The Everything American Government Book

From the Constitution to Present-Day Elections, All You Need to Understand Our Democratic System

Nick Ragone

• Publisher: Everything
• Year: 2004
• eBook ISBN: 9781440522970
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Understand everything you need to know about our democratic system—from the Constitution to present-day elections—with The Everything American Government Book. If the confusion following the last presidential election is any indication, the average citizen knows precious little about the democratic system and the laws that affect their daily lives. The Everything American Government Book unravels the complexities of our democracy and provides you with the knowledge necessary to make the right decisions and take an active role in the management of our country. From the roots of American government and the challenges that have helped shape it over the years to its current structure and systems, this thoroughly researched work is ideal for anyone brushing up on civics, as well as students of all ages.You'll learn about:
-The personalities and events that gave rise to our current system
-The real significance of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution
-The functions of each branch of government and how they work together
-Private sector's influence on public policy and decision-making
-Ways to get involved and make a differenceSpecially designed to inform and empower the average citizen during this critical election year, The Everything American Government Book provides the keys to understanding the ins and outs of the most powerful democracy in the world.

Chapter 1
The Birth of a Nation

The American government is an institution born of reason and reflection. At its foundation lie three historic documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. While political leaders, movements, interpretations, and ideas have come and gone the past 200 years, the underlying principles of American government have remained the same.

Settling the New World

The story of American government dates back to the earliest settlement of North America. Our grade-school textbooks taught us that the first settlers were religious separatists who came to America to escape the Church of England. Some did seek religious freedom; others sought a new beginning; and still others were simply attracted to the adventure of it all. A few were even fortune seekers. None had any intention of changing the world—but they did.

Early Arrivals

The earliest English settlement took place at Roanoke Island, North Carolina. Established by Sir Walter Raleigh in the mid to late 1580s, the Roanoke Island colony is best remembered for its mysterious and sudden demise. The British government tried again, setting up a trading outpost at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Although the colony managed to survive for more than ninety years, it had to contend with harsh conditions and hostile Indians. Jamestown did leave an important legacy, however: The colonists adopted a representative assembly to govern their affairs, which was an important precedent that would be observed by later colonies.

For the first 150 years of settlement on the North American continent, the king and English Parliament showed little interest in the nuances of colonial government. The Crown viewed the colonies as nothing more than a vast market for English goods and provider of an endless supply of natural resources. Government took a back seat to commerce.

The year 1620 saw the establishment of a colony in New England, when the Puritans crossed the Atlantic and landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Crown did not charter these pilgrims; rather, they were fleeing England in search of greater religious freedom and tolerance.

Before touching land, forty-one men on board the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact—a social contract that bound them to obey the authority of whatever government was established on land. Though the compact wasn’t a constitution, it did have a profound impact on future generations of colonists, because it established the precedent that any governing authority in the New World requires the consent of the people. This was a unique and powerful notion that would spread throughout the colonies.

The Colonies Flourish

By 1732, all of the original thirteen colonies were established. By this time, the colonies had already developed a strong tradition of limited government and local rule. Though technically governed from London, the colonies enjoyed an enormous amount of autonomy. In fact, all thirteen had popularly elected legislatures that passed laws, levied taxes, and set policy, and each also had a formal governing document that resembled a constitution. For instance, Connecticut had the Fundamental Orders, Pennsylvania passed the Frame of Government, and Massachusetts adopted the Body of Liberties.

Given its vast distance from the New World, and its abiding interest in commerce with the colonies, Britain found the system of home rule equally agreeable. It was a comfortable fit on both sides of the Atlantic.

Prelude to a Revolution

Relations between the colonies and Britain remained smooth through the mid 1750s, until the French and Indian War. Although ultimately victorious, the tremendous cost of waging this seven-year war left England virtually bankrupt. Parliament decided to replenish Britain’s treasury by taxing the colonies; something it hadn’t done before.

Beginning in 1763, the British Parliament began imposing a series of taxes and demands on the colonies, including the Sugar Act, the Town-shend Acts, and the Quartering Act. The most controversial measure was the Stamp Act of 1765, which raised a tax on all printed materials—everything from newspapers and legal documents to consumer products like playing cards. The colonies rallied around the idea of “no taxation without representation” and began to boycott British goods, effectively forcing the British Parliament to repeal the tax. For the first time, the colonies had acted in unison to thwart Britain’s will. This was an important first step toward gaining independence.

Things came to a boiling point in 1773, when a group of patriots called the Sons of Liberty boarded three British ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. In response to what was called the Boston Tea Party, King George III quarantined Boston Harbor and seized control of Boston’s government.

Many people ascribe the following line to the Constitution: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Actually, it appears in the Declaration of Independence.

The Struggle for Independence

Alarmed by the developments in Massachusetts, the colonies convened the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia on September 4, 1774. Independence and revolution were not on the agenda. The primary action was the adoption of a Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which reiterated the colonists’ opposition to taxes and reasserted their right to home rule. The delegates also agreed to boycott British goods and raise their own troops. Ultimately, their goal was to reclaim colonial autonomy—not independence.

By the time the delegates gathered for the Second Continental Congress in the spring of 1775, fighting had already begun between the colonists and the British army. Skirmishes had taken place at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, and the port of Boston was under British occupation. The Congress appointed George Washington commander in chief of the ragtag militia that had formed outside of Boston, even though there was no formal declaration of war against England.

With the colonists evenly divided between British loyalists and revolutionaries, heated debate engulfed the thirteen colonies. Virginian Thomas Paine brilliantly articulated the revolutionary cause in his pamphlet Common Sense, which sold more than 120,000 copies in the early months of 1776. “It is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance,” wrote Paine. It was a sentiment that was sweeping the colonies.

Do you know when the Declaration of Independence was signed?
Although the Declaration of Independence was formally adopted on July 4, the delegates to the Second Continental Congress didn’t actually sign the document until August 2.

The Declaration of Independence

In the spring of 1776, the Second Congress set out to formally declare its independence from Britain. A young Virginian named Thomas Jefferson was assigned the task of drafting the document, which he presented to the full Congress in late June. After debate and revision, the Congress adopted Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, and with that step embarked on one of the most momentous experiments in all humankind. There would be no turning back.

The Declaration of Independence accomplished three things:

1. It laid out a new governing principle—specifically, that all persons are created equal with certain unalienable rights, and that governments derive their power from the consent of the governed.

2. It set forth a specific list of grievances against King George III.

3. It formally declared war against Britain.

Winning the War

The Declaration of Independence made it clear to Britain that the colonies were fighting for their sovereignty. King George III and the British Parliament expressed little concern, and with good reason: few believed that a disorganized militia of peasants and farmers could prevail over the greatest army in the world.

For much of the war, the colonists suffered one defeat after another, overwhelmed by the better-trained, better-equipped, better-funded, and better-fed British army. On more than one occasion, it took everything George Washington could muster to keep the Continental Army from disbanding. But the revolutionary spirit gained momentum as the war progressed. With victories at places like Cowpens, South Carolina; Monmouth, New Jersey; and Saratoga, New York, the tide turned for the Continental Army. On October 19, 1781, George Washington defeated British General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, forcing England to sue for peace. After six long years, the war was finally over.

Articles of Confederation

Declaring independence from Britain was one thing; creating a new government was quite another. With the backdrop of war, the colonists hammered out the Articles of Confederation in only sixteen months (from July 1776 to November of the following year). It took longer to ratify: South Carolina was the first to sign in February 1778; Maryland was the last in March of 1781. During its short existence, the Articles would account for few successes and many failures.

George Washington was so dismayed by the Articles of Confederation that he referred to it as “a half-starved limping government, that appears to be always moving upon crutches and tottering at every step.”

A Flawed Document

As a governing document, the Articles of Confederation was flawed from the start. With the memory of British oppression still fresh, the colonists—particularly outspoken revolutionaries like Sam Adams, Patrick Henry, and John Hancock—were wary of creating a strong central government. Most preferred a loose confederation of states, with the national government subordinate to them. In effect, they were trying to reproduce a system of local rule that prevailed prior to the French and Indian War.

The organizing principle of the Articles was a unicameral (single-body) legislature with limited authority. Each state had one vote in this Congress, and there was no independent executive or judiciary branch. Instead, the Congress appointed temporary officers to do this work. Major pieces of legislation, such as raising revenues or amending the Articles, required a unanimous vote, which meant that any one state held veto power over the national government. When the Congress was out of session—which was frequent—a conference of delegates from each state acted in its stead.

An uprising in western Massachusetts led by a bankrupt farmer named Daniel Shays finally convinced political leaders that the Articles of Confederation was ineffective. Shays’s Rebellion was put down in the autumn of 1786, and it spurred political leaders to convene the Constitutional Convention the following year.

The Articles of Confederation lacked the power to perform the most basic tasks, such as regulating interstate commerce, establishing a national currency, taxing the people directly, enforcing treaties, raising revenues, or com...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Top Ten Things You Should Know About American Government
• Introduction
• 1: The Birth of a Nation
• 2: The Constitution
• 3: The Bill of Rights
• 4: The House of Representatives
• 5: The Senate
• 6: Inside Congress
• 7: Making a Law
• 8: The Presidency
• 9: Powers of the President
• 10: The Vice Presidency
• 11: Cabinet and Staff
• 12: The Rest of the Federal Bureaucracy
• 13: The Federal Judiciary
• 14: The Supreme Court
• 15: The Federal Budget
• 16: Political Parties
• 17: Interest Groups
• 18: The Media
• 19: Presidential Primaries and Elections
• 20: State Government
• 21: Local Government
• 22: Getting Involved
• Appendix A • Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States
• Appendix B • Timeline of Events
• Copyright