A list of "political" topics from Wikipedia

Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. Although the term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, politics is observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. Politics consists of "social relations involving authority or power" and refers to the regulation of a political unit, and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy. Political science is the study of political behavior and examines the acquisition and application of power. Related areas of study include political philosophy, which seeks a rationale for politics and an ethic of public behavior, and public administration, which examines the practices of governance.

By the spring of 1776 a series of astonishing events (the Boston Tea Party, the closing of Boston Harbor, the hostilities at Lexington and Concord, the Gunpowder Incident in Williamsburg, and the Battle of Bunker Hill) had transformed the political landscape.

King George III proclaimed the colonies to be in open rebellion, and Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, published in January 1776, attacked monarchical government and called upon the American colonies to declare themselves free and independent.

• Thomas Paine's Common Sense Part 1 (67 min)
• Thomas Paine's Common Sense Part 2 (62 min)

 
A battle had been fought and won in Virginia, and the port city of Norfolk had been fired on by the British fleet with nine hundred houses destroyed by the fires started by the cannonballs. After the defeat of Lord Dunmore at Gwynn's Island on July 9, before Virginia had received notification of the Declaration of Independence, the British left Virginia.

• Battle of Bunker Hill - From the British perspective
• Battle of Bunker Hill - From the American perspective

Declaration of Independence	Constitution of the United States	The Bill of Rights

Articles of Confederation - ratified 1781:

• One state one vote
   
• Power divided
  • State
  • National
    • Powers of Congress
      • Declare war
      • Make peace and sign treaties
      • orrow money
      • Set standards for coins and for weights and measures
      • Establish a post office
      • Deal with the Indians
   
• Problems
  • National powers required cooperation of states
  • No national control over interstate trade
  • No control over foreign trade
  • No power to collect taxes
  • All states had to agree to any changes in the Articles
  • National government in general very weak
   
• Northwest Ordinance of 1787
  Based on plan suggested by Jefferson
  • Divided land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi into territories
  • Territories with 5000 voting residents could elect their own government
  • When total population reached 60,000 they could write a constitution and become a state
  • Called for creation of public schools
  • No slavery
  • Indian rights-ignored
  • Established an orderly procedure for creating new states that lasted more than a century

Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in Central and Western Massachusetts from 1786 to 1787. The rebels, led by Daniel Shays and known as Shaysites (Regulators), were mostly poor farmers angered by crushing debt and taxes. Failure to repay such debts often resulted in imprisonment in debtor's prisons or the claiming of property by the state.

• Creditors vs. Debtors
  • Creditors wanted high taxes so states could pay back war debts
  • This sent poorer farmers into debt
   
• Massachusetts - 1786
  • Daniel Shays led a rebellion of about 2000 farmers
   
• Put down by state militia but made wealthy landowners and creditors very nervous

• Historical Background
   
• Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention - Library of Congress
   
• Leaders began to separate along state and national lines
  
   
• James Madison called for a convention in Philadelphia in 1787
   
  • James Madison Papers - Library of Congress
   
• Philosophical principles
  • Man is motivated by self interest
  • Society consists of many different interests
  • Each favors his own interest over that of society
  • Interests balance against one another so no one becomes too powerfull
    • Pluralism
  • Majority rule v. Minority rights
    • Fear of the masses by the wealthy few
    • Fear of demagogue
   
• Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 - The Avalon Project
   
• Compromises
  • Great or Connecticut - a compromise providing the states with equal representation in the Senate and proportional representation in the House of Representatives.
    • Virginia Plan
      • Lower house would be elected by voters
      • Upper house would be elected by the lower
      • Representation based on population
      • Both houses would vote for a national executive and judiciary
    • New Jersey Plan
      
      • One house
      • Equal representation
      • House would appoint executive and high court
    • Roger Sherman proposed two house legislature
      • Upper
        • Equal
        • Elected by state legislatures
      • Lower
        • Population
  • Three-fifths majority
  • Slave trade
  
   
• Powers divided
  • Federalism
  • Separation of Powers
    • Legislative
    • Executive
    • Judicial
   
• Electoral College

  The United States is the only current example of an indirectly elected executive president, with an electoral college made up of electors representing the 50 states and one federal district. Each state has a number of electors equivalent to its total Congressional representation (in both houses), with the non-state District of Columbia receiving three electors and other non-state territories having no electors. The electors generally cast their votes according to the winner of the popular vote in their respective states, but in many cases are not required by law to do so.

• Amending the Constitution
   
  • List of amendments to the U.S. Constitution
   
• Ratification
  • Anti-federalist - Against Ratification
    • The Anti-Federalist Papers - Patrick Henry, William West, and John Hancock
    • There was no bill of rights. The lack of a bill of rights was the focus of the Anti-Federalist campaign against ratification.
    • The constitution gave too much power to the national government at the expense of the state governments.
    • The national government could maintain an army in peacetime.
    • Congress, because of the "necessary and proper clause," wielded too much power.
    • The executive branch held too much power.
  • Federalist - For Ratification
    • The Federalist Papers - Publius - James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton
    • Answers to the anti-federalist objections:
      • The separation of powers into three independent branches protected the rights of the people. Each branch represents a different aspect of the people, and because all three branches are equal, no one group can assume control over another.
      • A listing of rights can be a dangerous thing. If the national government were to protect specific listed rights, what would stop it from violating rights other than the listed ones? Since we can't list all the rights, the Federalists argued that it's better to list none at all.
  • By June of 1788, the Constitution was close to ratification.
    • Nine states had ratified it, and only one more (New Hampshire) was needed.
    • To achieve this, the Federalists agreed that once Congress met, it would draft a bill of rights.
    • Finally, New York and Virginia approved, and the Constitution was a reality.
  • The Bill of Rights was not originally a part of the Constitution, and yet it has proved to be highly important to protecting the rights of the people.