Summary Of Chapter 1 Of The American Political Tradition

In the year of 1776, the United States became an independent country. At that moment, the great men who fought for its independence began to create the government and shape American politics. In Richard Hofstadter's The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It, he identifies twelve of the most influential men and the political traditions they created, including the Founding Fathers who started it all. Additionally, Hofstadter informs the reader of other significant government officials including Andrew Jackson and his democracy, the progressive, trustbuster Theodore Roosevelt, and ending with Franklin D. Roosevelt and his programs of the New Deal. Richard Hofstadter's ideas are brilliantly

They aimed to create a government that would represent as an honest broker. According to the text, freedom of property would result in liberty for all people. This was not the case here. Most people during this stage in time were property owning males. That being woman or other person’s that didn’t own land. With property, liberty and democracy flourished. If you did not own land, you weren’t considered apart of society. Liberty and democracy are the principles of what the founding fathers had attempted to bring forward in the source of the idea of the United States. What they never had encountered was the problems that people faced in society, America is a utopian ideal. It seems to accept anyone on any terms, but that is where it is flawed. The founders wanting a balanced government was just close to the only decent forward to the

The idea of political culture is found within the state’s history. The history of the state is impacted by the people settled in the region, religious backgrounds, and geography. The history of the state influences the attitudes and beliefs that people hold regarding their political system. Daniel Elazar theorized a connection between the states’ history and attitude towards government by explaining differences in government between states. Every state is different with some common ground. Elazar’s theory divides states into three types: moralistic, traditionalistic and individualistic. The state’s constitution defines the powers of government with political culture bias. Because of the state constitution, the political culture

The Founding Fathers were not selfless and flawless human beings without any imperfections or personal bias. They were actually members of a political elite that were faced with a crumbling country that was suffering from a myriad of internal and external problems. The political environment after the Revolutionary War forced the new nation to either reform its ineffective government and address the critical issues of the time or else face complete destruction. Consequently, the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution, which created a far stronger and resilient political structure that prevented the United States from disbanding. However, this document was not the ultimate form of democracy that brought freedom to the Western world. Instead,

Without the Constitution, America would’ve been destroyed piece by piece by tyranny. So, that is why in the May of 1787, 55 wealthy white males gathered in Philadelphia for a Conventional Conventional. They met because the Articles of Confederation wasn’t working; there was no court system or chief executive. Their goal was to make a stronger central government which guarded against tyranny, and was strong enough to hold the states and people together. As said, the Articles of Confederation were very weak. However, the current constitution is not only stronger, but guards against tyranny with federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and the big states versus the small states. Tyranny, which defined by Madison, is when a group

This was the party slogan for the political culture in George Orwell’s novel, 1984; a stark, depressing world where “Big Brother” is watching you at all times. The political culture of the Untied States, thankfully, is a much more democratic and freeing environment. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...” is what we live by, not “Freedom is slavery.” The political culture of the United States is made up of two main concepts: liberty and equality. These will be discussed in this paper.

The Framers of the Constitution designed the constitution to establish a foundation that would assist the government lead the people and the United States. They hoped that a new form of national and long term thinking by men of prominence and motivated to serve the national public interest. “Key to ideology is an image of the people- a simple, united, political entity with the capacity as John Adams put it, to “think feel, reason, and act.” (Monrone, p.3) The people are wiser than their governors and they will solve the troubles that plague the nation. The people would be the governors, constituents, political agents, and principles. (Monrone, p.3)

After the American Revolution, the US was in deep trouble. The Articles of Confederation had failed, and the nation needed a new form of government. The first option was using the Constitution. The Constitution provided a quick solution for the nation. It gave the national government the power to act in place of the people (i.e. the government would be representing the people). America would be a democracy. The people would be able to elect leaders into the government who are smart, strong, and will best represent what the people want. This democratic form of government has proven to work within individual states, so it will work to govern the nation as a whole. Also, the Constitution will not allow a monarch to form. Laws will consistently be enforced, which also means that everybody will be paying fair taxes. People's natural rights are provided and protected in the preamble of the Constitution, and the constitution will unite us as one large nation which will be stronger. Despite all of these strong aspects of the constitution, many people were concerned about having one government rule over so much land, and because of the crisis that the United States was in, the constitution had been rushed, and there were many little parts that had been overlooked when it was made. Another viewpoint said that a bill of rights had to be added to the constitution. This side believed that the constitution should be revised carefully and thoroughly before it is used to govern America.

The founding fathers wanted to create a constitution because many believed that the national government had to be stronger than what it had been with the use of the Articles of Confederation. But at the same time they were fearful of human nature and how often it could be seen in the history of other countries such as Britain, for people in the position of power to infringe on the rights of others, by becoming hungry with power. Taking this into account, they wanted to create a government with another power to keep order and to govern. But also make sure there were sufficient checks put in

When the Founding Fathers were developing our government they looked back to famous writing of European Enlightenment thinkers. Two main documents the Founding Fathers started relied on were “Two Treatises” by John Locke and “Leviathan” by Thomas Hobbes. When the Founding Fathers were writing the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution, they needed starting point to base their government off of. As they were reading these documents, it became more and more obvious to be a successful independent Country they would need to create a strong government that would not only control everything but give rights to the people and let the governed have a big voice in how the government runs.

The Founding Fathers had learned from the past that a democracy was a form of lawless mob rule. They saw that the ancient Greeks tried a true democracy that had failed and led to chaos. A true democracy would not run efficiently or properly. The Founding Fathers saw our Government as a Republic (McManus 2001). They were realists who believed in limited government and low taxes. Their ideal was to build a unique structure of government to put into action their beliefs in nationalism, limited government, and separation of powers with check and balances, and judicial reviews. The Founding Fathers wanted to generate a strong government while ensuring that the government would not become a threat to liberty or property.

In a 1980 debate against Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan touched upon a core concern of the American electorate by asking one question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” (Healey and Lenz 2014). Political scientists have long debated what sways voters in presidential elections, and whether a candidate’s campaign and personality can transcend the economic fundamentals that face the nation. Although a slew of statistical studies and literature argue on both sides of this debate, a historical analysis demonstrates that economic fundamentals drive general election results. A range of studies show that the electorate responds to economic performance, although voters’ measures of economic well-being tend not to be simple summary figures like GDP growth over four years. The economy impacts the election in a more nuanced fashion. Firstly, voters tend to place a notable amount of weight upon the election year, with other periods playing less of a role in their decision making. Secondly, the metric used to evaluate economic prosperity should be a broad sweep of the voter’s perceptions, rather than a particular macroeconomic statistic. In order to match these theories with examples, we see historical incidences of incumbent parties with the odds

The government in the United States supposedly revolves around American ideals such as equality and diversity; however, this is simply not the case as perpetuated by class inequalities. The meaning of democracy has been skewed in the United States to represent something entirely different than it did in 1776. Today, American democracy behaves more like an aristocracy, where the upper class exercises power within the government and state, influencing discourse and therefore the laws and resources in our country, which are purportedly “for the people”. Democracy is presumed to provide everyone with equal political power, but the government in today’s America, although seemingly following this ideal model, does not. Instead, the elite upper class has a monopoly over the political influence and are the sole benefactors from public policies due to their influence over the policy making process. The upper class has an overall benefit from class inequality, as it greatly impacts American ‘democracy’ through the significant power gained through money and status, leadership roles that impact government, and the influence in the policymaking process that creates upper class advantages.

1.Analyze the evolution of the American political system. Be sure to include one individual or document that influenced the Constitution and one change in the federal system.

The American Political System The American political system is a federal system, which consists of