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7 POLITICAL PARTIES 144
8–2 Why People Vote as They Do 172
8–2a
8–2b
Party Identification 172
Perception of the Candidates 172
Introduction 146
8–2c Policy Choices 173
7–1 A Short History of American Political Parties 146 8–2d Socioeconomic Factors 173
7–1a The First Political Parties 146 8–2e Ideology 177
7–1b From 1796 to 1860 147
8–3 Public Opinion Polls 177
7–1c From the Civil War to the Great Depression 149
8–3a Early Polling Efforts 177
7–1d After the Great Depression 149
8–3b How Polling Has Developed 179
7–2 America’s Political Parties Today 150 8–3c Problems with Opinion Polls 180
7–2a Red States versus Blue States 150
8–4 Voting and Voter Turnout 183
7–2b Shifting Political Fortunes 151
8–4a Factors Affecting Voter Turnout 184
7–2c Realignment, Dealignment, and Tipping 153
8–4b The Legal Right to Vote 184
7–3 What Do Political Parties Do? 154 8–4c Attempts to Improve Voter Turnout 187
7–3a Selecting Candidates and Running 8–4d Laws That May Discourage Voting 187
Campaigns 154
8–4e Attempts to Improve Voting Procedures 188
7–3b Informing the Public 155
8–4f Who Actually Votes 189
7–3c Coordinating Policymaking 155
AMERICA AT ODDS: How Important Is It to Target
7–3d Checking the Power of the Governing Independents? 169
Party 156
THE REST OF THE WORLD: Anti-Immigration Politics
7–3e Balancing Competing Interests 156 in Europe 178
7–4 How American Political Parties Are Structured 156 PERCEPTION VERSUS REALITY: Do Politicians Always
7–4a The Party in the Electorate 157 Follow the Polls? 182
7–4b The Party Organization 158 2016 ELECTION 184
7–4c The Party in Government: Developing JOIN THE DEBATE: Should Felons Be Allowed to
Issues 160 Vote? 188
7–5 The Dominance of Our Two-Party System 161 AMERICA AT ODDS: Public Opinion and Voting 190
9
7–5a The Self-Perpetuation of the Two-Party
System 161
7–5b Third Parties in American Politics 162
CAMPAIGNS AND ELECTIONS 192
7–5c The Effects of Third Parties 164 Introduction 194
AMERICA AT ODDS: How Should the Republicans 9–1 How We Elect Candidates 194
Respond to Trump Voters? 145
9–1a Conducting Elections and Counting the
2016 ELECTION 153 Votes 194
PERCEPTION VERSUS REALITY: Demography Favors 9–1b Presidential Elections and the Electoral
the Democrats 155 College 194
JOIN THE DEBATE: Are Nonpartisan Elections a
Good Idea? 163 9–2 How We Nominate Candidates 195
AMERICA AT ODDS: Political Parties 165 9–2a Party Control over Nominations 196
9–2b A New Method: The Nominating
8
Convention 196
9–2c Primary Elections and the Loss of Party
PUBLIC OPINION AND VOTING 168 Control 196
Introduction 170 9–2d Nominating Presidential Candidates 199
8–1 How Do People Form Political Opinions? 170 9–3 The Modern Political Campaign 203
8–1a The Importance of Family 170 9–3a Responsibilities of the Campaign Staff 203
8–1b Schools and Churches 170 9–3b The Professional Campaign Organization 203
8–1c The Media 171 9–3c Opposition Research 203
8–1d Opinion Leaders 171 9–4 The Internet Campaign 204
8–1e Major Life Events 171 9–4a Fund-Raising on the Internet 205
8–1f Peer Groups 172 9–4b Targeting Supporters 206
8–1g Economic Status and Occupation 172 9–4c Support for Local Organizing 206
Contents vii
9–5 What It Costs to Win 207
9–5a
9–5b
Presidential Spending 207
The Federal Election Campaign Act 207 Part IV
9–5c
9–5d
Skirting the Campaign-Financing Rules 208
The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 209
INSTITUTIONS 236
9–5e The Current Campaign-Finance
Environment 210
AMERICA AT ODDS: Does Money Really Buy
Elections? 193
PERCEPTION VERSUS REALITY: Is the Word Socialism
Still Poison in U.S. Political Campaigns? 202
Orhan Cam/Shutterstock.com
2016 ELECTION 205
JOIN THE DEBATE: Should We Let Political Contributors
Conceal Their Identities? 212
AMERICA AT ODDS: Campaigns and Elections 213
10 POLITICS AND THE MEDIA 216
11
Introduction 218
10–1 The Role of the Media in a Democracy 218 THE CONGRESS 236
10–1a Media Characteristics 218
10–1b The New Media and the Old 218 Introduction 238
10–1c The Media and the First Amendment 219 11–1 The Structure and Makeup of Congress 238
10–1d The Agenda-Setting Function of the Media 220 11–1a Apportionment of House Seats 238
10–1e The Medium Does Affect the Message 221 11–1b Congressional Districts 238
10–1f Ownership of the Media 222 11–1c The Representation Function of Congress 242
10–2 The Candidates and Television 223 11–2 Congressional Elections 243
10–2a Political Advertising 223 11–2a Who Can Be a Member of Congress? 244
10–2b Television Debates 224 11–2b The Power of Incumbency 244
10–2c News Coverage 225 11–2c Congressional Terms 245
10–2d “Popular” Television 225 11–3 Congressional Leadership, the Committee System,
10–3 Talk Radio—The Wild West of the Media 226 and Bicameralism 246
10–3a Audiences and Hosts 226 11–3a House Leadership 246
10–3b The Impact of Talk Radio 227 11–3b Senate Leadership 248
10–4 The Question of Media Bias 227 11–3c Congressional Committees 248
10–4a Partisan Bias 228 11–3d The Differences between the House and the
Senate 250
10–4b The Bias against Losers 229
11–4 The Legislative Process 251
10–4c A Changing News Culture 229
10–5 Political News and Campaigns on the Web 230 11–5 Investigation and Oversight 254
10–5a News Organizations Online 230 11–5a The Investigative Function 254
10–5b Blogs and the Emergence of Citizen 11–5b Impeachment Power 255
Journalism 230 11–5c Senate Confirmation 255
10–5c Podcasting the News 231 11–6 The Budgeting Process 256
10–5d Cyberspace and Political Campaigns 231 11–6a Authorization and Appropriation 257
AMERICA AT ODDS: In a Digital World, Do We Still Need 11–6b The Actual Budgeting Process 257
Print Media? 217
AMERICA AT ODDS: Should It Take Sixty Senators to
THE REST OF THE WORLD: Who Controls the Pass Important Legislation? 237
Internet? 220
THE REST OF THE WORLD: The Size of Congress—
JOIN THE DEBATE: Could We Lose Our High-Speed How the United States Stacks Up 241
Internet? 232
JOIN THE DEBATE: Was Banning Pork-Barrel Spending
AMERICA AT ODDS: Politics and the Media 234 a Mistake? 243
viii Contents
2016 ELECTION 246 13–2d Independent Regulatory Agencies 296
AMERICA AT ODDS: The Congress 259 13–2e Government Corporations 296
12
13–3 How Bureaucrats Get Their Jobs 298
13–3a The Civil Service 298
THE PRESIDENCY 262 13–3b Origins of the Merit System 298
Introduction 264 13–3c The OPM Hacking Scandal 299
12–1 Who Can Become President? 264 13–4 Regulatory Agencies: Are They the Fourth Branch
12–1a Perks of the President 264 of Government? 300
12–1b Presidential Age and Occupation 265 13–4a Agency Creation 300
12–1c Race, Gender, and Religion 266 13–4b Rulemaking 301
12–2 The President’s Many Roles 266 13–4c Policymaking 301
12–2a Chief Executive 266 13–5 Curbing Waste and Improving Efficiency 303
12–2b Commander in Chief 267 13–5a Helping Out the Whistleblowers 303
12–2c Head of State 267 13–5b Improving Efficiency and Getting Results 304
12–2d Chief Diplomat 268 13–5c Another Approach—Pay-for-Performance
12–2e Chief Legislator 268 Plans 305
12–2f Political Party Leader 269 13–5d Privatization 305
13–5e Government in the Sunshine 305
12–3 Presidential Powers 269
13–5f Government Online 305
12–3a The President’s Constitutional Powers 269
AMERICA AT ODDS: Is Federal Regulation
12–3b The President’s Inherent Powers 271 Excessive? 289
12–3c The Expansion of Presidential Powers 272 JOIN THE DEBATE: Are Government Workers Paid
12–4 Congressional and Presidential Relations 278 Too Much? 299
12–4a Advantage: Congress 278 PERCEPTION VERSUS REALITY: Must Apple Help the
FBI Hack a Terrorist’s iPhone? 307
12–4b Advantage: The President 279
AMERICA AT ODDS: The Bureaucracy 308
12–5 The Organization of the Executive Branch 280
12–5a The President’s Cabinet 280
12–5b The Executive Office of the President 281
12–5c The Vice Presidency and Presidential
14 THE JUDICIARY 310
Succession 283 Introduction 312
AMERICA AT ODDS: Should the New President Get 14–1 The Origins and Sources of American Law 312
Tough on the Middle East? 263 14–1a The Common Law Tradition 312
JOIN THE DEBATE: A Foreign-Born President? 265 14–1b Primary Sources of American Law 313
2016 ELECTION 268 14–1c Civil Law and Criminal Law 314
PERCEPTION VERSUS REALITY: Can the President 14–1d Basic Judicial Requirements 314
Really Fix the Economy? 275
14–2 The Federal Court System 316
AMERICA AT ODDS: The Presidency 285
14–2a U.S. District and Specialized Courts 316
13 THE BUREAUCRACY 288

14–2b U.S. Courts of Appeals 317
14–2c The United States Supreme Court 318
14–3 Federal Judicial Appointments 319
Introduction 290
14–3a The Nomination Process 320
13–1 The Nature and Size of the Bureaucracy 290
14–3b Confirmation or Rejection by the Senate 321
13–1a The Uses of Bureaucracy 290
13–1b The Growth of Bureaucracy 290
14–4 The Courts as Policymakers 322
13–1c The Costs of Maintaining the Government 291 14–4a The Issue of Broad Language 323
13–1d Where Does All the Money Go? 292 14–4b The Power of Judicial Review 324
14–4c Judicial Activism versus Judicial Restraint 324
13–2 How the Federal Bureaucracy Is Organized 293
14–4d Ideology and the Courts 325
13–2a The Executive Departments 293
14–4e Ideology and Today’s Supreme Court 325
13–2b A Typical Departmental Structure 294
14–4f Approaches to Legal Interpretation 327
13–2c Independent Executive Agencies 295
Contents ix
14–5 Assessing the Role of the Federal Courts 328 15–4c Fiscal Policy 348
14–5a Criticisms of the Federal Courts 328 15–4d The Federal Tax System 349
14–5b The Case for the Courts 328 15–4e The Public Debt 351
AMERICA AT ODDS: Should the People Elect AMERICA AT ODDS: Do We Send Too Many People
Judges? 311 to Prison? 335
JOIN THE DEBATE: Should Congress Ever Refuse to JOIN THE DEBATE: What Should We Do about
Consider a Supreme Court Nominee? 323 Unauthorized Immigrants? 338
PERCEPTION VERSUS REALITY: The Supreme Court PERCEPTION VERSUS REALITY: Tax-Rate Cuts Allow
Legislates from the Bench 329 the Rich to Pay Lower Taxes 350
AMERICA AT ODDS: The Judiciary 331 AMERICA AT ODDS: Domestic Policy 353
16 FOREIGN POLICY 356
Part V
Introduction 358
Int
16–1 Who Makes U.S. Foreign Policy? 358
16
PUBLIC POLICY 334 16–1a The President’s Role 358

16–1b The Cabinet 359
16–1c Other Agencies 360
16–1d Powers of Congress 360
16–2 A Short History of American Foreign Policy 360
16
16–2a Isolationism 361
16–2b The Beginning of Interventionism 361
Natalia Bratslavsky/Shutterstock
16–2c The World Wars 361

16–2d The Cold War 362
16–2e Post–Cold War Foreign Policy 364
16–3 Problems Requiring the Use of Force 364
16
16–3a The Problem of Terrorism 364
16–3b The U.S. Response to 9/11—The War in
Afghanistan 366
16–3c The Focus on Iraq 366
15 DOMESTIC POLICY 334

16–3d Again, Afghanistan 367
16–3e The Civil War in Syria and the Growth of ISIS 368
Introduction 336 16–4 Diplomacy in an Unstable World 369
15–1 The Policy-making Process 336 16–4a The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 369
15–1a Issue Identification and Agenda Setting 336 16–4b Weapons of Mass Destruction 372
15–1b Policy Formulation and Adoption 337 16–4c China—The Next Superpower? 374
15–1c Policy Implementation 337 AMERICA AT ODDS: How Much of a Threat Is
Putin’s Russia? 357
15–1d Policy Evaluation 338
THE REST OF THE WORLD: Europe under Siege 370
15–1e Policymaking and Special Interests 339
AMERICA AT ODDS: Foreign Policy 376
15–2 Health-Care Policy 339
15–2a Two Problems with U.S. Health Care 339 Appendix A The Declaration of Independence A–1
Appendix B The Constitution of the United States A–3
15–2b Medicaid and Medicare 340
Appendix C Federalist Papers No. 10 and No. 51 A–12
15–2c The Democrats Propose Universal Coverage 341
Appendix D Answers to Chapter Quiz Questions A–18
15–3 Energy and the Environment 342 Appendix E Information on U.S. Presidents (Online)
15–3a The Problem of Imported Oil 342 Appendix F Party Control of Congress since 1900 (Online)
15–3b Climate Change 343
Notes N–1
15–3c New Energy Sources 344
Glossary G–1
15–4 Economic Policy and Taxes 346 Index I–1
15–4a The Goals of Economic Policy 346 Chapter in Review Cards 1–32
15–4b Monetary Policy 346
x Contents
SKILL
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PREP
Welcome!
With this course and this
textbook, you’ve begun what we
hope will be a fun, stimulating,
A Study Skills Module and thought-provoking journey
into the world of American
government and politics.
In this course, you will learn about the foundation of the results when you study. You want to be able to under-
American system, culture and diversity, interest groups, stand the issues and ideas presented in the textbook, talk
political parties, campaigns, elections, the media, our about them intelligently during class discussions, and
governing institutions, public policy, and foreign policy. remember them as you prepare for exams and papers.
Knowledge of these basics will help you think critically This module is designed to help you develop the
about political issues and become an active citizen. skills and habits you’ll need to succeed in this course.
We have developed this study skills module to help With tips on how to be more engaged when you study,
you gain the most from this course and this textbook. how to get the most out of your textbook, how to
Whether you are a recent high school graduate or an adult prepare for exams, and how to write papers, this guide
returning to the classroom after a few years, you want will help you become the best learner you can be!
SP-1
Dima Sidelnikov/Shutterstock
STUDY
PREP REPEAT
To read for learning, you have to read your textbook a
What does it take to be a successful student? You may number of times. Follow a preview-read-review process:
think success depends on how naturally smart you are. 1 . P R E V I E W: Look over the chapter title, section
However, the truth is that successful students aren’t headings, and highlighted or bold words. This will
born, they’re made. Even if you don’t consider yourself give you a good preview of important ideas in the
“book smart,” you can do well in this course by develop- chapter. Notice that each major section heading in this
ing study skills that will help you understand, remember, textbook has one or more corresponding Learning
and apply key concepts. Objectives. You can increase your understanding of the
material by rephrasing the headings and subheadings
in your textbook into questions, and then try to answer
Reading for Learning them. Note graphs, pictures, and other visual illustrations
Your textbook is the foundation for information in a of important concepts.
course. It contains key concepts and terms that are QUICK TIP! Log in to GOVT9 Online with the access
important to your understanding of the subject. For code in the front of your textbook to find interactive
this reason, it is essential that you develop good reading figures and tables from the chapters, to quiz yourself
skills. As you read your textbook with the goal of learning on the important material in the book.
as much of the information as possible, work on estab- 2 . R E A D : It is important to read with a few questions
lishing the following habits: in mind: What is the main point of this paragraph or
section? What does the author want me to learn from
FOCUS this? How does this relate to what I read before? Keep-
ing these questions in mind will help you be an attentive
Make an effort to focus on the book and tune out other reader who is actively focusing on the main ideas of the
distractions so that you can understand and remember passage.
the information it presents.
QUICK TIP! In GOVT9 Online, create StudyBits from Key
Terms and definitions, photos, figures, and your text
TAKE TIME
highlights. You can include notes in your StudyBits, and
To learn the key concepts presented in each chapter, you add your own tags—such as “Midterm Exam”—so you
need to read slowly, carefully, and with great attention. can collect them all later.
SP-2
Also during this phase, it is helpful to take notes The physical act of writing makes you a more effi-
while reading in detail. You can mark your text or write cient learner. In addition, your notes provide a guide to
an outline, as explained later in this module. Taking notes what your instructor thinks is important. That means you
will help you read actively, identify important concepts, will have a better idea of what to study before the next
and remember them. When it comes time to review for
exam if you have a set of notes that you took during class.
the exam, the notes you’ve made should make your
studying more efficient.
QUICK TIP! In GOVT9 Online, create practice quizzes
Make an Outline
from filtered StudyBits or use all quiz questions from As you read through each chapter of your textbook, you
the chapter to test yourself before exams. might want to make an outline—a simple method for
3 . R E V I E W: When reviewing each section of the text organizing information. You can create an outline as part
and the notes you’ve made, ask yourself this ques- of your reading or at the end of your reading. Or you can
tion: What was this section about? You’ll want to make an outline when you reread a section before moving
answer the question in some detail, readily identifying on to the next one. The act of physically writing an outline
the important points. Use the Learning Objectives in the for a chapter will help you retain the material in this text
text to help focus your review. and master it.
QUICK TIP! Tear out the Chapter Review cards in the To make an effective outline, you have to be selec-
back of the textbook for on-the-go review! tive. Your objectives in outlining are, first, to identify the
A reading group is a great way to review the chapter. main concepts and, second, to add the details that sup-
After completing the reading individually, group mem- port those main concepts.
bers should meet and take turns sharing what they Your outline should consist of several levels written
learned. Explaining the material to others will reinforce in a standard format. The most important concepts are
and clarify what you already know. Getting a different assigned Roman numerals; the second-most important,
perspective on a passage will increase your knowledge, capital letters; and the third-most important, numbers.
because different people will find different things impor- Here is a quick example.
tant during a reading.
Take Notes
Being engaged means listening to discover (and remem-
ber) something. One way to make sure that you are listen- I. What Are Politics and Government?
ing attentively is to take notes. Doing so will help you A. Defining Politics and Government
focus on the professor’s words and will help you identify 1. Politics and Conflict
the most important parts of the lecture. 2. Government and Authority
B. Resolving Conflicts
C. Providing Public Ser vices
1. Ser vices for All and Ser vices for Some
2. Managing the Economy
D. Defending the Nation and Its Culture
II. Different Systems of Government
A. Undemocratic Systems
1. Monarchy
2. Dictatorship
B. Democratic Systems
1. The Athenian Model of Direct Democracy
wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock
2. Direct Democracy Today

3. Representative Democracy
4. Types of Representative Democracy
C. Other Forms of Government
SP-3
Mark Your Text Researchers have shown Try These Tips
If you own your own textbook for Here are a few more hints that will
that the physical act of
this course and plan to keep it, help you develop effective study
you can improve your learning by marking, just like the skills.
marking your text. By doing so, ▸ Do schoolwork as soon as
you will identify the most impor-
physical acts of note-
possible after class. The longer
tant concepts of each chapter, and taking during class you wait, the more likely you will
at the same time, you’ll be making be distracted by television, the
a handy study guide for reviewing
increases concentration
Internet, video games, or friends.
material at a later time. Marking and helps you better ▸ Set aside time and a quiet,
allows you to become an active par-
retain the material. comfortable space where you
ticipant in the mastery of the mate-
can focus on reading. Your
rial. Researchers have shown that
school library is often the best place to work. Set
the physical act of marking, just like the physical acts of
aside several hours a week of “library time” to study
note-taking during class and outlining, increases con-
in peace and quiet. A neat, organized study space is
centration and helps you better retain the material.
also important. The only work items that should be on
your desk are those that you are working on that day.
WAYS O F M A R K I N G
▸ Reward yourself for studying! Rest your eyes
The most common form of marking is to underline and your mind by taking a short break every twenty
important points. The second-most commonly used to thirty minutes. From time to time, allow yourself
method is to use a felt-tipped highlighter or marker, in a break to do something else that you enjoy. These
yellow or some other transparent color. You can put a interludes will refresh your mind, give you more
check mark next to material that you do not understand. energy required for concentration, and enable you to
Work on better comprehension of the checkmarked study longer and more efficiently.
material after you’ve finished the chapter. Marking also
▸ To memorize terms or facts, create flash (or
includes circling, numbering, using arrows, jotting brief
note) cards. On one side of the card, write the ques-
notes, or any other method that allows you to remem-
tion or term. On the other side, write the answer or
ber things when you go back to skim the pages in
definition. Then use the cards to test yourself or have
your textbook prior to an exam.
a friend quiz you on the material.
QUICK TIP! Don’t forget about the StudyBit func- QUICK TIP! In GOVT9 Online, flash cards are available
tionality when highlighting in GOVT9 Online! for all key terms (with definitions). Create more flash
Change colors of your highlights to rate your under- cards from your StudyBits or anything in the online
standing of each StudyBit, and use them in your narrative, and rate your understanding on each while
review in the Studyboard. you study!
T W O P O I N T S TO R E M E M B E R ▸ Mnemonic (pronounced ne-mon-ik) devices

WHEN MARKING are tricks that increase our ability to mem-
▸ Read one section at a time before you do
orize. A well-known mnemonic device is the
any extensive marking. You can’t mark a phrase ROY G BIV, which helps people remem-
section until you know what is important, ber the colors of the rainbow—red, orange, yel-
and you can’t know what is important until low, green, blue, indigo, violet. You can create
you read the whole section. your own mnemonic devices for whatever you
▸ Don’t overmark. Don’t fool yourself into need to memorize. The more fun you have com-
thinking that you have done a good job ing up with them, the more useful they will be.
just because each page is filled with arrows, ▸ Take notes twice. First, take notes in class.
y lav Danilin/Shutterstock
terstock
tock
Vladyslav Danilin/Shutterstock.com
Shutters
circles, and underlines. Be selective in your Writing down your instructor’s key points will
lin/Shut
marking, so that each page allows you to see help you be a more active, engaged listener. Tak-
Danilin/
the most important points at a glance. You ing notes will also give you a record of what your
can follow up your marking by writing out
instructor thinks is important. Later, when you
Vladyslav
© Vladys
more in your subject outline.

have a chance, rewrite your notes. The rewrite
will act as a study session for you to think about
SP-4 the material again.
bikeriderlondon/Shutterstock.com
TEST
PREP
You have worked hard throughout the term, reading fill in the dots on a machine-graded answer sheet. Other
the book, paying close attention in class, and taking exams require underlining or circling. In short, you have
good notes. Now it’s test time, and you want to show to read and follow the instructions carefully.
mastery of the material you have studied. To be well
prepared, you should know which reading materials
and lectures will be covered. You should also know
Objective Exams
whether the exam will contain essays, objective ques- An objective exam consists of multiple-choice, true/
tions, or both. Finally, you should know how much time false, fill-in-the-blank, or matching questions that have
you will have to take the exam. The following steps can only one correct answer. Students usually commit one
help to reduce any anxiety you may feel, allowing you of two errors when they read objective exam questions:
to approach the test with confidence. (1) they read things into the questions that do not exist,
or (2) they skip over words or phrases. Most test ques-
tions include key words such as:
Follow Directions
Students are often in a hurry to start an exam, so they > ALL > NEVER
take little time to read the instructions. The instructions > A LWAYS > O N LY
can be critical, however. In a multiple-choice exam, for
example, if there is no indication that there is a penalty If you miss any of these key words, you may answer the
for guessing, then you should never leave a question question incorrectly even if you know the information
unanswered. Even if only a few minutes are left at the being tested.
end of an exam, you should guess on the questions that Whenever the answer to an objective question is not
you remain uncertain about. obvious, start with the process of elimination. Throw out
Additionally, you need to know the weight given the answers that are clearly incorrect. Typically, the easi-
to each section of an exam. In a typical multiple-choice est way to eliminate incorrect answers is to look for those
exam, all questions have equal weight. In other types of that are meaningless, illogical, or inconsistent. Often,
exams, particularly those with essay questions, different test authors put in some answers that make perfect sense
parts of the exam carry different weights. You should use and are indeed true, but do not answer the question
these weights to apportion your time. If the essay portion under study. Here are a few more tips that will help you
of an exam accounts for 20 percent of the total points on become an efficient, results-oriented student.
the exam, you should not spend 60 percent of your time ▸ Review your notes thoroughly as part of your exam
on the essays. preparation. Instructors usually lecture on subjects
Finally, you need to make sure you are marking the they think are important, so those same subjects are
answers correctly. Some exams require a No. 2 pencil to also likely to be on the exam.
SP-5
▸ Create a study schedule to reduce stress and give
yourself the best chance for success. At times, you
will find yourself studying for several exams at once.
When this happens, make a list of each study topic
and the amount of time needed to review that topic.
▸ Form a small group for a study session. Discuss-
ing a topic out loud can improve your understand-
ing of that topic and will help you remember the key
GaudiLab/Shutterstock
points that often come up on exams.
▸ Study from old exams. Some professors make old
exams available, either by posting them online or byy
putting them on file in the library. Old tests can givee
you an idea of the kinds of questions the professorr
likes to ask. WRITE
▸ Avoid cramming just before an exam. Cramming
g
tires the brain unnecessarily and adds to stress, which
h
PREP
can severely hamper your testing performance. Iff
you’ve studied wisely, have confidence that you willl
be able to recall the information when you need it.
▸ Be sure to eat before taking a test so you will have A key part of succeeding as a student is learning how
the energy you need to concentrate. to write well. Whether writing papers, presentations,
▸ Be prepared. Make sure you have everything you essays, or even e-mails to your instructor, you have to
will need for the exam, such as a pen or pencil. Arrive be able to put your thoughts into words and do so with
at the exam early to avoid having to rush, which will force, clarity, and precision. In this section, we outline
only add to your stress. Good preparation helps you a three-phase process that you can use to write almost
focus on the task at hand. anything.
▸ When you first receive your exam, make sure

that you have all the pages. If you are uncertain,
ask your professor or exam proctor. This initial scan
Phase 1: Getting Ready to Write
may uncover other problems as well, such as illegible First, make a list. Divide the ultimate goal—a finished
print or unclear instructions. paper—into smaller steps that you can tackle right
away. Estimate how long it will take to complete each
▸ With essay questions, look for key words such
step. Start with the date your paper is due and work
as “compare,” “contrast,” and “explain.” These will
backward to the present: For example, if the due date
guide your answer. Most important, get to the point
is December 1, and you have about three months to
without wasting your time (or your professor’s) with
write the paper, give yourself a cushion and sched-
statements such as “There are many possible reasons
ule November 20 as your targeted completion date.
for . . . .”
Then list what you need to get done by October 1 and
▸ Review your answers when you finish a test early. November 1.
You may find a mistake or an area where some extra
writing will improve your grade. P I C K A TO P I C
▸ Keep exams in perspective. Worrying too much To generate ideas for a topic, any of the following
about a single exam can have a negative effect on your approaches work well:
performance. If you do poorly on one test, it’s not the ▸ Brainstorm with a group. There is no need to cre-
end of the world. Rather, it should motivate you to do ate in isolation. You can harness the energy and the
better on the next one. natural creative power of a group to assist you.
SP-6
▸ Speak it. To get ideas flowing, There is no need to create in ▸ If your purpose is to move
start talking. Admit your confu- the reader into action, explain
sion or lack of clear ideas. Then
isolation. Brainstorm ideas exactly what steps to take,
just speak. By putting your for a topic with a group. and offer solid benefits for
thoughts into words, you’ll start doing so.
thinking more clearly. Ask for feedback from your
To clarify your purpose, state it
▸ Use free writing. Free writ- instructor or a friend as in one sentence—for example,
ing, a technique championed “The purpose of this paper is to
“T
by writing teacher Peter
you prepare an outline and discuss and analyze the role of
di
Elbow, is also very effective women and minorities in law
w
revise your first draft. enforcement.”
en
when trying to come up with a
topic. There’s only one rule in
free writing: Write without stopping.
ping Set a time limit—
limit BEGIN RESEARCH
say, ten minutes—and keep your fingers dancing
At the initial stage, the objective of your research is not
across the keyboard the whole time. Ignore the urge
to uncover specific facts about your topic. That comes
to stop and rewrite. There is no need to worry about
later. First, you want to gain an overview of the subject.
spelling, punctuation, or grammar during this process.
Say you want to advocate for indeterminate sentenc-
ing. You must first learn enough about determinate
R E F I N E YO U R I D E A and indeterminate sentencing to describe the pros and
After you’ve come up with some initial ideas, it’s time to cons of each one.
refine them:
MAKE AN OUTLINE
▸ Select a topic and working title. Using your
instructor’s guidelines for the paper, write down a list An outline is a kind of map. When you follow a map, you
of topics that interest you. Write down all of the ideas avoid getting lost. Likewise, an outline keeps you from
you think of in two minutes. Then choose one topic. wandering off topic. To create your outline, follow these
The most common pitfall is selecting a topic that is steps:
too broad. “Political Campaigns” is probably not a 1 . Review your thesis statement and identify the
useful topic for your paper. Instead, consider “The three to five main points you need to address in your
Financing of Modern Political Campaigns.” paper to support or prove your thesis.
▸ Write a thesis statement. Clarify what you
want to say by summarizing it in one concise
sentence. This sentence, called a thesis state-
ment, refines your working title. A thesis is the
main point of the paper—it is a declaration of
some sort. You might write a thesis statement
such as “Recent decisions by the Supreme
Court have dramatically changed the way that
political campaigns are funded.”
SET GOALS
Effective writing flows from a purpose. Think

about how you’d like your reader or listener to
Jamie Grill/Getty Images
respond after considering your ideas.

▸ If you want to persuade someone, make your
writing clear and logical. Support your asser-
tions with evidence.
SP-7
2 . Next, focus on the three to five major points that If you get stuck, ask for help.
support your argument and think about what minor
points or subtopics you want to cover in your paper. Most schools have writing
Your major points are your big ideas. Your minor
points are the details you need to fill in under each of resource centers where
those ideas. you can go for assistance
3 . Ask for feedback. Have your instructor or a class-
mate review your outline and offer suggestions for and guidance.
improvement. Did you choose the right points to sup-
port your thesis? Do you need more detail anywhere?
Does the flow from idea to idea make sense?
DO IN-DEPTH RESEARCH
Phase 2: Writing a First Draft
To create your draft, gather your notes and your out-
Dig in and start reading. Keep a notebook, tablet, or lap-
line (which often undergoes revision during the research
top handy and make notes as you read. It can help to
process). Then write about the ideas in your notes. It’s
organize your research into three main categories:
that simple. Just start writing. Write in paragraphs, with
1. Sources (bibliographical information for a source), one idea per paragraph. As you complete this task, keep
2 . Information (nuggets of information from a correctly the following suggestions in mind:
quoted source) ▸ Remember that the first draft is not for keeps.
3 . Ideas (thoughts and observations that occur to you as You can worry about quality later. Your goal at this
you research, written in your own words) point is simply to generate words and ideas.
▸ Write freely. Many writers prefer to get their first
You might want to use these categories to create three
draft down quickly and would advise you to keep
separate documents as you work. This will make it easy
writing, much as in free writing. You may pause to
to find what you need when you write your first draft.
glance at your notes and outline, but avoid stopping
When taking research notes, be sure to:
to edit your work.
▸ Copy all of the information correctly.
▸ Be yourself. Let go of the urge to sound “scholarly”
▸ Include the source and page number while gathering and avoid using unnecessary big words or phrases.
information. With Internet searches, you must also Instead, write in a natural voice.
record the date a site was accessed.
▸ Avoid procrastination. If you are having trouble get-
▸ Stay organized; refer to your outline as you work. ting started, skip over your introduction and just begin
writing about some of your findings. You can go back
later and organize your paragraphs.
▸ Get physical. While working on the first
draft, take breaks. Go for a walk. From
time to time, practice relaxation tech-
niques and breathe deeply.
▸ Put the draft away for a day. Schedule
time for rewrites, and schedule at least
one day between revisions so that you
can let the material sit. After a break,
problems with the paper or ideas for
improvement will become more evident.
Phase 3: Revising Your Draft

GaudiLab/Shutterstock
During this phase, keep in mind the saying,

“Write in haste; revise at leisure.” When you
are working on your first draft, the goal is to
produce ideas and write them down. During
SP-8
the revision phase, however, you need to slow down and
take a close look at your work. One guideline is to allow
50 percent of writing time for planning, researching, and
writing the first draft. Then use the remaining 50 per-
cent for revising.
Here are some good ways to revise your paper:
1. READ IT OUT LOUD. The combination of speaking
and hearing forces us to pay attention to the details. Is
the thesis statement clear and supported by enough
evidence? Does the introduction tell your reader
what’s coming? Do you end with a strong conclusion
that expands on your introduction rather than just
restating it?
2 . H AV E A F R I E N D LO O K O V E R YO U R PA P E R .
This is never a substitute for your own review, but a
friend can often see mistakes you miss. With a little
practice, you will learn to welcome feedback, because
Izabela Habur/iStockphoto.com
it provides one of the fastest ways to approach the
revision process.
3 . C U T. Look for excess baggage. Also, look for places
where two (or more) sentences could be rewritten as
one. By cutting text you are actually gaining a clearer,
more polished product. For efficiency, make the larger
6 . P R E PA R E. Format your paper following accepted
cuts first—sections, chapters, pages. Then go for the
smaller cuts—paragraphs, sentences, phrases, words. standards for margin widths, endnotes, title pages,
and other details. Ask your instructor for specific
4 . PA S T E . The next task is to rearrange what’s left of instructions on how to cite the sources used in writ-
your paper so that it flows logically. Look for con- ing your paper. You can find useful guidelines in the
sistency within paragraphs and for transitions from MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. If
paragraph to paragraph and section to section. you are submitting a hard copy (rather than turning
5 . F I X . Now it’s time to look at individual words and it in online), use quality paper for the final version.
phrases. Define any terms that the reader might not For an even more professional appearance, bind your
know. In general, focus on nouns and verbs. Too paper with a plastic or paper cover.
many words add unnecessary bulk to your writing. 7 . P R O O F R E A D. As you ease down the home stretch,
Write about the details, and be specific. Also, check read your revised paper one more time, and look for
your writing to ensure that you: the following:
▸ Prefer the active voice. Write “The research ▸ A clear thesis statement.
team began the project” rather than “A project was
▸ Sentences that introduce your topic, guide the
initiated,” which is a passive statement.
reader through the major sections of your paper,
▸ Write concisely. Instead of “After making a and summarize your conclusions.
timely arrival and observing the unfolding events,
▸ Details—such as quotations, examples, and
I emerged totally and gloriously victorious,” be
statistics—that support your conclusions.
concise with “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
▸ Lean sentences that have been purged of needless
▸ Communicate clearly. Instead of “The speaker
words.
made effective use of the television medium, ask-
ing in no uncertain terms that we change our belief ▸ Plenty of action verbs and concrete, specific nouns.
systems,” you can write specifically, “The senatorial ▸ Spelling and grammar mistakes. Use contractions
candidate stared straight into the television camera sparingly, if at all. Use spell-check by all means,
and said, ‘Take a good look at what my opponent is but do not rely on it completely, as it will not catch
doing! Do you really want six more years of this?’ ” everything.
SP-9
Academic Integrity: date, article title, and the name of the magazine or
journal as well. If you found the article in an aca-
Avoiding Plagiarism demic or technical journal, also include the volume
Using another person’s words, images, or other origi- and number of the publication. A librarian can help
nal creations without giving proper credit is called identify these details.
plagiarism. Plagiarism amounts to taking someone else’s ▸ Cite online sources correctly. If your source is a
work and presenting it as your own—the equivalent of website, record as many identifying details as you can
cheating on a test. The consequences of plagiarism can find—author, title, sponsoring organization, URL,
range from a failing grade to expulsion from school. publication date, and revision date. In addition, list
To avoid plagiarism, ask an instructor where you the date that you accessed the page. Be careful when
can find your school’s written policy on this issue. Don’t using Internet resources, as not all sites are consid-
assume that you can resubmit a paper you wrote for ered legitimate sources. For example, many profes-
another class for a current class. Almost all schools will sors don’t regard Wikipedia as an acceptable source.
regard this as plagiarism even though you wrote the
▸ Include your sources as endnotes or footnotes
paper. The basic guidelines for preventing plagiarism
to your paper. Ask your instructor for examples of
are to cite a source for each phrase, sequence of ideas,
the format to use. You do not need to credit wording
or visual image created by another person. While ideas
that is wholly your own. Nor do you need to credit
cannot be copyrighted, the specific way that an idea is
general ideas, such as the suggestion that people use
expressed can be. You also need to list a source for any
a to-do list to plan their time. But if you borrow some-
idea that is closely identified with a particular person.
one else’s words or images to explain the idea, do give
The goal is to clearly distinguish your own work from the
credit.
work of others. There are several ways to ensure that you
do this consistently: ▸ When in doubt, don’t. Sometimes you will find
▸ Identify direct quotes. If you use a direct quote yourself working against a deadline for a paper, and
from another source, put those words in quotation in a panic, you might be tempted to take “shortcuts.”
marks. If you do research online, you might copy text You’ll find a source that expressed your idea perfectly,
from a website and paste it directly into your notes. but you must cite it or completely rephrase the idea
This is a direct quote. You must use quotation marks in your own words. Professors are experts at notic-
or if the quote is long, an indented paragraph. ing a change in tone or vocabulary that signals plagia-
rism. Often, they can simply Google a phrase to find
▸ Paraphrase carefully. Paraphrasing means restat-
its source online. Do not let a moment’s temptation
ing the original passage in your own words, usually
cause you to fail the course or face an academic integ-
making it shorter and simpler. Students who copy a
rity hearing.
passage word for word and
then just rearrange or delete
a few phrases are running a
serious risk of plagiarism.
Remember to cite a source
for paraphrases, just as you
do for direct quotes. When
you use the same sequence
of ideas as one of your
sources—even if you have
not paraphrased or directly
quoted—cite that source.
▸ Note details about each
source. For books, include
the author, title, publisher,
LOFTFLOW/Shutterstock
publication date, location

of publisher, and page num-
ber. For articles from print
sources, record the author,
SP-10
Rawpixel/Shutterstock.com
TAKE It’s easy to think of politics as
a spectator sport—something
ACTION
that politicians do, pundits
analyze, and citizens watch.
But there are many ways to
get engaged with politics, to
A Guide to Political Participation interact with the political
world and participate in it, and
even to effect change.
GET • Which Founder Are You? The National Constitutional Cen-

ter can help you with that. Go to constitutioncenter
INFORMED .org/foundersquiz to discover which Founding Fa-

ther’s personality most resembles your own.
• The U.S. Constitution is an important part of the

context in which American politics takes place. Do you
Find Out Where You know what the Constitution says? Take the Constitution
I.Q. Quiz: constitutionfacts.com. Was your score
Fit and What You Know higher than the national average?
• You already have some opinions about a variety of po-
litical issues. Do you have a sense of where your views • At the National Constitution Center, you can explore
place you on the political map? Get a feel for your ideo- the interactive Constitution and learn more about the
logical leanings by taking The World’s Smallest Political provisions in that document: constitutioncenter.
Quiz: theadvocates.org/quiz. org/interactive-constitution.
TA-1
Rich Koele/Shutterstock.com
GET
• Find out what those who want to become U.S. citizens
have to do—and what they have to know. Go to the U.S. CONNECTED
Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site at uscis.
gov/. What is involved in applying for citizenship?
Take the Naturalization Self-Test at https://my.uscis.
gov/prep/test/civics. How did you do? News
Keep up with news—print, broadcast, and online. Don’t
Think about How Your avoid certain news sources because you think you might
Political Views Have Been Shaped not agree with the way they report the news. It’s just as
important to know how people are talking about issues as
• Consider how agents of political socialization—your
it is to know about the issues themselves.
family, your schools, and your peers, for example—
have contributed to your political beliefs and atti- • One way to follow the news is to get your information
tudes. Then have conversations with people in your from the same place that journalists do. Often they
classes or where you live about the people, institu- take their cues or are alerted to news events by news
agencies such as the nonprofit cooperative Associated
tions, and experiences that influenced the way they
Press: ap.org.
view the political world. Try to understand how and
why your views might differ. • Installing a few key apps on your phone or tablet can
help you stay informed. Try downloading the Associ-
• Explore how your views on political issues compare
ated Press (AP) app for timely updates about news
with those of a majority of Americans. There are a around the world. There are tons of other great politi-
number of good polling sites that report public opin- cal apps—some are fairly polarizing, some are neutral,
ion on a range of topics. and still others are just plain silly.
o The Pew Research Center for the People & the
Press conducts monthly polls on politics and policy Blogs
issues: people-press.org.
The blogosphere affords views of politics that tend to be
o Public Agenda reports poll data and material on
slanted according to the political orientation of the blog
major issues: publicagenda.org.
sponsor. In the last several decades, blogs have surged
o The results of recent polls and an archive of past in popularity as a source for political news and opinion.
polls can be found at Gallup: gallup.com.
o The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
is a leading archive of data from surveys of public
opinion: ropercenter.cornell.edu.
TA-2
Social Media
Staying connected can be as simple as following local,
national, or international politics on social media.
President Barack Obama, Senator Elizabeth War-
ren, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and even the White
House have Instagram accounts worth following. Most
politicians and political outlets are also on Twitter and
Facebook.
Check the Data

• It’s not always easy to figure out whether a news report
or public statement is accurate. PolitiFact, a project of
the Tampa Bay Times, is a good place to go to get the
facts: politifact.com. Check out the Truth-O-Meter,
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock
and get it on your smartphone or tablet.
• A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center,
factcheck.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer
advocate” for voters that monitors the factual accuracy
of what political players are saying in TV ads, speeches,
and interviews.
Keep Up during Election Season Monitor Money and

• Project Vote Smart offers information on elections Influence in Politics
and candidates: votesmart.org.
The Center for Responsive Politics Web site is an excel-
• Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight features election anal- lent source for information about who’s contributing
ysis, in addition to covering sports and economics: what amounts to which candidates: opensecrets.org.
fivethirtyeight.com. You can also use the lobbying database to identify the top
• Stay connected to the horse-race aspect of electoral lobbying firms, the agencies most frequently lobbied, and
politics by tracking election polls. There are many the industries that spend the most on lobbying activities.
good sources:
o For a comprehensive collection of election polls, go Connect with Congress
to the RealClearPolitics website: realclearpolitics
.com/polls. RealClearPolitics is a good source for You can, of course, learn a lot about what’s going on in
other political news and opinions as well. Congress from the Web sites of the House of Representa-
tives and the Senate: house.gov and senate.gov. Look
o Polls for U.S. federal elections, including state-by-
up the names and contact information for the senators
state polls, can be found at electoral-vote.com.
and the representative from your area. If you want your
o HuffPost Pollster publishes pre-election poll voice to be heard, simply phone or e-mail your senators
results combined into interactive charts: elections or your representative. Members of Congress listen to
.huffingtonpost.com/pollster. During presiden- their constituents and often act in response to their con-
tial elections, additional maps and electoral vote stituents’ wishes. Indeed, next to voting, contacting those
counts can be found at HuffPost Politics Election who represent you in Congress is probably the most
Dashboard. effective way to influence government decision making.
• If you have the opportunity, attend a speech by a Check GovTrack to find out where your represen-
candidate you’re interested in. tative and senators fall on the leadership and ideology
charts, and learn about their most recently sponsored
bills and votes on legislation: govtrack.us.
TA-3
financial health, account-
ability and transparency,
and reporting of results.
Design Your
Own Ways to
Take Action
• Start a network to
match those who need
assistance and those
who want to help.
For example, there may
be people on your cam-
Dragon Images/Shutterstock
pus who, because of a
disability or recent injury,
need someone to help
carry belongings, open
doors, or push wheel-
chairs.
• Do you want to raise awareness about an issue? Is
there a cause that you think needs attention? Talk with
friends. Find out if they share your concerns. Turn your
GET discussions into a blog. Create videos of events you

think are newsworthy and share them online. Sign or
INVOLVED start a petition.
Join a Group on Campus

You probably see flyers promoting groups and recruiting
Take an Interest in Your members posted all over campus. Chances are, there’s a
Community—Offer to Help group organized around something you’re interested in
Every community—large and small—can use energetic or care about.
people willing to help where there is a need. Local non- Maybe it’s an organization that works to bring clean
profit agencies serving the homeless, battered women, water to remote parts of the world. The American Red
or troubled teens often welcome volunteers who are Cross may be looking for help with campus blood drives.
willing to pitch in. You’ll find groups organized around race, culture, or
The Internet also has abundant resources about political parties; groups that go on spring break trips to
nonprofits and charities and how you can get involved: serve communities in need; service organizations of all
kinds; and groups that focus on the environment. The
• Idealist.org is a great place to find organizations and
list goes on and on.
events that are looking for employees, interns, and
If you have an interest that isn’t represented by the
volunteers. Filter by type and area of focus (women,
groups on your campus, start your own. Your college
disaster relief, animals, etc.) to find a cause that
or university should have an office of campus life (or
fits you.
something similar) that can help you establish a student
• Tinyspark.org is a watchdog for nonprofits and organization.
charity organizations. It highlights individuals and
groups that are doing good things around the globe
and investigates those who may not be doing as much
Vote (but Don’t
good as you’d think. Tinyspark also has a podcast. Forget to Register First)
• Charitynavigator.org is another tool for check- • You can learn about the laws governing voting in your
ing on charities. It evaluates and rates charities on state by going to the Web site of the National Confer-
TA-4
ence of State Legislatures and its link to Voter lowest-level conventions (or, in some states, caucuses)
Identification Requirements: ncsl.org/research/ are open to anyone who shows up. Voting rights at a
elections-and-campaigns/voter-id. convention, however, may be restricted to those who
• Register: Enter “register to vote in [your state]” in a are elected as precinct delegates in a party primary.
search engine. The office in your state that administers In much of the country, precinct delegate slots go
voting and elections will have a Web site that outlines unfilled. If this is true in your area, you can become a
the steps you will need to follow. You can also find out precinct delegate with a simple write-in campaign, writ-
how to obtain an absentee ballot. ing in your own name and persuading a handful of friends
• If you want to view a sample ballot to familiarize your- or neighbors to write you in as well. Whether you attend
self with what you’ll see at the polls, you will probably a convention as a voting delegate or as a guest, you’ll
be able to view one online. Just enter “sample bal- have a firsthand look at how politics operates. You’ll hear
lot” in a search engine. Your local election board, the debates on resolutions. You might participate in electing
League of Women Voters, or your district library often delegates to higher-level conventions—perhaps even the
post a sample ballot online. national convention if it is a presidential election year.
• Vote: Familiarize yourself with the candidates and
issues before you go to the polls. If you’d like to
influence the way things are done in your Work for a Campaign
community, state, or Washington, D.C., Candidates welcome energetic volun-
you can do so by helping to elect local, teers. So do groups that are support-
state, and federal officials whose views
ing (or opposing) ballot measures.
you endorse and who you think would
While sometimes tiring and frus-
do a good job of running the govern-
trating, working in campaign poli-
ment. Make sure you know the loca-
tion and hours for your polling place. tics can also be exhilarating and very
rewarding.
Find the contact information
Support a Political Party
©
HF for a campaign you’re interested in on

L
Gr
ph a
Getting involved in political parties is as sim- ic s
/Sh
u t ter s
its website, and inquire about volunteer
t ock
ple as going to the polls and casting your vote for opportunities. Volunteers assemble mail-
the candidate of one of the major parties—or of a third ings, answer the telephone, and make calls to encour-
party. You can also consider becoming a delegate to a age voters to support their candidate or cause. Even if
party convention. Depending on the state, parties may you have little free time or are not comfortable talking
hold conventions by U.S. House district, by county, to strangers, most campaigns can find a way for you to
or by state legislative district. In many states, the participate.
Be Part of
Campus
Media
Do you have a nose
for news and do
you write well? Try
reporting for the
university newspa-
per. Work your way
up to an editor’s
position. If broad-
Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock
cast media are your

thing, get involved
with your college
radio station or go
on air on campus TV.
TA-5
Engage with Political Institutions,
Government Agencies, © baur/Shutterstock
and Public Policymakers— • You can take a virtual tour of the Supreme Court
at Home and Abroad at the Web site of the Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent
• Visit the government websites for your state and College of Law: www.oyez.org/tour. You can also
community and learn about your representa- listen to Supreme Court oral arguments wherever you
tives. Contact them with your thoughts on matters are. Go to the Oyez site and check out ISCOTUSnow
that are important to you. Attend a city council meet- (blogs.kentlaw.iit.edu/iscotus/).
ing. You can find the date, location, and agenda on • Check with the study-abroad office at your college
your city’s website. And if you’re passionate about a or university. Studying abroad is a great way to expand
local issue, you can even sign up to speak. your horizons and get a feel for different cultures
• Check to see if internships or volunteer oppor- and the global nature of politics and the economy.
tunities are available close to home. Your U.S. There are programs that will take you almost any-
representative has a district office, and your U.S. sen- where in the world.
ators also have offices in various locations around the • Participate in the Model UN Club on your cam-
state. If you plan to be in Washington, D.C., and want pus (or start a Model UN Club if there isn’t one). By
to visit Capitol Hill, book a tour in advance through participatingg in Model UN,
your senators’ or representative’s offices. That’s also you will become aware
where you can obtain gallery passes to the House and tional issues
of international
Senate chambers. and conflictsts and gain
• Spend some time in Washington, D.C. Many col- hands-on experience
leges and universities have internship programs with in diplomacy.y.
government agencies and institutions. Some have
semester-long programs that will bring you into contact
with policymakers, journalists, and a variety of other
prominent newsmakers. Politics
and government will come alive,
and the contacts you make while
GET INFORMED.
ED.
participating in such programs can
often lead to jobs after graduation. GET CONNECTED.
ED.
• If you’re interested in the
GET INVOLVED.
ED.
ck
Supreme Court and you’re plan-

t te r s to
ning a trip to Washington D.C.,

s/ Shu
try to watch oral arguments. Go to the Court’s web-

C anla
site to access the link for oral arguments: supreme

m m el
court.gov. You’ll find the argument calendar and a

© Ro
visitor’s guide. (The secret is to get in line early.)

• Become a virtual tourist. If you can’t make it to
Washington, D.C., for a semester-long program or
even a few days, take the U.S. Capitol Virtual Tour:
w w w.aoc.gov/vir tual-tours/capitolbldg/
tourfiles.
TA-6
Every day in America, almost 12,000 people turn age 18 and
become eligible to vote. Each vote makes a difference!
Rock the Vote! is the largest nonprofit and nonpartisan

organization providing the tools college students need to
get registered to vote. It also provides resources around
becoming a more active citizen.
Go to the website below and get involved. Let your voice

be heard!
Go to the Rock the Vote website below and ...
Blend Images/Getty Images
1
AMERICA IN THE
TWENTY-FIRST
CENTURY
LEARNING OUTCOMES After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1-1 Explain what is meant by the terms politics and government.
1-2 Identify the various types of government systems.
1-3 Summarize some of the basic principles of American democracy and basic
American political values.
1-4 Define common American ideological positions, such as “conservatism” and

“liberalism.”
After finishing this chapter, go to PAGE 21 for STUDY TOOLS
2 PART ONE: The Foundations of Our American System
oneinchpunch/Shutterstock.com
Must We Give Up
Some of Our Freedoms
to Destroy ISIS?
The threat of terrorism in the homeland is here to stay. Syria. (An alternative is the Islamic State in Iraq and the
As of 2016, for the first time in years, terrorism became Levant—ISIL.)1 ISIS later shortened its name to the
the American public’s number-one concern. This devel- Islamic State. Uniquely among terrorist groups, it has
opment followed the massacres in Paris in November established a government in territory seized from Iraq
2015 (more than 130 dead) and shootings in San Ber- and Syria. In addition to fighting in these countries,
nardino, California, in December (14 dead). In Paris, the ISIS has told its followers worldwide through Twit-
terrorists were part of a group called ISIS, and the killers ter and other social media to kill residents of Western
in San Bernardino were inspired by ISIS as well. What, nations.
then, is ISIS? How much of our freedom and our privacy, if any,
The term ISIS represents the English initials of should we sacrifice in our attempts to defeat ISIS and
the group’s former name, the Islamic State in Iraq and other terrorist groups?
Security First
Some point out that the oldest purpose of government
is to protect its citizens from foreign and domestic Freedom Is Fragile—Don’t Crush It
violence. It follows that destroying ISIS is “job one.” We Others say that America has spent two centuries
should be willing to make sacrifices to defeat it. We will developing and protecting our freedoms, the most
have to accept additional “snooping” by espionage and important of which are found in the Bill of Rights.
law enforcement agencies such as the National Security Now is not the time to start revoking these free-
Agency (NSA). The government must use all possible doms. The Bill of Rights requires the government
means to analyze phone, e-mail, and social media data to obtain a warrant from a court before conducting
to identify terrorists. This will cost us some of our pri- searches. That warrant must “particularly describe
vacy. Remember, though: the NSA is not interested in the place to be searched, and the persons or things
99.9 percent of what Americans are doing, saying, or to be seized.” Given such language, how can the
thinking. government indiscriminately collect information on
No one thinks twice today about security measures every phone call, e-mail, and social media post?
when we fly. We accept that it is better to stop terrorists True, our freedoms can exist only when they are
from blowing up planes than to enjoy the freedom to protected by the government. But history shows
board a flight without a security check. Polls show that a that governments can also abuse their power and
majority of Americans worry that the United States won’t commit terrible crimes. We can recover from any par-
go far enough in monitoring potential terrorists. These ticular terrorist incident, but we might not be able to
citizens have got it right. recover from losses of our liberty.
Defeating ISIS is a laudable goal, but we must not
stifle our vibrant free society. Security at any cost is,
to say the least, a bad policy choice.
Where do you stand?
1. Most Muslims loathe and reject the term Islamic State
because it presents the group as the legitimate lead-
ers of Islam. Many call it Daesh, which is the equiva-
lent of ISIL in Arabic. Daesh resembles a number of Explore this issue online
Arab insults. Should Americans adopt this term? • You can find more detailed arguments for and
2. Many Americans are more afraid of a terrorist attack against NSA surveillance online. Look up “nsa pro
than a heart attack. Yet death from terrorism is very outline” using a search engine such as Google. You’ll
rare, while heart disease kills more of us than any- find both pro and con arguments from Debate
thing else. Why might relatively rare events often be Central, a project of the National Center for Policy
so frightening? Analysis.
CHAPTER 1: America in the Twenty-First Century 3

INTRO D U CTION such as its land, among themselves and how to bal-
ance individual needs and wants against those of society
generally.
Regardless of how Americans feel about government, one These perfect people would also have to decide how
thing is certain: they can’t live without it. James Madison to make these decisions. They would need to create a pro-
(1751–1836) once said, “If men were angels, no govern- cess for making rules and a form of government to enforce
ment would be necessary.” Today, his statement still holds those rules. It is thus not difficult to understand why gov-
true. People are not perfect. People need an organized ernment is one of humanity’s oldest and most universal
form of government and a set of rules by which to live. institutions.
Government performs a wide range of extremely As you will read in this chapter, a number of dif-
important functions. From the time we are born until ferent systems of government exist in the world today. In
the day we die, we constantly interact with various levels the United States, we have a democracy in which deci-
of government. Most (although not all) students attend sions about pressing issues ultimately are made politi-
government-run schools. All of us cally by the people’s representatives in
travel on government-owned streets “THE ULTIMATE RULERS government.
and highways. Many of us serve in the Because people rarely have iden-
military—a completely government- OF OUR DEMOCRACY tical thoughts and feelings about
controlled environment. A few of us issues, it is not surprising that in any
get into trouble and meet up with the
ARE . . . THE VOTERS democracy citizens are often at odds
government’s law enforcement sys- OF THIS COUNTRY.” over many political and social prob-
tem. Every citizen after reaching the lems. Throughout this book, you will
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
age of sixty-five can expect the govern- read about contemporary controver-
THIRTY-SECOND PRESIDENT
ment to help with medical and living OF THE UNITED STATES sies that have brought various groups
expenses. To fund all these functions, 1933–1945 of Americans into conflict with one
the government collects taxes. another.
In a representative democracy such as ours, it is Differences in political opinion are part and par-
politics that controls what the government decides to do. cel of a democratic government. Ultimately, these dif-
What combination of taxes and government services is ferences are resolved, one way or another, through
best? When should our leaders use military force against the American political process and our government
foreign nations or rebellions in foreign countries? As dis- institutions.
cussed in this chapter’s opening America at Odds feature,
how do we balance national security and civil liberties?
How the nation answers these and many other questions 1–1a Defining Politics
will have a major impact on your life—and participation and Government
in politics is the only way you can influence what happens.
Politics means many things to many people. There are
also many different notions about the meaning of gov-
1–1 WHAT ARE POLITICS ernment. How should we define these two central
concepts?
AND GOVERNMENT? Politics and Conflict To some, politics is an
expensive and extravagant game played in Washing-
LO Explain what is meant by the terms politics and ton, D.C., in state capitols, and in city halls, particularly
government.
during election time. To others, politics involves all of
Even if—contrary to Madi- the tactics and maneuvers carried out by the president
institution An ongoing son’s observation—people and Congress. Most formal definitions of politics, how-
organization that performs were perfect, they would ever, begin with the assumption that social conflict—
certain functions for society. still need to establish rules disagreements among people in a society over what the
social conflict to guide their behavior. society’s priorities should be—is inevitable. Conflicts will
Disagreements among people They would somehow have naturally arise over how the society should use its scarce
in a society over what the resources and who should receive various benefits, such
to agree on how to divide
society’s priorities should be.
up a society’s resources, as status, health care, and higher education. Resolving
such conflicts is the essence of
politics. Political scientist Harold
Lasswell perhaps said it best in his
classic definition of politics as the
process of determining “who gets
what, when, and how” in a society.2
Government and Authority
Disputes over how to distribute a
society’s resources inevitably arise
because valued resources, such as
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
property, are limited, while people’s
wants are unlimited. To resolve
such disputes, people need ways to
determine who wins and who loses,
and how to get the losers to accept
those decisions. Who has the legiti-
mate power—the authority—to Faculty member (center) with students. In what ways are teachers at state
make such decisions? This is where colleges and universities different from other government employees?
governments step in.
From the perspective of politi-
cal science, government can best be defined as the indi- Amendment to the Constitution grants individuals the
viduals and institutions that make society’s rules and also right to bear arms. In 2008 and 2010, the Court affirmed
possess the power and authority to enforce those rules. that such a right does exist.
Generally, in any country, government uses its authority Because of the Court’s stat- politics The process of
to serve at least three essential purposes: ure and authority as a gov- resolving conflicts over how
▸ It resolves conflicts, ernment body, there was society should use its scarce
resources and who should
little resistance to its deci-
▸ it provides public services, and receive various benefits, such
sion, even from gun control as public health care and
▸ it defends the nation and its culture against attacks by advocates. public higher education.
other nations.
government The indi-
1–1b Resolving Conflicts 1–1c Providing viduals and institutions that
make society’s rules and pos-
Public sess the power and authority
Governments decide how conflicts will be resolved
Services to enforce those rules.
so that public order can be maintained. Governments
power The ability to
have power—the ability to influence the behav- Another important purpose influence the behavior of
ior of others. Power is getting someone to do some- of government is to provide others, usually through the
thing that he or she would not otherwise do. Power public services—essential use of force, persuasion, or
may involve the use of force (often called coercion), services that many indi- rewards.
persuasion, or rewards. Governments typically also viduals cannot provide for authority The ability to
have authority, which they can exercise only if their themselves. Governments legitimately exercise power,
such as the power to make
power is legitimate. As used here, the term authority undertake projects that
and enforce laws.
means the ability to use power that is collectively recog- individuals usually would
nized and accepted by society as legally and morally cor- not or could not carry out public services
Essential services that
rect. Power and authority are central to a government’s on their own. These proj-
individuals cannot provide
ability to resolve conflicts by making and enforcing laws, ects include building and for themselves, such as
placing limits on what people can do, and developing maintaining roads, estab- building and maintaining
court systems to make final decisions. lishing welfare programs, roads, establishing welfare
programs, operating public
For example, the judicial branch of government— operating public schools,
schools, and preserving
specifically, the United States Supreme Court—resolved and preserving national national parks.
the highly controversial question of whether the Second parks. Governments also

provide such services as law enforcement, fire protec- continue to face economic hardships, they often have
tion, and public health and safety programs. As Abraham negative views about how well our government is “run-
Lincoln once stated: ning the ship.”
The legitimate object of government is to do for a com-
munity of people, whatever they need to have done, but 1–1d Defending the
cannot do, at all, or cannot, so well do, for themselves—in Nation and Its Culture
their separate, individual capacities. In all that the people
can individually do as well for themselves, government Historically, matters of national security and defense
ought not to interfere.3 have been given high priority by governments and have
demanded considerable time, effort, and expense. The
Services for All and Services for Some Some U.S. government provides for the common defense and
public services are provided equally to all citizens of the national security with its Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force,
United States. For example, government services such and Coast Guard. The departments of State, Defense,
as national defense and domestic law enforcement allow and Homeland Security, plus the Central Intelligence
all citizens, at least in theory, to feel that their lives and Agency, National Security Agency, and other agencies,
property are safe. Laws governing clean air and safe also contribute to this defense network.
drinking water benefit all Americans. As part of an ongoing policy of national security,
Other services are provided only to citizens who are many departments and agencies in the federal govern-
in need at a particular time, even though they are paid ment are constantly dealing with other nations. The
for by all citizens through taxes. Such services include Constitution gives our national government exclusive
health and welfare benefits. For example, a program power over relations with foreign nations. No individual
such as Social Security Disability Insurance provides a state can negotiate a treaty with a foreign nation.
source of income to people whose ability to work is lim- Of course, in defending the nation against attacks
ited by a notable disability. Americans contribute to the by other nations, a government helps to preserve the
program through the Social Security payroll tax regard- nation’s culture, as well as its integrity as an indepen-
less of whether they ever become disabled. dent unit. Failure to defend successfully against foreign
Managing the Economy One of the most crucial attacks may have significant consequences for a nation’s
public services that the government is expected to provide culture. For example, consider what happened in Tibet
is protection from hardship caused by economic reces- in the 1950s. When that country was taken over by the
sions or depressions. From 2008
on, this governmental objective
became more important than
almost any other, due to the
severity of the recession that
Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Rob Simpson.S/ Department of Defense
began in December 2007.

One of the most damaging
consequences of the recession
has been high rates of unem-
ployment, which have con-
tinued into the present, even
though the recession officially
ended in June 2009 when eco-
nomic growth resumed. True,
the official unemployment rate
was 5.0 percent in early 2016,
down from a high of 10 percent.
Yet large numbers of discour-
aged workers remained out of An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter hoists a Coast Guard officer from the water near San
the workforce and were not Diego. The U.S. Navy is vastly superior to any other naval force. What benefits do we
counted in the unemployment gain by our control of the high seas?
figures. When many Americans
People’s Republic of China, the conquering Chinese Historically, many monarchies were absolute
set out on a systematic program, the effective result of monarchies, in which the ruler held complete and
which was large-scale cultural destruction. unlimited power. Until the eighteenth century,
Attacks by foreign governments are not the only the theory of “divine right” was widely accepted in
threat that nations must address. Since the terrorist attacks Europe. This divine right theory, variations of which
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001, had existed since ancient times, held that God gave
defending the homeland against future terrorist attacks those of royal birth the unlimited right to govern other
has become a priority of our government. Terrorists often men and women. In other words, those of royal birth
operate independently of any foreign authority, even if had a “divine right” to rule, and only God could judge
they are inspired from abroad. Examples include the Bos- them. Thus, all citizens were bound to obey their mon-
ton Marathon bombing in April 2013 and the massacre in archs, no matter how unfair or unjust they seemed
San Bernardino, California, in December 2015. to be. Challenging this power was regarded not only
as treason against the government but also as a sin
CRITICAL THINKING against God.
▸ Would it be a good idea to send U.S. ground forces to Most modern monarchies, however, are consti-
attack ISIS in Iraq or Syria, or would doing so lead to tutional monarchies, in which the monarch shares
even greater problems than we already face? Explain governmental power with elected lawmakers. Over
your answer. time, the monarch’s power has come to be limited, or
checked, by other government leaders and perhaps by a
constitution or a bill of rights. Most constitutional mon-
1–2 DIFFERENT SYSTEMS archs today serve merely as ceremonial leaders of their
nations, as in Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom
OF GOVERNMENT (Britain).
LO Identify the various types of government systems.

Dictatorship Undemocratic systems that are not
supported by tradition are called dictatorships. Often,
Through the centuries, the functions of government just a dictator is a single individual, although dictatorial
discussed have been performed by many different types of power can be exercised by a group, such as the Commu-
structures. A government’s structure is influenced by a num- nist Party of China. Dicta-
ber of factors, such as a country’s history, customs, values, tors are not accountable to autocracy A form of
geography, resources, and human experiences and needs. anyone else. government in which the
No two nations have exactly the same form of government. A dictatorship can be power and authority of
Over time, however, political analysts have developed ways the government are in the
totalitarian, which means hands of a single person.
to classify different systems of government. One of the most that a leader or group of
meaningful ways is according to who governs. Who has the leaders seeks to control monarchy A form of
autocracy in which a king,
power to make the rules and laws that all must obey? almost all aspects of social queen, or other aristocrat
and economic life. The is the highest authority in
1–2a Undemocratic Systems leadership establishes the the government. Monarchs
goals of society. Citizens usually obtain their power
Before the development of modern democratic systems, through inheritance.
must conform to the gov-
the power of the government was typically in the hands divine right theory
ernment’s dictates in all
of an authoritarian individual or group. When such The theory that a monarch’s
fields of endeavor—in the
power is exercised by an individual, the system is called right to rule was derived
economy, in literature and directly from God rather
autocracy. Autocrats can gain power by traditional or
entertainment, and even in than from the consent of
nontraditional means.
private conversation. Typi- the people.
Monarchy One form of autocracy, known as a cally, these collective goals dictatorship A form
monarchy, is government by a king or queen, an emperor benefit only the leaders, of government in which
or empress—or a person with some other aristocratic and are damaging to the absolute power is exercised
title, such as emir, grand duke, or prince. In a monar- nation as a whole. by an individual or group
whose power is not
chy, the monarch, who usually acquires power through Examples of the totali- supported by tradition.
inheritance, is the highest authority in the government. tarian form of government

1–2b Democratic Systems
“People often say that, in a The most familiar form of government to Americans is
democracy, decisions are made democracy, in which the supreme political authority
rests with the people. The word democracy comes from
by a majority of the people. Of the Greek demos, meaning “the people,” and kratia,
meaning “rule.” The main idea of democracy is that gov-
course, that is not true. Decisions ernment exists only by the consent of the people and
are made by a majority of . . . reflects the will of the majority. Figure 1–1 shows the
extent of democracy in the world today—with “demo-
the people who vote—a very cratic” defined as “free.”
different thing.”
The Athenian Model of Direct Democracy
~ WALTER H. JUDD, Democracy as a form of government began long ago. In
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM MINNESOTA, 1943–1963 its earliest form, democracy was simpler than the system
we know today. What we now call direct democracy
include Adolf Hitler’s exists when the people participate directly in gov-
democracy A system of
Nazi regime in Ger- ernment decision making. In its purest form, direct
government in which the people
have ultimate political authority. many from 1933 to democracy was practiced in Athens and several other
The word is derived from the 1945 and Joseph Sta- ancient Greek city-states about 2,500 years ago. Every
Greek demos (“the people”) and lin’s dictatorship in the Athenian citizen participated in the governing assem-
kratia (“rule”).
Soviet Union (Russia) bly and voted on all major issues. Some consider the
direct democracy A system from 1929 to 1953. A Athenian form of direct democracy ideal because it
of government in which political more contemporary demanded a high degree of citizen participation. Others
decisions are made by the people
example of a totalitar- point out that most residents in the Athenian city-state
themselves rather than by elected
representatives. This form of ian dictator is the latest (women, foreigners, and slaves) were not considered
government was practiced in leader of North Korea, citizens. Thus, they were not allowed to participate in
some parts of ancient Greece. Kim Jong-un. government.
FIGURE 1–1 FREE AND UNFREE NATIONS OF THE WORLD, JANUARY 2016
In this classification of nations by Freedom House, green means free, yellow means partly free, and blue means unfree.
Bear in mind that these are the assessments of a single organization. Why might another organization come up with a
different system of classification?
Germany Russia
Canada
UK
France
Italy
USA
China
Japan
Mexico India
Pakistan
Philippines
Bangladesh
Nigeria
Indonesia
Brazil
Australia
Sources: Arch Puddington and Tyler Roylance, Freedom in the World 2016—Anxious Dictators, Wavering Democracies: Global Freedom under Pressure (Washington, D.C.:
Freedom House, 2016). Outline map adapted from Wikimedia.
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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI
Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)
The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.
NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.
MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]
MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY
With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER
Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT
SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB
CUTTING THE EDGE

FINISHING THE BOTTOM
LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING
FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE
TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL
NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK
DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG
REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

BEATING THE BARK
WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT
MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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4LTR Press) 9th Edition, (Ebook PDF)

10 POLITICS AND THE MEDIA 216

13 THE BUREAUCRACY 288

16 FOREIGN POLICY 356

PUBLIC POLICY 334 16–1a The President’s Role 358

16–2c The World Wars 361

15 DOMESTIC POLICY 334

2. Direct Democracy Today

T W O P O I N T S TO R E M E M B E R ▸ Mnemonic (pronounced ne-mon-ik) devices

more in your subject outline.

▸ When you first receive your exam, make sure

Effective writing flows from a purpose. Think

respond after considering your ideas.

Phase 3: Revising Your Draft

During this phase, keep in mind the saying,

publication date, location

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• The U.S. Constitution is an important part of the

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cast media are your

Supreme Court and you’re plan-

ning a trip to Washington D.C.,

try to watch oral arguments. Go to the Court’s web-

site to access the link for oral arguments: supreme

court.gov. You’ll find the argument calendar and a

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1-2 Identify the various types of government systems.

1-4 Define common American ideological positions, such as “conservatism” and

After finishing this chapter, go to PAGE 21 for STUDY TOOLS

2 PART ONE: The Foundations of Our American System

CHAPTER 1: America in the Twenty-First Century 3

4 PART ONE: The Foundations of Our American System

CHAPTER 1: America in the Twenty-First Century 5

began in December 2007.

6 PART ONE: The Foundations of Our American System

LO Identify the various types of government systems.

CHAPTER 1: America in the Twenty-First Century 7

8 PART ONE: The Foundations of Our American System

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK