionally, it discusses the Constitution's limits on federal power, such as the writ of Habeas Corpus, prohibition of bills of attainder, and ex post facto laws. The video concludes with a brief on Article 4's rules governing state interactions.
Takeaways
- 🏛️ The framers of the U.S. Constitution were wary of concentrated power and designed a system of checks and balances to prevent any one branch or person from holding too much authority.
- 📚 Separation of powers refers to the distinct roles assigned to each branch of government: legislative (Congress), executive (President), and judicial (Supreme Court), ensuring that each has its own specific powers.
- ⚖️ Checks and balances allow each branch to limit the actions of the others, such as the President's power to veto legislation passed by Congress.
- 👨⚖️ The judicial branch's check on the other branches is through the power of judicial review, which allows them to declare actions unconstitutional.
- 📜 Federalist No. 51, authored by James Madison, discusses the importance of separation of powers and checks and balances in establishing a government that is both strong and limited.
- 🤔 The video script raises a thought-provoking question about whether the emergence of political parties has affected the intended operation of checks and balances.
- 🌐 Power in the U.S. is decentralized among federal, state, and local governments, in contrast to centralized power, which the framers opposed.
- 🚫 The original Constitution included limits on federal power, such as the writ of Habeas Corpus, prohibition of bills of attainder, and prevention of ex post facto laws, to protect individual rights.
- 🗣️ The full faith and credit clause mandates that states must respect the legal decisions made in other states, such as recognizing marriages conducted in different states.
- 🛂 The privileges and immunities clause prevents states from discriminating against citizens from other states, ensuring equal treatment under the law.
- 🔏 The requirement for extradition in the Constitution ensures that states return fugitives or suspected criminals to the state that has a claim on them.
Q & A
What is the main concern of the framers of the American government as discussed in the video?
-The main concern of the framers was to prevent any person or part of the government from having too much power.
How does the concept of separation of powers work in the American government?
-Separation of powers is the idea that each branch of government is assigned specific jobs. Congress makes laws, the executive branch enforces laws, and the judicial branch interprets laws.
What is the difference between separation of powers and checks and balances?
-Separation of powers refers to the distribution of distinct functions among different branches of government, while checks and balances refer to the ability of each branch to limit or block the actions of another branch.
How does the president exercise a check on the power of Congress?
-The president can veto legislation passed by Congress, which is a way to check their law-making power.
What is the process for Congress to remove the president or federal judges?
-The House can impeach by charging the president with a simple majority vote, and then the Senate holds an impeachment trial where they can convict and remove the president with a 2/3 vote.
What is the judicial branch's check on the other branches?
-The judicial branch can rule on the constitutionality of actions taken by the other branches, effectively checking their power by declaring laws or actions unconstitutional.
Why did James Madison write Federalist No. 51?
-James Madison wrote Federalist No. 51 to discuss the difficulty of establishing a government that is strong enough to protect people's rights but not so strong that it could take those rights away.
How does the emergence of political parties affect the intended function of checks and balances?
-The emergence of political parties might affect the intended function of checks and balances by potentially leading to situations where one party dominates multiple branches of government, thus reducing the effectiveness of the checks and balances system.
What is the original Constitution as mentioned in the video?
-The original Constitution refers to the Constitution before any amendments like the Bill of Rights were passed.
What is the writ of Habeas Corpus and how does it limit federal power?
-The writ of Habeas Corpus is a legal principle that protects individuals from being detained indefinitely without being brought before a judge or being informed of the charges against them.
What is a bill of attainder and why is it prohibited by the original Constitution?
-A bill of attainder is a law that declares a person guilty without a trial. The original Constitution prohibits this to ensure that individuals receive a fair trial and due process.
What is an ex post facto law and why is it prohibited?
-An ex post facto law is a law that criminalizes an action retroactively, after the fact. It is prohibited to protect individuals from being punished for actions that were legal at the time they were committed.
What are the three rules about the relationships between states outlined in Article 4 of the Constitution?
-The three rules are: the full faith and credit clause, which requires states to respect legal decisions from other states; the privileges and immunities clause, which prevents states from discriminating against citizens from other states; and the requirement for extradition of criminals caught in other states.
Outlines
🏛️ Principles of American Government
This paragraph introduces the foundational principles of American government, focusing on the framers' suspicion of concentrated power. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the concepts of 'separation of powers' and 'checks and balances', explaining that they are not interchangeable. The separation of powers refers to the distinct roles assigned to each branch of government: Congress for law-making, the executive branch for law enforcement, and the judicial branch for law interpretation. Checks and balances describe the mechanisms by which each branch can limit the actions of the others, such as the president's veto power over Congress or Congress's power to impeach the president and federal judges. The paragraph also touches on the framers' intention to protect individual rights by preventing any single entity from amassing too much power, linking back to the concept of a limited government. The discussion concludes with a reference to Federalist No. 51 by James Madison, which further elaborates on the necessity of a balanced government structure to safeguard rights without infringing upon them.
📜 Constitutional Limits on Federal Power
The second paragraph delves into specific constitutional limitations on federal power as established by the original Constitution. It discusses the writ of Habeas Corpus, which safeguards against indefinite detention by requiring a prompt judicial review of arrests. The prohibition of bills of attainder is highlighted, which prevents Congress from declaring individuals guilty without a trial. The paragraph also addresses the prohibition of ex post facto laws, which criminalize actions retroactively. Additionally, it outlines the rules governing state interactions under Article 4 of the Constitution: the full faith and credit clause, which mandates states to honor legal decisions from other states; the privileges and immunities clause, which prevents states from discriminating against citizens of other states; and the requirement for extradition, which mandates states to return fugitives to the requesting state. The paragraph concludes with a call to action for viewers to prepare for an upcoming test, suggesting the use of the Ultimate Review Packet as a study aid.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Separation of Powers
💡Checks and Balances
💡Federalist No. 51
💡Limited Government
💡Writ of Habeas Corpus
💡Bill of Attainder
💡Ex Post Facto Law
💡Full Faith and Credit Clause
💡Privileges and Immunities Clause
💡Extradition
Highlights
The framers of the American government were suspicious of power concentration.
Separation of powers and checks and balances were established to prevent any single entity from having too much power.
Separation of powers assigns specific roles to each branch of government: Congress makes laws, the executive branch enforces laws, and the judicial branch interprets laws.
Checks and balances allow each branch to limit or block actions of another branch, ensuring a balance of power.
The president can veto legislation passed by Congress as a check on their power.
Congress can impeach and remove the president and federal judges, with the House indicting and the Senate holding trials.
The judicial branch can declare actions of other branches unconstitutional, serving as a check.
Federalist No. 51 by James Madison discusses the difficulty of creating a government that is strong yet limited in power.
The concept of limited government is part of ensuring that no part of the government has too much power.
The emergence of political parties may affect the intended operation of checks and balances.
Power in the U.S. is decentralized among federal, state, and local governments to prevent concentration of power.
The original Constitution, before amendments, limited federal power in three specific ways.
The writ of Habeas Corpus protects individuals from indefinite detention without charges.
Congress is prohibited from passing bills of attainder, which declare a person guilty without a trial.
Ex post facto laws, which criminalize actions retroactively, are forbidden by the Constitution.
The full faith and credit clause requires states to respect legal decisions from other states.
The privileges and immunities clause prevents states from discriminating against citizens of other states.
Extradition is required when a fugitive is found in a state other than the one requesting them.
Transcripts
What’s up everybody! Today we’re talking about principles of American government.
Be sure to smash that like button and get your notes ready to go!
I can sum up this
video by telling you that the framers were super suspicious of power and they didn’t
want any person or part of the government to have too much power. To accomplish this,
they set up a system of separation of powers and
checks and balances. Don’t use these terms interchangeably, they are not the same.
Separation of powers is the idea that each branch of government is assigned a specific job or jobs,
for example Congress makes laws, the executive branch enforces laws, and the judicial branch
interprets laws. They each have their own job or their own power so the powers are separated.
Checks and balances refers to the ability that each branch has to limit or to block
action of another branch. So, we’ll see some sort of interaction between two branches
happening. For example, the president has the power to veto legislation by Congress,
so Congress makes the law, that’s their power, but then the president can check
that power by vetoing the bill and blocking it from becoming a law.
Congress has the power to impeach and remove the president and federal judges. The House
can impeach, which means indict or charge the president with a simple
majority vote. Then the Senate holds the impeachment trial, where they can convict
and remove the president with a 2/3 vote. Judicial checks are the easiest because
their check is that they can rule things the other branches did unconstitutional.
Unit 2 is all about the branches and it’s even called interactions between the branches,
so you’ll get tons more examples soon enough. For now, remember the reason why the framers
set up separation of powers and checks and balances was to ensure that no one branch or
person could have too much power. So, this was their way of trying to protect the rights of
individuals. Remember that vocab term from the first video, limited government? This
is part of that limit, making sure no part of government could have too much power.
Federalist No. 51 is one of your required documents and that is all about separation
of powers and checks and balances. In Federalist No. 51 James Madison points
out how difficult it is to establish a government that’s strong enough to
protect people’s rights but not strong enough to take people’s rights away. A
truly limited government. His solution was separation of powers and checks and balances.
It’s a little early in the course for this, but a thought-provoking question is, with the
emergence of political parties, are we sure that checks and balances still work today as intended?
Because of the Constitution, power is decentralized, meaning it’s not all concentrated
or held in one place. Not in one person, one branch, or even one level of government.
We have federal, state, and local governments. Centralized power is the opposite, and obviously
from this lesson we know the framers were extremely opposed to the centralization of power.
Okay, so now we’re going to shift gears a little bit and talk about a few specific
things in the Constitution, specifically three ways that federal power was limited
by the original Constitution. When I say original Constitution, by the way,
I mean the Constitution before any amendments like the Bill of Rights were passed. That’s
actually important because you’ll see that on tests sometimes. It doesn’t
mean the Articles of Confederation, which can sometimes trip students up.
First, is the writ of Habeas Corpus, which protects people from being arrested and
detained indefinitely. If you’re arrested, you have to brought to a judge and either informed
of the charges against you or released. Some recent legislation notwithstanding,
this is an important limit on federal power and a protection of individual rights.
Next, Congress isn’t allowed to pass bills of attainder. A bill of attainder is a law that
declares a person guilty without a trial. Hopefully, that sounds like such a bad
idea that it requires no further explanation. Happily, Congress isn’t allowed to do this.
And thirdly, Congress is prevented from passing any ex post facto law. Ex post facto literally
means after the fact. So, this refers to a law that criminalizes something after it was
already done. For example, you’re watching this LaMoney production today and it’s legal to do so.
But say tomorrow Congress passes a law banning LaMoney productions and they arrest you because
you watched back when it was legal. That’s an ex post facto law and they aren’t allowed.
In Article 4 there are three rules about the relationships between states in the
Constitution. First, according to the full faith and credit clause,
states must respect the legal decisions of the other states. For example,
if you get married in one state you’re still married if you move to another state.
Next, the privileges and immunities clause prevents a state from discriminating against
citizens from other states. For example, states can’t prevent out-of-state residents from
traveling or working in the state and can’t charge them higher taxes than the state’s residents.
And lastly, it has a requirement for extradition. If an escaped fugitive or a suspected criminal
is caught in another state, the state would send him back to the state requesting him.
Alright, that’s it for this one. Keep it up,
you’re doing great! This has been a LaMoney production.
And hey, if you haven’t already, what are you waiting for? Check out
the Ultimate Review Packet. That Unit 1 test is getting close and I have the practice and
study guides you need to help you ace that test! See you in the next video.
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