Study guide – PSC 201 exam one
1) What were the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?
No executive branch no national courts unicameral Congress required 9/13ths vote no power to levy taxes
2) Discuss the 3/5ths and Great compromises in detail.
3/5ths
Each slave count as 3/5 of vote
Used as a tool to get slave states to ratify
Great compromise
Aka Connecticut Compromise
Created bicameral Congress
House = population
Senate = equal
Compromise between Virginia and New Jersey plans
3) What framers were empowered to do, and what they did?
Create a new gov’t that had more stability
They came away with a bicameral Congress and established a stronger nat’l gov’t
4) Shay’s Rebellion was what? Who was Shay? How does this relate to our Constitution?
Shays’ Rebellion
Armed farmers took over courthouses to prevent judges from taking their farms for not paying their state taxes
Daniel Shays
Former soldier in Rev. War and farmer
Leader of rebellion
Constitution Relevancy
Made leaders realize that the Art of Confed. were not strong because of the lack of a strong nat’l gov’t
5) Give three pros and three cons of Federalism.
Pros
Promotes diversity
Protects individual rights from nat’l gov’t
Allows for experimentation
Cons
Difficult to enforce nat’l policy
May promote inequality
Spillover effects and competition
6) Discuss the difference between a mandate delegate representative and an independent trustee representative. Why would no one ever be on the extreme ends of this spectrum? Which type of representative would you prefer and why? I will give you a spectrum and several positions to place on the spectrum.
Mandate Rep
Votes way constituents want
House of Rep or City councilman
Deals with smaller number of constituents
Independent Rep
Votes way they feel
Pres, Senator or Governor
Deals with large number of constituents
7) What does the Rules committee do? Where does a bill go after Conference Committee?
Rules committee determine what bills will be debated on.
Conference Committee Congress Vote
8) What specifically was the goal of the Declaration of Independence? Who was the target audience?
Goal of Dec of Indep: to make the colonies more of a unified force and declare independence from British