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if no one wins the Electoral College must be the origin of bills to raise taxes O Senate ■ ● "Power of the Purse" ● to run: 30 years old, 9 years of citizenship, live in the state you plan to represent o originally chosen by state legislators, are now democratically elected (17th amendment) O used to be members of a state's elite class two per state regardless of population powers: O hold impeachment trials ■ Vice President presides unless the President or VP is impeached, then the Supreme Justice presides o ratify treaties with a 2/3rds vote treaties are agreed upon between POTUS and another country, then the Senate votes O confirm cabinet members that require confirmation ■ over 1000 positions Why two chambers? ● two "groups" of reasoning: historical and practical O historical reasoning: framers of the Constitution had different interests ■ framers from highly populated states would benefit from proportional representation(House, population-based seats) ● Virginia Plan ■ framers from poorly populated states would benefit from equal representation without regards to population(Senate) New Jersey Plan ■ Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan were combined to make compromises by a framer from Connecticut Connecticut Compromise/The Great Compromise o practical reasoning: having two chambers limits the power of the legislation. one chamber limits the power of the other (intra-branch check) ■ James Madison: Federalist Paper 51 Senate: older, more dignified, reasonable, wiser, more experience and deliberation; immune from the desires of the public • 6-year term, can stay in power without representing their constituents as much ● Senators know public interested more than the public itself elected by state officials: don't have to appeal to people for votes, more elite House: • carefully consider the interests of their constituents two-year terms: they get voted out if they don't represent their people America cares about taxation without representation, let the people decide taxes: only the House can introduce tax increases Summary: There are two chambers of Congress, and the two many groups of reasoning to explain this are historical reasoning and practical reasoning. Historical reasoning explains that framers from highly populated states favored population-based legislation because it gave their states more power. This is referred to as the Virginia Plan. Framers from states with lower populations favored equal representation in the legislation, with disregard for the population. This is known as the New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan were both considered in The Great Compromise made by a Connecticut framer. Practical reasoning goes that the House is meant to keep the interests of the people. It has a lower age requirement and shorter terms. These positions are democratically elected by the people. If representatives do not represent their people, they can be voted out of power. Taxation without representation is a big concern, so the House was given the power to raise taxes so that the people have more say in taxes. The Senate has a higher age requirement and longer (six-year) terms. Senators were originally nominated by State officials. Senators are meant to be more elite and wise, so that they may represent the "Public Interest" rather than constituents. Representation Procedures and rules Filibuster Holds Senate Two senators per state, regardless of population Less formal Yes Yes Yes Unanimous consent agreements Rules Committee Yes House of Representatives Number of representatives based on population More formal No No No Yes Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances ● three branches of government: Legislative, Executive, Judicial (in Constitutional order) What does each branch do? • Legislative →→→ most important, makes laws. Executive → carry out and enforce laws O POTUS is CEO, governing the government ● Judiciary → interprets the law, explain what it means O Article 3, shortest article ■ Highest court = Supreme Court, lower courts exist and can be established by Congress Checks and Balances each branch has some ability to "check" the other two, thus limiting the power of each branch Legislative Checks O most important branch, has the most checks on the other branches ■ Check Executive House: impeachment of the President Senate: vote for a verdict on impeachment, confirm Judiciary and cabinet nominees, ● Executive Checks O ● ● Check Judicial O Check Legislative ■ Both: investigate executive activities and officers, override a veto with 2/3rds vote of each chamber, refuse to pass laws that E branch wants, restrict funds from executive programs ● Judiciary Checks Federalism • impeach and remove Judges, reject Judicial nominees, add or remove courts, change Jurisdiction, write laws to override SCOTUS decisions (law mustn't be unconstitutional), propose new Constitutional amendments ■ veto Congresses laws, call Congress into special session VP is President of the Senate, breaks ties when needed, presides over the senate Check Judicial ■ President: nominate SCOTUS justices, federal court judges (DC Circuit???), pardoning, refuse to carry out court decisions O Check Legislative ■ declare a law unconstitutional CJ presides over impeachment trials O Check Executive ■ declare an Executive Order unconstitutional ■ issues warrants in Federal crime cases ■ invalidating laws in Executive actions Why Do We Have Checks and Balances? framers were fearful of a government destroying the people's rights(like the British did) and limited the powers of each branch to protect citizens (fight corruption) O Federalist Paper 51 (James Madison) What is Federalism? ● idea that power is divided between the government of US and the government of the state US federation of states ● Federal vs State Government: different jobs O Federal examples: war, between countries, delivering mail O State examples: licenses in any sense O common: taxes(federal and state tax) ● different types of federalism throughout American history dual federalism: founding - New Deal (1788-1937) O power is strictly divided between state and national governments(not separated, no separation of powers) ■ national jurisdiction: internal improvements such as interstate roads and canals, subsidies to states, tariffs(taxes on imports), owns public lands and regulates patents, controls currency state jurisdictions: property laws, inheritance laws, commercial laws, banking laws, corporate laws, insurance, family law, morality, public health, education, criminal laws, land use, elections, licensing ■ state government has more jurisdiction, have "police power" states rights → limited government ■ commerce clause: gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations. ■ no regulation of business O co-operative federalism: 1930s to now ■ FDR, New Deal, Great Depression --> changed the role of the federal government. ■ national government encourages state government to pursue nationally-defined goals • through money! federal government gives grant-in-aid to states (carrot on a stick, inseparable from eachother, marble cake) o Reagan took funding for roads/highways from states who wouldn't adopt the 21 y/o drinking age o given for a specific purpose: transportation, education, roads, alleviating poverty, etc. formula grants: states get a certain amount of $$$ based on a mathematical formula O o project grant: states propose project ideas in order to get money for the idea. states compete for limited resources. more common than formula grants block grants: state gets a big "blob" of money for a huge project: infrastructure, state decides how to spend ■ regulated federalism: federal government sets up regulations and rules for states to follow O ● EPA, civil rids, ADA may give money to fund the mandate. if not: unfunded mandate(ex. OSHA) o Congress passed the UMRA(Unfunded Mandates Reform Act) but it wasn't successful 21st century America: co-operative federalism with heavy regulations in certain areas O stretch from the original small government ideals O conservatives created new federalism(nixon and reagan promoted it): more power to states ■ three ways: block grants, devolution (states get power to enforce regulations), 10th amendment argument gives a break to the commerce clause ● had to compromise Constitutional Compromises most important document in America: the Constitution Constitution →→ 2nd attempt of American government O 1st was Articles of Confederation, well written but poorly executed tried to revise, was scrapped entirely Why Were the Articles of Confederation Bad? ● they couldn't govern O no executive branch, no judicial branch, no president government was just a congress with veto power over itself(confusing, that's the point) all decisions were collective, few were made no levy with taxes, had to ask states which could say no did deal with Western expansion: created ordinances without slavery O O O O Issues/Compromises • competing interests between states, different needs, populated states wanted proportional representation (like the House) →→→ virginia plan etc. etc. read above The Great Compromise Bicameral Legislature how to count slaves in the population? o populated states want to count slaves for more representation in the House O 3/5ths compromise O slaves are less than white people according to the Constitution Division: Federalists vs Anti-Federalists 1787: public opinion about the Constitution is divided O federalists: wanted the Constitution ■ intelligent, country benefits from strong central government, came from cities, represented wealthy people, pay debts, stronger ties with England, pro-business ■ federalist papers: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay ● convince New Yorkers to ratify the Constitution, it worked O anti-federalists: skeptical of large government, value individual liberties, low taxes, pro-slavery, power given to states, ■ poorly organized papers/publications ● federalists won, but needed to provide another compromise O Bill of Rights lol, outside of Convention, not a Constitutional compromise O compromised is embedded in the Constitution, basis of American government