Why Gov. Exists
What are the four basic characteristics of a state?
Population, territory, government, and sovereignty
What form of government is ruled by a king or queen?
Monarchy
What principle means that government gets its authority from the people?
Popular sovereignty
What country ruled the American colonies before the American Revolution?
Great Britain
A government protects citizens from violence, provides public services, and maintains order.
What is the government doing?
Performing the basic functions/purposes of government.
What is the term for the supreme and independent authority of a state?
Sovereignty
What form of government is controlled by a small group of people?
Oligarchy
What are natural rights
Rights that people possess simply because they are human
What was one major complaint American colonists had about British government?
Taxation without representation, violations of colonial rights, lack of political representation, etc.
Citizens elect people to represent them in government.
Which principle of American democracy does this demonstrate?
Representative government.
Name TWO functions of government
Maintaining order, providing public services, protecting the nation, guiding the community, or managing the economy
What is the difference between a direct democracy and a representative democracy?
In a direct democracy, citizens participate directly in making decisions. In a representative democracy, citizens elect representatives to make decisions for them.
What is the social contract?
The idea that people agree to give government some authority in exchange for protection, order, and other benefits
What document announced that the American colonies were declaring themselves independent from Great Britain?
The Declaration of Independence
A government official is arrested for breaking the law. The official argues that the law should not apply to government officials.
Which principle of democracy says the official is wrong?
Rule of law
Why do people create government?
To provide order, security, services, and protection of rights among other functions
A country is controlled by one ruler who has almost complete political power. What form of government is this?
Dictatorship
What is the rule of law, and who must follow it?
The principle that everyone must follow the law, including government officials
According to the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence, where does legitimate government power come from?
The consent of the governed
A government is created to protect citizens' rights, but the government begins taking away those rights without justification.
Which two principles of American democracy are most clearly being threatened?
Natural rights and limited government.
Explain why a government needs both power and limits on its power.
Government needs enough power to maintain order, provide services, and protect citizens, but its power must be limited to prevent abuse and protect individual rights.
Why would representative government be more practical for a large country like the United States than direct democracy?
It would be difficult for millions of citizens to directly participate in every government decision, so citizens elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf.
Limited government restricts government power so that the government cannot easily violate the natural rights of its citizens.
Explain how the ideas of natural rights and popular sovereignty helped justify American independence.
Colonists believed people possessed basic natural rights and that legitimate government depended on the consent of the people. They argued that Britain had violated their rights and governed without their consent.
Put these ideas together into a logical explanation:
Natural Rights → Social Contract → Popular Sovereignty → Representative Government
How could these four ideas work together to explain the basic foundation of American democracy?
People possess natural rights. They create government through a social contract to protect those rights and provide order. Government gets its authority from the people through popular sovereignty, and citizens can exercise that authority by choosing representatives.