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Gateways to Democracy: An

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John G. Geer
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Edition
4
Gateways
to Democracy
An Introduction
to American Government

John G. Geer
Vanderbilt University

Richard Herrera
Arizona State University

Wendy J. Schiller
Brown University

Jeffrey A. Segal
Stony Brook University

Australia ● Brazil ● Mexico ● Singapore ● United Kingdom ● United States

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Gateways to Democracy: An Introduction © 2018, 2016, 2014 Cengage Learning
to American Government, Fourth Edition
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may
John G. Geer, Richard Herrera, be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, except as permitted by
Wendy J. Schiller, Jeffrey A. Segal U.S. copyright law, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
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Printed in the United States of America


Print Number: 01   Print Year: 2016

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Brief Contents

Chapter 1 Gateways to American Democracy 2


Chapter 2 The Constitution 30
Chapter 3 Federalism66
Chapter 4 Civil Liberties 100
Chapter 5 Civil Rights 138
Chapter 6 Public Opinion180
Chapter 7 The News and Social Media216
Chapter 8 Interest Groups252
Chapter 9 Political Parties288
Chapter 10 Elections and Campaigns324
Chapter 11 Voting and Participation360
Chapter 12 Congress400
Chapter 13 The Presidency442
Chapter 14 The Bureaucracy 484
Chapter 15 The Judiciary518
Chapter 16 Economic, Domestic, and Foreign Policy 558

appendix A The Declaration of Independence 602


appendix b The Constitution of the United States 606
appendix c Federalist Papers 10 and 51 622
Appendix D Electoral Maps, 2000–2016 630

Brief Contents iii

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Contents
Letter to the Instructor x 2.4 The Ratification Debates 52
Letter to the Student xii Federalists and Antifederalists 52
Resources for Instructors xiv Consolidation of Federal Authority 52
Acknowledgments xvi
The Scope of Executive Authority 53
Reviewers xvii
About the Authors xviii The Scope of Legislative Authority 53
Career Opportunities: Political Science xix The Lack of a Bill of Rights 54
2.5 The Responsive Constitution 55

Chapter 1
Gateways to American The Bill of Rights 55
The Civil War Amendments 56
Democracy 2 Amendments That Expand Public Participation 57
Constitutional Interpretation 57
1.1 Gateways: Evaluating the American Political
System 4 Future Amendments 57
1.2 Democracy and the American Constitutional System 6 Institutional Changes 59
Liberty and Order 6 The Constitution and Democracy 62
The Constitution as Gatekeeper 7
1.3 American Political Culture 11
1.4 Responsiveness and Equality: Does American
Chapter 3 Federalism 66
Democracy Work? 13 3.1 Why Federalism? 68
1.5 The Demands of Democratic Government 17 Why Unify? 68
Self-Interest and Civic Interest 17 Confederal, Unitary, and Federal Systems 69
Politics and the Public Sphere 19 3.2 Constitutional Framework 70
What you need to know about your text and online study tools Grants of Power 71
to study efficiently and master the material 25
Limits on Power 72

Chapter 2 The Constitution 30


Groundwork for Relationships 73
3.3 The Changing Nature of American Federalism 77
Nationalization in the Founding Generation (Approximately
2.1 Before the Constitution 32 1789–1832) 78
The British Constitution 32 The Revolt Against National Authority: Nullification,
Toward Independence 32 Slavery, and the Civil War (Approximately
The Declaration of Independence 35 1832–65) 79
The Articles of Confederation 35 Dual Federalism (Approximately 1865–1932) 82
2.2 The Constitutional Convention 37 Cooperative Federalism: The New Deal and Civil Rights
(Approximately 1932–69) 82
The Delegates 37
The New Federalism (Approximately 1969–93) 84
Large Versus Small States 38
Summing Up: Were the Antifederalists Correct? 87
Nation Versus State 39
3.4 State and Local Governments 87
North Versus South 40
State Executive Branches 89
Gates Against Popular Influence 41
State Legislative Branches 91
The Ratification Process 43
State Judicial Branches 91
2.3 Government Under the Constitution 44
Local Governments 93
The Structure of Government 44
Direct Democracy 95
The Amendment Process 47
Federalism and Democracy 96
The Partition of Power 49

iv contents

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Chapter 4 Civil Liberties 100
5.3 The Expansion of Equal Protection 153
State Action 153
Judicial Review 153
4.1 What Are Civil Liberties? 102
5.4 The End of Legal Restrictions on Civil Rights 154
Civil Liberties and Civil Rights 102
Dismantling Public Discrimination
Balancing Liberty and Order 103 Based on Race 155
Constitutional Rights 103 Dismantling Private Discrimination Based on Race 156
The Bill of Rights and the States 103 Dismantling Voting Barriers Based on Race 159
4.2 Civil Liberties in Times of Crisis 106 Dismantling Public Discrimination Based on Ethnicity 161
From Revolution to Civil War 106 Dismantling Voting Barriers Based on Ethnicity 162
The World Wars 107 Dismantling Private Discrimination Based on Ethnicity 165
The Cold War and Vietnam 108 Dismantling Discrimination Based on Gender 166
The War on Terror 109 5.5 Frontiers in Civil Rights 169
Civil Liberties and American Values 110 Sexual Orientation, Same-Sex Marriage,
4.3 The First Amendment and Freedom and Transgender Rights 170
of Expression 110 Disability Rights 172
Freedom of Speech 110 Racial and Religious Profiling 173
Freedom of the Press 118 Voting Rights for Felons 174
The Right of Association 120 Undocumented Immigrants 175
4.4 Religious Freedom 120 Civil Rights and Democracy 176
Free Exercise 121

6
The Establishment of Religion 122
4.5 The Right to Keep and Bear Arms 124 Chapter Public Opinion 180
4.6 Criminal Procedure 125
Investigations 125 6.1 The Power of Public Opinion 182
Trial Procedures 127 The Power of Presidential Approval 182
Verdict, Punishment, and Appeal 128 What Is Public Opinion? 183
4.7 The Right to Privacy 130 The Public’s Support of Government 184
Birth Control and Abortion 130 6.2 Public Opinion Polls 186
Homosexual Behavior 133 Gauging Public Opinion in the Past 186
The Right to Die 133 Scientific Polling and the Growth of Survey Research 187
Student Housing 133 Types of Polls 188
Civil Liberties and Democracy 133 Error in Polls 190
6.3 What Drives Public Opinion? 192
Social and Political Environment 192

Chapter 5 Civil Rights 138 Generational Effects 193


Self-Interest and Rationality 194
5.1 What Are Civil Rights? 140 Elites 195
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties 140 6.4 The Shape of Public Opinion 197
The Constitution and Civil Rights 140 Partisanship 198
5.2 Legal Restrictions on Civil Rights 141 Ideology 199
Slavery 142 Is the Public Informed? 200
Restrictions on Citizenship 143 Is the Public Polarized? 202
Racial Segregation and Discrimination 146 6.5 Group Differences 206
Ethnic Segregation and Discrimination 147 Socioeconomic Status 206
Women’s Suffrage 148 Age 206
Continued Gender Discrimination 150 Religion 207

contents
Contents v

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Gender 207 8.2 Types of Interest Groups 258
Race and Ethnicity 208 Economic Interest Groups 258
Education 211 Ideological and Issue-Oriented Groups 261
Public Opinion and Democracy 212 Foreign Policy and International Groups 262
8.3 What Interest Groups Do 263

7
Inform 263
Chapter The News and Social Lobby 264

Media 216 Campaign Activities 269


8.4 The Impact of Interest Groups on Democratic
7.1 Political News 218 Processes 273
What Are the Mass Media? 218 Natural Balance or Disproportionate Power 273
Functions of the News 218 Self-Service or Public Service 275
7.2 The Law and the Free Press 220 Open or Closed Routes of Influence 277
7.3 The History of the Press in America 223 8.5 Characteristics of Successful Interest Groups 280
The Colonial Era, 1620 to 1750 223 Leadership Accountability 280
The Founding Era, 1750 to 1790 225 Membership Stability 281
The Partisan Era, 1790 to 1900 226 Financial Stability 283
The Professional Era, 1900 to 1950 227 Influence in the Public Sphere 283
The Television Era, 1950 to 2000 228 Interest Groups and Democracy 284
7.4 Mass Media in the Twenty-First Century 230
The Changing Media Environment 230
The Decline of Newspapers 231
Chapter 9 Political Parties 288
The Durability of Radio 232 9.1 The Role of Political Parties
The Transformation of TV News 234 in American Democracy 290
Infotainment 235 What Are Political Parties? 290
Blogs 235 What Political Parties Do 291
Social Networking 236 The Party Nomination Process 293
The News Media and Latinos 238 9.2 The Dynamics of Early Party Development 299
The News Media and Millennials 239 Political Factions: Federalist Versus Antifederalist 299
7.5 The Impact of the News Media Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and the Emergence
on the Public 240 of the Democratic Party 300
The Propaganda Model 240 The Antislavery Movement and the Formation
The Minimal Effects Model 241 of the Republican Party 301
The Not-So-Minimal Effects Model 241 Party Loyalty and Patronage 302
7.6 Evaluating the News Media 243 Reform and the Erosion of Party Control 303
Are the Media Biased? 243 9.3 The Effects of a Two-Party System 304
Quality of Information 245 Limited Political Choice 304
Implications of the Internet 247 The Structural Limits 305
The Era of Media Choice 247 The Role of Third Parties 306
The News, Social Media, and Democracy 248 The Tea Party 308
Party Control of Presidential Nominations 309
Obstacles to Third Parties and Independents 309

Chapter 8 Interest Groups 252 Challenges to Party Power from Interest Groups 311
9.4 Party Alignment and Ideology 312
8.1 Interest Groups and Politics 254 The Parties After the Civil War 312
What Are Interest Groups? 254 The New Deal and the Role of Ideology in Party Politics 313
The Right to Assemble and to Petition 254 Civil Rights, the Great Society, and Nixon’s
The History of Interest Groups 256 Southern Strategy 314

vi contents

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The Reagan Revolution and Conservative Party Politics 317 The Latino Vote 370
The Modern Partisan Landscape 318 The Vote for 18-Year-Olds, 1971 374
Political Parties and Democracy 320 11.3 Who Votes? 374
Turnout 374

Chapter 10
Elections and
The Demographics of Turnout 375
11.4 Why Citizens Vote 378
Campaigns 324 Economic Model of Voting 378
Psychological Model of Voting 379
10.1 The Constitutional Requirements for Elections 326 Institutional Model of Voting 380
Presidential Elections 326 Is Voting in Your Genes? 381
Congressional Elections 331 Weather 382
Other Elections 333 11.5 Assessing Turnout 382
10.2 Presidential Campaigns 334 Is Turnout Low? 382
Evolution of the Modern Campaign 334 Do Turnout Rates Create Inequality? 385
The Decision to Run and the Invisible Primary 335 11.6 Voting Laws and Regulations 386
Caucuses and Primaries 337 Reforms to Voting Laws in the 1890s 386
The National Convention 339 The National Voter Registration Act 387
Presidential Debates 339 New Forms of Voting 388
10.3 Issues in Presidential Campaigns 340 11.7 Participation Beyond Voting 390
Fundraising and Money 340 Involvement in Political Campaigns 390
Swing Voters and States 342 Protest Politics 391
Microtargeting 343 E-Participation 395
Campaign Issues 344 Voting, Participation, and Democracy 396
Negativity 345

12
Polls and Prediction Models 346
10.4 Congressional Campaigns 347 Chapter Congress 400
The Decision to Run and the Primaries 347
The Fall Campaign 349 12.1 Congress as the Legislative Branch 402
10.5 Issues in Congressional Campaigns 350 Representation and Bicameralism 402

Fundraising and Money 350 Constitutional Differences Between the House and Senate 403

The Role of Political Parties 351 12.2 The Powers of Congress 409


Incumbency Advantage 351 Taxation and Appropriation 409

Relative Lack of Interest 353 War Powers 409


Elections, Campaigns, and Democracy 356 Regulation of Commerce 410
Appointments and Treaties 410
Impeachment and Removal from Office 410

Chapter 11
Voting and Lawmaking 412
Authorization of Courts 412
Participation 360 Oversight 413
11.1 The Practice and Theory of Voting 362 12.3 The Organization of Congress 414
The Constitution and Voting 362 The Role of Political Parties 414

Competing Views of Participation 362 The House of Representatives 415


11.2 The History of Voting in America 363 The Senate 418
Expansion of Voting, 1790s to 1870 364 The Committee System 419
The Road to Women’s Suffrage, 1848 to 1920 365 Advocacy Caucuses 422
Denial of African American Suffrage, 1870 to 1965 366 12.4 The Lawmaking Process 423
The Civil Rights Movement and African The Procedural Rules of the House and Senate 423
American Voting, 1950s and 1960s 369 Legislative Proposals 427

contents vii

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Committee Action 427
Floor Action and the Vote 428 Chapter 14 The Bureaucracy 484
Conference Committee 429
14.1 The American Bureaucracy 486
The Budget Process and Reconciliation 429
What Is the Bureaucracy? 486
Presidential Signature or Veto, and the Veto Override 432
Constitutional Foundations 487
12.5 The Member of Congress at Work 433
Structure of the Bureaucracy 488
Offices and Staff 433
14.2 Core Components of the Bureaucracy 492
Legislative Responsibilities 434
Mission 493
Communication with Constituents 435
Hierarchical Decision-Making Process 493
The Next Election 436
Expertise 493
Congress and Democracy 438
Bureaucratic Culture 494
14.3 Historical Evolution of the Bureaucracy 496
Chapter 13 The Presidency 442 Expansion of Executive Branch Departments 496
Growth of Regulatory Agencies
13.1 Presidential Qualifications 444 and Other Organizations 497
Constitutional Eligibility and Presidential Succession 444 From Patronage to the Civil Service 499
Background and Experience 446 Career Civil Service 501
Expansion of the Presidency 447 Political Appointees 501
13.2 Presidential Power: Diversity in the Federal Bureaucracy 503
Constitutional Grants and Limits 449 Private-Sector Contract Workers 505
Commander in Chief 450 Bureaucrats and Politics 506
Power to Pardon 451 14.4 Accountability and Responsiveness
Treaties and Recognition of Foreign Nations 451 in the Bureaucracy 507
Executive and Judicial Nominations 453 Roles of the Legislative and Judicial Branches 508
Veto and the Veto Override 454 Efficiency and Transparency 509
Other Powers 456 Whistleblowing 512
Congress’s Ultimate Check on the Executive: Bureaucratic Failure 512
Impeachment 456 The Bureaucracy and Democracy 514
13.3 The Growth of Executive Influence 458
Presidential Directives and Signing Statements 459
Power to Persuade 461 Chapter 15 The Judiciary 518
Agenda Setting 463
15.1 The Role and Powers of the Judiciary 520
13.4 The President in Wartime 465
English Legal Traditions 520
Power Struggles Between the President and Congress 465
Constitutional Grants of Power 521
Power Struggles Between the President
and the Judiciary 469 15.2 State and Lower Federal Courts 522
13.5 Organization of the Modern White House 471 State Courts in the Federal Judicial System 522
The Executive Office of the President 472 District Courts 523
The Office of the Vice President 472 Courts of Appeals 528
The Office of the First Lady 473 15.3 The Supreme Court 529
13.6 Presidential Greatness 474 Granting Review 530
Roosevelt: The New Deal and World War II  474 Oral Arguments 531
Johnson: The Great Society and Vietnam 476 The Decision 532
Reagan: The Reagan Revolution and the End 15.4 Judicial Decision Making 533
of the Cold War 477 Judicial Restraint: The Legal Approach 535
The Presidency and Democracy 480 Judicial Activism: The Extralegal Approach 536

viii contents

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Restraint and Activism in Judicial Decision Making 538 16.2 Domestic Policy 565
The Impact of Court Rulings 538 Entitlement Programs, Income Security, and Health Care 566
15.5 The Appointment Process for Federal Judges The Affordable Care Act (ACA) 569
and Justices 541 Immigration Policy 570
District Courts 541 Energy, Environmental Policy, and Climate Change 574
Courts of Appeals 542 16.3 Economic Policy 578
The Supreme Court 545 Intervention in the Economy 578
Demographic Diversity on the Court 548 Fiscal Policy 579
15.6 Historical Trends in Supreme Monetary Policy 581
Court Rulings 549
Trade Policy 582
Expansion of National Power Under
the Marshall Court 550 16.4 Foreign Policy 588
Limits on National Power, 1830s to 1930s 550 International Relations and U.S. Foreign Policy Goals 588

Strengthened National Power, 1930s Foreign Policy Tools 591


to the Present 551 Public Policy and Democracy 597
The Judiciary and Democracy 553
Appendix
Chapter 16
Economic, Domestic, A The Declaration of Independence 602
B The Constitution of the United States 606
and Foreign Policy 558 C Federalist Papers 10 and 51 622
16.1 Public Policy Under a Constitutional System 560 D Electoral Maps, 2000–2016 630
The Process of Policy Making 560
The Regulatory Process 562 Glossary 632
Blocking Implementation 564 Endnotes 643
State Governments and Public Policy 564 Index 677

contents ix

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Letter to the Instructor
Dear Introduction to American Government Instructor:
As teachers and scholars of American government, we have come together to write a textbook
that engages students in both the process and the policy outcomes of U.S. government. We present an
updated lens through which we can examine the theoretical and structural foundations of American
democracy and the resulting political process that demands an active and informed citizenry. To help
students understand American democracy and see how they can be involved in their government, we
peel back the layers of the political system to expose its inner workings and to examine how competing
interests can both facilitate and block the people’s will. In doing so, we use the conceptual framework
of gateways. We contend that there are gates—formal and informal—that present obstacles to par-
ticipation and empowerment. But there are also gateways that give students a chance to influence
the process and to overcome the obstacles. The gateways framework helps students conceptualize
participation and civic engagement—even democracy itself. Our book is both realistic and optimistic,
contending that the American system can be open to the influence of students and responsive to their
hopes and dreams—if they have information about how the system works. But we avoid cheerleading
by also pointing out the many gates that undermine the workings of government. Although the size
and complexity of the American constitutional system is daunting, it is imperative to prepare for the
demands of democratic citizenship. This has never been truer than today, when we have a rapidly
changing demographic balance within our population. Today groups that were formerly underrepre-
sented in American politics and society, such as second- and third-generation Latinos, are a powerful
force in our government. It is our hope that this textbook can awaken students and motivate them not
only to learn about politics but to also participate actively throughout every stage of their lives.
In keeping with the theme of gates and gateways in American politics, we also open each chapter
with a vignette that tells the story of an individual who has successfully navigated his or her own way in
politics. The important role of the vignette for the instructor is to show the students how people like them
have made a difference in American political and social life; our vignette subjects vary by historical era,
career choice, gender, race, ethnicity, and party affiliation. We also include landmark Supreme Court cases
related to every chapter’s subject to show students the continuous and vital role it plays in both upholding
and knocking down gates to policy implementation and political participation. We include policy features
in each chapter to illustrate how the chapter’s core content operates on a real-time, real-life basis. We also
have an Election 2016 feature in each chapter. To prepare students to evaluate the vast amounts of data
present in today’s political discourse, we include a Political Analytics feature in each chapter, which asks
students to look closely at visual representations of data and to think critically about what they see.

New to This Edition


●● A dedicated focus on diversity and participation that reflects the changing demographic infrastructure
in America today
●● Expanded information about the Tea Party, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and factions in the
Republican Party
●● Coverage of Hillary Clinton’s quest to become the first female U.S. president
●● An expanded section on protest politics, including the Black Lives Matter movement
●● Discussion of how the Supreme Court has changed and may lean differently after Justice Antonin
Scalia’s passing
●● New information about recent Supreme Court cases and their ramifications, such as Obergefell v.
Hodges (2015) and same-sex marriage

x Letter to the Instructor

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
●● New opening chapter vignettes featuring Oregon Governor Kate Brown, author Ta-Nehisi Coates, Utah
Representative Mia Love, former President Barack Obama, Los Angeles City Administrative Officer
Miguel Santana, and Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer
●● Explanatory text to accompany all figures to help students interpret data.

MindTap
As an instructor, MindTap is here to simplify your workload, organize and immediately grade your students’
assignments, and allow you to customize your course as you see fit. Through deep-seated integration with
your Learning Management System, grades are easily exported, and analytics are pulled with the click of
a button. MindTap provides you with a platform to easily add in current events videos and RSS feeds from
national or local news sources. Looking to include more currency in the course? Add in our KnowNow
American Government Blog link for weekly updated news coverage and pedagogy.
Teaching American government remains a vitally important but constantly challenging task for all of
us. We know that there are many books to choose from to use in your course. We believe that Gateways to
Democracy has an innovative approach in reaching and engaging students across a range of backgrounds
and enables instructors to more easily achieve their pedagogical goals in American government courses.
We have seen it work for our students, and we know it will work for yours.

Sincerely,

John G. Geer, john.g.geer@vanderbilt.edu


Richard Herrera, Richard.Herrera@asu.edu
Wendy J. Schiller, Wendy_Schiller@Brown.edu
Jeffrey A. Segal, jeffrey.segal@stonybrook.edu

Letter to the Instructor xi

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Letter to the Student
Dear Student:
Our book begins with a simple question: How does anyone exert political influence in a country of
more than 325 million people? Students in American government classrooms across the country are grap-
pling with this question as they develop an appreciation of their role in American public life. In our own
classrooms, students ask us: What is my responsibility? Can I make a difference? Does my participation
matter? How can I get my opinions represented? These are gateway questions that probe the opportunities
and limits on citizen involvement in a democracy. For that reason, we not only provide you with essential
information about the American political system but also show you how to become a more powerful advo-
cate for yourself within that system. It is not enough to know what you want your government and society
to be—you must learn how to make it happen. This course shows you how people from all walks of life have
opened gates to influence public policy, and it shows you the relevance of government in your life. It is our
hope that this information motivates you not only to learn about politics but also to participate actively
throughout every stage of your life.
In keeping with the theme of gates and gateways in American politics, we open each chapter with a
vignette that tells the story of someone who has successfully navigated his or her way in politics. These
are people like you who have different gender, ethnic, racial, and partisan backgrounds and who have made
a difference in American political and social life. We also include other features focusing on the Supreme
Court, public policy, the 2016 election, and data analysis that show you how politics plays out in the United
States. All of these special features are designed to relate specifically to you—the student—to give you a
blueprint with which to navigate the political system. What makes Gateways to Democracy different?
●● Streamlined learning objectives and outcomes help you better understand the material and prepare
for the graded assignments in the course. We have key terms and guide questions throughout each
chapter.
●● A focus on diversity reflects the changing demographic infrastructure in America, especially among
young people, by providing new coverage of the politics and issues affecting all Americans in every
chapter.
●● Updated accounts are included of people who are changing American politics today.
●● Current policy case studies are included on issues such as voter ID laws, fracking, drone warfare, and
government surveillance of citizens’ communications.
As a student, the benefits of using MindTap with this material are endless. With automatically graded
practice quizzes and activities, an easily navigated learning path, and an interactive eBook, you will be able
to test yourself inside and outside the classroom with ease. The accessibility of current events coupled with
interactive media makes the content fun and engaging. On your computer, phone, or tablet, MindTap is
there when you need it, giving you easy access to flashcards, quizzes, readings, and assignments.
As teachers, our main goal both in this book and in the classroom is to empower you as active partic-
ipants in American democracy. We know that you balance a lot of competing demands for your time, from
other classes, to work, to family responsibilities. This book provides you with the core information you need
to succeed in your American government classes, and just as important, to knock open the gates that may
stand in your way to achieve your goals within the political system.

Sincerely,

John G. Geer, john.g.geer@vanderbilt.edu


Richard Herrera, Richard.Herrera@asu.edu
Wendy J. Schiller, Wendy_Schiller@Brown.edu
Jeffrey A. Segal, jeffrey.segal@stonybrook.edu

xii Letter to the Student

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Want to turn your
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Resources for Instructors
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xiv Resources for Instructors

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Resources for Instructors xv

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Acknowledgments
Writing the fourth edition of an introductory textbook requires a dedicated and professional publishing
team. We were extremely fortunate to continue to work with a number of excellent people at Cengage
Learning, including Carolyn Merrill, who has since moved on to other adventures. Carolyn was a rock-
steady foundation, and her choice of Paula Dohnal as our development editor was outstanding. Paula has
guided us through a comprehensive revision of the book to focus more on the vital role that traditionally
underrepresented groups, such as Latinos, play in knocking down the gates that stand in the way of
participation. Edward Dionne and Cathy Brooks have been vigilant managers of the copyedit process, and
Jen Simmons has been terrific in updating our photos and images. We also want to thank the entire sales
force at Cengage Learning for their tireless efforts to promote Gateways to Democracy.
Our gratitude goes to all of those who worked on the various supplements offered with this text,
especially the test bank and Instructor’s Manual author, Adam Newmark from Appalachian State University.
By definition, an American government textbook is a sweeping endeavor, and it would not be possible
to succeed without our reviewers. They provided truly constructive input throughout the review and revi-
sion process. We list their names on the following page, and we are grateful to them for their contributions
to this material’s development.
Each of us would also like to thank the individuals who supported us throughout the project.
John G. Geer: I would like to thank Carrie Roush and Marc Trussler for their help with revising this
textbook. Special mention goes to Drew Engelhardt and Maggie Deichert for their timely efforts in pulling
together new material for this fourth edition. As each edition goes into print, my debt to Jeff, Rick, and
Wendy only grows. They are tremendous co-authors and even better friends. I am so lucky to work with
them on this project. My deepest and most heartfelt appreciation goes to Beth Prichard Geer. Beth makes
every part of my life better and supports me in all endeavors. It is a true joy to have a partner on life’s amaz-
ing journey. For that, I will be forever grateful.
Richard Herrera: I appreciate the opportunity to expand my contributions to Gateways. The
author team has been wonderfully supportive and helpful to me as I continue to learn the craft of writing
and revising a textbook. John, Wendy, and Jeff are an exciting and thoughtful group of scholars with whom
to work. The creative process that produced this edition has been a wonderful experience. Their support
and suggestions, along with Paula Dohnal’s, have been essential to honing my ideas and contributions.
I would also like to thank Marian Norris for her support, patience, and encouragement throughout this
adventure.
Wendy J. Schiller: I would also like to express my appreciation for the opportunity to work with
John, Jeff, and Rick—each excellent scholars and colleagues. I would also like to thank my husband, Robert
Kalunian, who provides an endless supply of patience, support, and perspective.
Jeffrey A. Segal: I thank my co-authors, John, Wendy and Rick, for once again making the endeavor
of the new edition a totally enjoyable experience and Paula Dohnal for her fresh look at the materials.
Justine D’Elia provided expert research assistance for the two previous editions, for this edition, I thank
Alan Champlin for the same. My professional colleagues, both at Stony Brook and beyond, have cheerfully
answered innumerable queries from me. I appreciate their assistance.

xvi Acknowledgments

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Reviewers
We would like to thank the instructors who have contributed their valuable feedback through reviews of the third edition
in preparation for this fourth edition:

Jennifer Clark, University of Houston Todd Myers, Grossmont College


Louis DeSipio, University of California, Irvine William Parent, San Jacinto College Central Campus
Bond Faulwell, Johnson County Community College Dave Price, Santa Fe College
Jason MacDonald, West Virginia University Scot Schraufnagel, Northern Illinois University
Elizabeth McNamara, University of North Carolina, Greensboro

Reviewers xvii

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About the Authors

John G. Geer
(PhD, Princeton University) is Vice Provost for Academic and Strategic Affairs, the Gertrude Conaway
Vanderbilt Professor of Political Science, and co-directs the Vanderbilt Poll. Geer has published widely,
including In Defense of Negativity, which won the Goldsmith Prize from the Shorenstein Center at Harvard
University. Geer has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University and Princeton University. Geer teaches
Introduction to American Politics, as well as specialty courses on elections and campaigns. His teaching
has drawn much note, winning numerous teaching awards at both Arizona State University and Vanderbilt
University. Geer is a frequent commentator in the press, with appearances on all the major networks (e.g.,
Fox News, CBS Evening News, CNN), and he has been quoted in newspapers ranging from The New York
Times to The Washington Post to the LA Times. He has done interviews for major international outlets as well,
such as BBC and Al Jazeera.

richard herrera
(PhD, University of California Santa Barbara) is Associate Professor of Political Science and Associate
Director for the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. He directs the ASU Capital
Scholars Washington, DC, Summer Internship program for ASU and coordinates the ASU-McCain Institute
for International Leadership Internship Program. He has contributed articles to the American Political Science
Review, Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and State Politics and Policy Quarterly. His current
research interests are focused on U.S. governors, their ideology, policy agendas, and representative functions.
He teaches courses in American Politics, American Political Parties, and American Politics and Film.

Wendy J. Schiller
(PhD, University of Rochester) is a Professor of Political Science, International and Public Affairs at Brown
University (Twitter acct @profwschiller). She was legislative assistant for Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, a
federal lobbyist for Governor Mario M. Cuomo, a Guest Scholar and PhD Fellow at the Brookings Institution,
and a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton University. She has published Electing the Senate: Indirect Democracy
Before the Seventeenth Amendment (2015) with Charles Stewart III, The Contemporary Congress (2003,
2005, 2015) with Burdett Loomis, and Partners and Rivals: Representation in U.S. Senate Delegations (2000).
She teaches courses on a wide range of American politics topics, including Introduction to the American
Political Process, The American Presidency, Congress and Public Policy, Parties and Interest Groups, and
The Philosophy of the American Founding. Professor Schiller is a political analyst for local and national
media outlets, including Bloomberg Radio, NPR, and WJAR10, the local NBC affiliate in Providence.

Jeffrey a. segal
(PhD, Michigan State University) is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Political Science
Department at Stony Brook University. He has served as Senior Visiting Research Scholar at Princeton
University and held a Guggenheim Fellowship. Segal is best known, with Harold Spaeth, as the leading
proponent of the attitudinal model of Supreme Court decision making. Segal has twice won the Wadsworth
Award for a book (with Spaeth) or article 10 years or older with lasting influence on law and courts. He has
also won the C. Herman Pritchett Award (again with Spaeth) for best book on law and courts. His work
on the influence of strategic factors on Supreme Court decision making won the Franklin Burdette Award
from APSA. With Lee Epstein, Kevin Quinn, and Andrew Martin, he won Green Bag’s award for exemplary
legal writing. He has also won a national award sponsored by the American Bar Association for innovative
teaching and instructional methods and materials in law and courts.

xviii About the Authors

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Career Opportunities:
Political Science

Introduction
One of the most important decisions a student has to make is the choice of a major; many consider future job
possibilities when making that call. A political science degree is useful for a successful career in many different
fields, from lawyer to policy advocate, pollster to humanitarian worker. Employer surveys reveal that the skills
that most employers value in successful employees—critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and clarity of ver-
bal and written communication—are precisely the tools that political science courses should be helping you
develop. This guide is intended to spark ideas about careers you might pursue with a political science degree
and the types of activities you can engage in now to help you secure one of those positions after graduation.

Careers in Political Science


Law and Criminal Justice
Do you find that your favorite parts of your political science classes are those that deal with the Consti-
tution, the legal system, and the courts? Then a career in law and criminal justice might be right for you.
Traditional jobs in the field range from lawyer or judge to police or parole officer. In the past decade, there
has also been tremendous growth in the area of homeland security, including jobs in mission support,
immigration, travel security, and prevention and response. A former political science student of at least
one of the authors is now an FBI agent.

Public Administration
The many offices of the federal government combined represent one of the largest employers in the United
States. Flip to the bureaucracy chapter and consider that each federal department, agency, and bureau you see
looks to political science majors as future employees. A partial list of such agencies would include the Department
of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Federal Trade Commission. This does not
even begin to account for the multitude of similar jobs in state and local governments that you might consider.

Campaigns, Elections, Polling, AND ELECTED OFFICE


Are campaigns and elections the most exciting part of political science for you? Then you might consider a
career in the growing industry based around political campaigns. From volunteering and interning to consulting,
marketing, and fundraising, there are many opportunities for those who enjoy the competitive and high-stakes
electoral arena. For those looking for careers that combine political knowledge with statistical skills, there are
careers in public opinion polling. Pollsters work for independent national organizations such as Gallup and
YouGov or as part of news operations and campaigns. For those who are interested in survey methodology,
there are also a wide variety of non-political career opportunities in marketing and survey design. You might also
consider running for public office yourself, as did Democratic political scientist Woodrow Wilson (who eventually
became president) and Republican political scientist Dick Cheney (who eventually became vice president).

Interest Groups AND International


and Nongovernmental Organizations
Is there a cause that you are especially passionate about? At least one interest group is likely working
to see progress made on that issue. Many of the positions that one might find in for-profit companies
also exist in their non-profit interest group and nongovernmental organization counterparts, including
lobbying and high-level strategizing. Don’t forget that there are also major international organizations—
such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the International Monetary Fund—where
a degree in political science could be put to good use. While competition for those jobs tends to be fierce,
interest in and knowledge about politics and policy will give you an advantage.

Career Opportunities: Political Science xix

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Foreign Service
Does a career in diplomacy and foreign affairs, complete with the opportunity to live and work abroad,
sound exciting to you? Tens of thousands of people work for the State Department, both in Washington,
D.C., and in consulates throughout the world. They represent the diplomatic interests of the United
States abroad. Entrance into the Foreign Service follows a process, starting with the Foreign Service
Officers Test—an exam given three times a year that includes sections on American government, history,
economics, and world affairs. Being a political science major is a significant help in taking the FSOT.

JOURNALISM
Much of the content of online, newspaper, and television news concerns politics. Expert knowledge in the
world of politics plus the ability to write well can land students in journalism positions where they can
make a difference. Famous examples are Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein,
who uncovered the Watergate scandal, and Boston Globe reporters Robby Robinson, Michael Rezendes,
and Sacha Pfeiffer, who helped uncover the priest child-abuse scandal in Boston. Public speaking ability
can then make radio or television careers more likely.

Graduate School
While not a career, graduate school may be the next step for you after completing your undergraduate
degree. Earning a PhD or master’s degree in political science could open additional doors to a career in
academia as well as many of the professions mentioned here. If a career as a researcher in political science
interests you, you should speak with your advisors about continuing your education.

Preparing While Still on Campus


Internships
One of the most useful steps you can take while still on campus is to visit your college’s career center in
regards to an internship in your field of interest. Not only does it give you a chance to experience life in the
political science realm, it can lead to job opportunities later down the road and add experience to your résumé.

Skills
In addition to your political science classes, these skills will prove useful as a complement to your degree:
Writing: Like anything else, writing improves with practice. Writing is one of those skills that is appli-
cable regardless of where your career might take you. Virtually every occupation relies on an ability
to write cleanly, concisely, and persuasively.
Public Speaking: Presenting your ideas clearly and effectively is a vital skill in the modern economy. You can
practice this skill in a formal class setting or through extracurricular activities that get you in front of a group.
Quantitative Analysis: As massive amounts of information are collected digitally, the nation is fac-
ing a drastic shortage of people with basic statistical skills to interpret and use this data. A political
science degree can go hand in hand with courses in introductory statistics.
Foreign Language: One skill that often helps a student or future employee stand out in a crowded
job market is the ability to communicate in a language other than English. Solidify or set the founda-
tion for your verbal and written foreign language communication skills while in school.

Student Leadership
One attribute that many employers look for is “leadership potential,” which can be tricky to indicate on a
résumé or cover letter. What can help is a demonstrated record of involvement in clubs and organizations,
preferably in a leadership role. While many people think immediately of student government, most
student clubs allow you the opportunity to demonstrate leadership skills.

Conclusion
We hope that reading this has sparked some ideas about potential future careers. As a next step, visit
your college’s career placement office to further explore what you have read here. You might also visit
your college’s alumni office to connect with graduates who are working in your field of interest. Political
science opens the door to a lot of exciting careers—have fun exploring the possibilities!

xx Career Opportunities: Political Science

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Gateways
to Democracy
An Introduction
to American Government

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1 Gateways to American
Democracy
Need to Know
1.1 Identify the successes we have
achieved and the obstacles we
face in establishing a “more
perfect union”
1.2 Analyze how the constitutional
system balances liberty and
order
1.3 Describe the political values
and ideologies Americans
share
1.4 Evaluate American democracy
in terms of responsiveness and
equality
1.5 List the responsibilities of
individuals in a democracy

Sandra Baker/Alamy

2 2 chapter 1: GATEWAYS TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

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Steve Liss/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait
for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are
the change that we seek.” 1
BARACK OBAMA
Columbia College

I
t is an American story. Barack Obama which increased black turnout in the 1992 election and reg-
istered hundreds of thousands of people to vote. Obama
was not born into wealth or privilege, yet he secured
continued to pursue the gateway offered by elections. In
fame and success. There are not many countries where
1996, Obama ran for and won an Illinois state senate seat,
it is possible for someone of humble origins to rise to the
representing the 13th District of Illinois.
pinnacle of power and influence in the world. But in America
During his time as a state senator, Obama worked
it is possible because of the many gateways open to citizens.
with both Republicans and Democrats. He helped to pass
Obama’s life was not just one of modest beginnings
substantial amounts of legislation on issues ranging from
but one defined by diversity—an ever-increasing aspect of
health care and welfare reform to a bipartisan effort to
American life in the twenty-first century. Obama is mul-
monitor racial profiling in police activity.
tiracial, with a white mother and a black father. He spent
Obama decided to run for U.S. Congress against Chi-
his formative years in Indonesia following the divorce of
cago alderman and incumbent congressman Bobby Rush in
his parents and his mother’s remarriage. At age 10, Obama
the 2000 Democratic primary. But Obama was not nearly
went to live with his grandparents in Hawaii, where he
as well known as Rush, and he lost by 30 percentage points
experienced many different cultures.
in the Democratic primary. It was stinging defeat, yet it did
Obama faced his share of hardships growing up. Not
not deter Obama. Four years later, he ran for an even bigger
having his father around was difficult, and the moves he
prize—the U.S. Senate. This time the well-known and poten-
made to Indonesia and Hawaii were inevitably unsettling.
tially well-financed Democrats chose not to run, making it
But his family focused on securing him a good education,
possible for him to win the primary. Obama’s luck continued
which was part of the motivation for his moving back to the
when the GOP nominee, Jack Ryan, faced a scandal involv-
United States in the early 1970s.
ing his ex-wife and sex clubs, forcing him out of the race.
In 1979, Obama enrolled at Occidental College in Los
That development opened wide a gate for Obama to win
Angeles. During this time he became active in student orga-
the Senate seat.
nizations opposing South Africa’s practice of apartheid—his
As he ran for Senate in 2004, he continued to gain
first effort at using a gateway to influence public policy.
national attention, so much so that he was invited to deliver
After his sophomore year, Obama transferred to Columbia
the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Con-
University in New York, completing a bachelor’s degree in
vention. On this huge stage, he gave an inspirational speech
political science. His interest in politics and the pursuit of
that propelled him to the top ranks of possible presidential
gateways of influence continued. After graduating, Obama
candidates in 2008. He made the most of that opportunity,
moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer in
running a successful campaign that beat the formidable
Chicago’s largely poor and black South Side.
­Hillary Clinton in the primary and then went on to defeat the
Eventually, Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School,
Republican nominee and war hero, Senator John McCain.
where he became the first African American president of the
Holding aside one’s personal beliefs about President
Harvard Law Review. This recognition drew national media
Obama, his story is compelling, speaking directly to how the
attention and a contract from Random House to write a book
U.S. political system can work. You can be born into modest
about race relations, ultimately titled Dreams from My Father:
circumstances and yet, with grit, determination, and resil-
A Story of Race and Inheritance. This memoir touched on
ience, have a chance to do great things. Not everyone will
themes of race and racial identity. It was also during Obama’s
become president, but everyone can make a real difference
stint at Harvard that he met Michelle Robinson, a Chicago
by getting involved just as Obama did. Obama’s career is
South Side native and fellow lawyer who worked for the firm
proof that the steps you take as a student to be involved in
where he completed a summer internship. They married in
your community can take you places you cannot even imag-
1992 and decided to live in Chicago to raise their family.
ine right now. The key is to start by walking through one of
Obama immersed himself in the African American
the many gateways of American politics.
community in Chicago. He directed the Illinois Vote Project,

 3

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1.1 Gateways: Evaluating the American
Political System
Identify the successes we have achieved and the obstacles we face in establishing a
“more perfect union”
This text, Gateways to Democracy, explains how citizen involvement has expanded American
democracy and how each of you can also influence the political system. We call the avenues
of influence “gateways.” This text serves as a handbook for democratic citizenship by peel-
ing back the layers of American government to reveal the ways you can get involved and to
explain the reasons you should do so. The American political system is complicated, large,
and sometimes frustrating. As the term gateways implies, there are also gates—obstacles to
influence, institutional controls that limit access, and powerful interests that seem to block
Key Questions the people’s will. We describe these as well because to be a productive and influential mem-
Have you encountered any ber of American society, you need to understand how the hurdles and portals of American
political gates or gateways?
politics work.
Through citizen involvement, American democracy has achieved many successes:
●● Our institutions are amazingly stable.
●● The government has weathered many severe crises, yet it has peaceful transitions of power.
●● Citizens are able to protest those policies they oppose.
●● Americans enjoy substantial freedom.
●● American society has offered a gateway to millions of immigrants.
●● Americans exhibit more commitment to civic duty than do citizens in nearly all other
major democracies.2
●● Americans show more tolerance of different political views than do citizens in other
major democracies.3
●● Americans’ support of marriage equality has surged over the past few years, underscor-
ing a broadening commitment to civil rights.

These successes do not mean that there are not problems:


●● Government does not always respond to public opinion.
●● Racial tensions persist across the country.
●● There is growing poverty in the country.4
●● The public’s trust in the institutions of government has never been so low.5
●● The rate of turnout in elections is among the lowest of the major democracies.
●● Distrust of some religious minorities, such as Muslims and Mormons, remains.6
●● America has sought at times to erect gates to keep certain groups out.
●● Political polarization is on the rise.7
●● The U.S. national debt in 2016 is approaching $20 trillion.8

4 chapter 1: GATEWAYS TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

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To solve these and other problems and achieve
the “more perfect Union” promised in the Consti-
tution, the nation’s citizens must be vigilant and
engaged. We have framed our text with the goal of
demonstrating the demands and rewards of demo-
cratic citizenship. As we explore the American
political system, we place special emphasis on the
multiple and varied connections among citizenship,

Jim West/Age fotostock/Superstock


participation, institutions, and public policy. Our
focus is on the following gateway questions:
●● How can you get yourself and your opinions
represented in government?
●● How can you make government more respon-
sive, and responsible, to citizens? image 1.1  The current generation of college students is very
interested in giving back to the community, as shown in this picture of a
●● How can you make American democracy Habitat for Humanity project.
better?

The laws that regulate the American economy, social issues, and even political partici-
pation are examples of public policy—the actions by government to achieve a goal. In the
Key Questions
Should government be
arena of public policy, we determine who gets what, when, and how, and with what result. In responsive to all citizens
each chapter of this book, we will examine a major public policy issue related to the topic. or only to those who
participate in politics in
You will find that the public policy process is often divided into five stages:
ways such as voting? What
1. Identifying the problem are some specific examples
of public policy that might
2. Placing the problem on the agenda of policy makers affect you as a college
3. Formulating a solution student?
4. Enacting and implementing the solution
5. Evaluating the effectiveness of the solution.

These stages combine to form an ideal model


of the process; however, this process does not
always unfold so neatly. You will also find that
individuals, organizations, and political institutions
all work together to determine public policies:
Congress, the president, the executive branch
agency that deals with the issue, the courts, politi-
cal parties, interest groups, and interested citizens.
Linda Moon/Shutterstock.com

In each chapter, you will learn about an important


public policy, analyze who the stakeholders are and
how the policy is formed, evaluate the policy, and,
finally, construct your own solution (see Public
Policy and Gateways to Democracy).
image 1.2  The United States has great wealth, but far too many
citizens face poverty and homelessness.

Gateways: Evaluating the American Political System 5

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1.2 Democracy and the American
Constitutional System
Analyze how the constitutional system balances liberty and order
Today democracy is presumed to be a good form of government, and most would say it is
the best form. Democracy is the type of government to which many nations aspire, but it
has not always been true. Only in the past two centuries—partly through the example of the
United States—has democracy gained favor. Let us sketch some of the fundamental aspects
of American democracy.

Liberty and Order


Literally and most simply, democracy is rule by the people, or self-government. In a
democracy, the citizens hold political authority, and they develop the means to gov-
ern themselves. In practice, that means rule by the majority, and in the years before
American independence, majority rule had little appeal. In 1644 John Cotton, a lead-
ing clergyman of the colonial period, declared democracy “the meanest and worst of
all forms of government.”9 Even after American independence, Edmund Burke, a British
political philosopher and politician, wrote that a “perfect democracy is . . . the most
shameless thing in the world.”10 At the time democracy was associated with mob rule,
and mobs were large, fanatical, ignorant, and dangerous. If the mob ruled, the people
would suffer. There would be no liberty or safety; there would be no order. Eighteenth-
century mobs destroyed private property, burned effigies of leaders they detested,
tarred and feathered their enemies, and threatened people who disagreed with them. In
fact, such events occurred in the protests against British rule in the American colonies,
and they were fresh in the minds of those who wrote the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution.
John Adams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and later the nation’s second
president (1797–1801), was not a champion of this kind of democracy. “Democracy,” he
wrote, “is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never
lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did
not commit suicide.”11 Adams knew about mobs and their effects firsthand. As a young law-
yer before the Revolution, he agreed to defend British soldiers who had been charged with
murder for firing on protesters in the streets of Boston. The soldiers’ cause was unpopular,
for the people of Boston detested the British military presence. But Adams believed that,
following British law, the soldiers had a right to counsel (a lawyer to defend them) and to a
fair trial. In later years, he considered his defense of these British soldiers “one of the best
pieces of service I ever rendered my country.”12
Why? In defending the soldiers, Adams was standing up for the rule of law, the prin-
ciple that could prevent mob rule and keep a political or popular majority under control
so it could not trample on minority rights. An ancient British legal principle, the rule of
law holds that all people are equal before the law, all are subject to the law, and no one

6 chapter 1: GATEWAYS TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

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is above it. Adams and the others who wrote
America’s founding documents believed in a
­constitutional system in which the people set
up and agree on the basic rules and procedures
that will govern them. A constitutional system
is a government of laws, not of men. Without
a constitution and rule of law, an unchecked
majority could act to promote the welfare of
some over the welfare of others, and society
would be torn apart.
The American constitutional system, there-
fore, serves to protect both liberty and order.
The Constitution sets up a governmental struc-
ture with built-in constraints on power (gates)
and multiple points of access to power (gate-
ways). It also has a built-in means for altering
the basic rules and procedures of governance
through amendments. As you might expect, the
The Granger Collection, NYC

procedure for passing amendments comes with


its own set of gates and gateways.

The Constitution as
Gatekeeper
image 1.3  Paul Revere printed this famous engraving of the Boston
“If men were angels,” wrote James Madison, Massacre in 1770. Emphasizing the shedding of innocent blood—five
colonists died—it rallied Bostonians to resist British tyranny. Evidence at
a leading author of the Constitution and later
the trial of the soldiers indicated that they were provoked by the mob with
the nation’s fourth president (1809–17), “no taunts, clubs, and stones. Lawyer John Adams argued for the defense.
government would be necessary. . . . In framing
a government which is to be administered by men over men,” he continued, “the great dif-
ficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the Key Questions
According to political
next place oblige it to control itself” (see Federalist 51 in the Appendix). Madison and the philosophers, people
other Framers of the Constitution recognized that the government they were designing had agree to social contracts in
to be strong enough to rule but not strong enough to take away the people’s rights. In other forming a government like
ours. What do you agree
words, the Constitution had to serve as a gatekeeper, both allowing and limiting access to to do as part of our social
power at the same time. contract?
James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and the other Founders had read
many of the great political theorists. They drew, for example, on the ideas of the British
political philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke in perceiving the relationship
between government and the governed as a social contract. If people lived in what
these philosophers called a state of nature, without the rule of law, conflict would be
unending, and the strong would destroy the weak. To secure order and safety, individu-
als come together to form a government and agree to live by its rules. In return, the
government agrees to protect life, liberty, and property. Life, liberty, and property, said
Locke, are natural (unalienable) rights—rights so fundamental that government can-
not take them away.

Democracy and the American Constitutional System 7

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Public Policy and Gateways
to Democracy

The Gap Between Minimum Wage and Living Wage


The first federal minimum wage requirement was signed a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.”13 Others have also
into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1938 argued that individuals, families, and communities must
as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act; it set the mini- be able to earn a living wage in order to rise above the
mum wage at 25 cents per hour and established a 44-hour poverty level, which would in turn give them more time
workweek. States could mandate pay levels above the and energy to participate in the democratic process.
federal minimum wage, but they could not go below it. Today the federal minimum wage is set at $7.25,
While he was lobbying Congress and the public on behalf although more than twenty states require employers to
of the bill, President Roosevelt said that the United States pay more than that wage.14 Still, even at that wage, work-
should give “all our able-bodied working men and women ing full time leaves these workers still well below what is

Table 1.1   Minimum Wage vs. Living Wage by State


Living Wage Minimum Living Wage Minimum
State Wage Gap (1 adult) Wage State Wage Gap (1 adult) Wage
HI $6.49 $13.74 $7.25 MS $2.70 $9.95 $7.25
MD $5.82 $13.07 $7.25 CO $2.69 $10.69 $8.00
DC $5.34 $14.84 $9.50 IA $2.68 $9.93 $7.25
VA $5.11 $12.36 $7.25 WY $2.68 $9.93 $7.25
NY $4.75 $12.75 $8.00 MN $2.65 $10.65 $8.00
MA $4.60 $12.60 $8.00 WV $2.65 $9.90 $7.25
NJ $4.26 $12.51 $8.25 NM $2.63 $10.13 $7.50
NH $4.18 $11.43 $7.25 AZ $2.57 $10.47 $7.90
DE $3.93 $11.68 $7.75 KS $2.57 $9.82 $7.25
GA $3.44 $10.69 $7.25 ND $2.54 $9.79 $7.25
AK $3.42 $11.17 $7.75 IN $2.49 $9.74 $7.25
CA $3.34 $12.34 $9.00 KY $2.46 $9.71 $7.25
NC $3.28 $10.53 $7.25 NV $2.41 $10.66 $8.25
CT $3.27 $11.97 $8.70 VT $2.40 $11.13 $8.73
SC $3.24 $10.49 $7.25 ID $2.34 $9.59 $7.25
LA $3.22 $10.47 $7.25 AR $2.31 $9.56 $7.25
PA $3.15 $10.40 $7.25 OK $2.24 $9.49 $7.25
ME $3.11 $10.61 $7.50 NE $2.23 $9.48 $7.25
UT $3.04 $10.29 $7.25 SD $2.23 $9.48 $7.25
FL $3.01 $10.94 $7.93 MO $2.14 $9.64 $7.50
RI $3.01 $11.01 $8.00 MI $1.83 $9.98 $8.15
TN $3.01 $10.26 $7.25 MT $1.82 $9.72 $7.90
TX $2.95 $10.20 $7.25 OR $1.58 $10.68 $9.10
AL $2.92 $10.17 $7.25 OH $1.44 $9.39 $7.95
WI $2.88 $10.13 $7.25 WA $1.02 $10.34 $9.32
IL $2.83 $11.08 $8.25
Source: Amy K. Glasmeier, “Living Wage Calculator,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Accessed February 25, 2016, at http://livingwage.mit.edu.

8 8 chapter
c h a p t e r1: 9GATEWAYS
: E c o n o mTO
i cAMERICAN
, D o m e s t DEMOCRACY
ic, and Foreign Policy

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merchant aids him by furnishing him with all the necessaries. For this
reason an unstinted care should be bestowed upon them, for as the
soul cannot exist without a body, even so the soldier cannot get
along without the merchant; nor can the merchant get along without
the soldier. A country expands through the profession of war, and is
beautified through commerce. Consequently the merchants must be
protected against offenders, so that they receive not the least insult
from government officials. Many unthinking people disdain the
merchants, loathe them and offend them without provocation, and
yet there is no condition of life which can get along without the
merchant.
But the merchants must be guarded not only against outside
offenders: they must not interfere with each other as well, and men
from other ranks must not enter the merchant guild and thus cause
them no end of disturbance. Commerce should be free, so that they
themselves may be benefited and the interests of his Imperial
Highness be guarded.
If commerce were free for the Russian merchants, and neither
men from other ranks nor foreigners would in the least impair the
commerce of Russians, the revenue would be increased. I am of the
opinion that without changing the duties, the revenue would be
doubled or trebled, whereas now the greater half is lost through the
traders from the other ranks.
If a person belonging to some other rank, whether he be senator,
or officer, or nobleman, or government official, or clerical, or peasant,
should wish to carry on commerce, let him leave his former rank and
join the merchant guild, and trade in a straightforward manner, and
not by stealth, and pay his duties and other merchant taxes, and let
him never again do anything by stealth, as before, without consent of
the Merchant Commander, and escape the paying of imposts.
Every rank must behave in such a manner as not to sin before
God and do wrong before the Tsar; and they should live as is their
profession: if one be a soldier, let him be a soldier, and if he have
another vocation, let him devote himself entirely to that vocation.
Our Lord Himself has said: No man can serve two masters. So let
the soldier, or man of another rank, stay in his profession, and let
him not enter into another rank, for if he devote himself to
commerce, he will curtail his military duties. The Lord Himself has
said: Where your treasure is, there will be your heart also. And St.
Paul the apostle has said that no soldier can find favour with his
captain who meddles with commerce. There is a popular saw which
says, Choose one or the other, war or commerce.
For these reasons it does not behoove the soldier or man of
another rank to trade. If, however, he have a desire to become a
merchant, let him join the guild.
If there be no prohibition for external merchants, from the ranks of
the nobles, officers or peasants, the merchants will not be able to
become enriched, and it will not be possible for the revenue to be
increased.
... At the present time boyárs, noblemen and their people, soldiers
and peasants carry on commerce, without paying any tax, and many
merchants carry on trade in their names, and pay no tax. Not half the
revenue is collected, nor ever can be collected, if commerce is not to
be made free from the nobles and officials, since many mighty
people have taken to trade, and some who are not themselves
powerful but are not subject to the magistrate.
I know, for example, one case in a Nóvgorod county where there
are a hundred or two of merchant-peasants, and who do not pay a
farthing’s worth of taxes. And if a collector, seeing them, tries to
collect the revenue, the gentry take the peasant’s part and send the
collector away more dead than alive, and the government officers
look on, and dare not interfere. And there are some wealthy men,
who have some five or six hundred peasants carrying on such illicit
trade, and pay not a farthing to the Great Tsar. If all be arranged as I
have proposed, commerce will awaken as if from a dream.
It is a very bad custom the merchant people have, to do each
other wrong by cheating each other. Both foreigners and Russians
are in the habit of showing good-looking wares that are badly made
within or filled up with bad stuff; or bad wares are mixed with wares
of a good quality and are sold as if of good quality, taking for them an
unfair price, and greatly deceiving inexperienced people. They give
wrong weights and measures, deceive in price, and do not think all
that to be a sin, although they cause so much injustice to the
inexperienced. Yet those who deceive are in the end ruined through
their own iniquity, and become impoverished.
... In order to establish justice in the Merchant Rows, let there be
appointed hundred-men and fifty-men and ten-men, and over the
shop where there is an hundred-man let there be nailed a round
board, painted white, so that it can be easily seen, and on that board
let there be written “hundred-man.” Do the same with the shop of the
fifty-man and ten-man, so that those who purchase any goods may
know where to show their wares, if they should want to find out
whether they have received the right weight, or measure, or whether
the wares are good or bad, and whether they have paid the correct
price for them.
If a merchant have received more than the worth of the wares, let
him be fined a dime or two for every unfair kopek, and let him be
beaten with rods or a whip, that he may not do so again in the future;
and if he repeat his offence, let the fine and punishment be
increased.
But if one give wrong measure and weight, or sell different goods
from what the buyer demanded, and give him inferior goods, let his
punishment be much more severe, and the fine be ten times the
price of the goods.
And if an hundred-man, or fifty-man, or ten-man be guilty of such a
transgression, let the fine for the ten-man be tenfold, for the fifty-man
fiftyfold, and for the hundred-man hundredfold, and let the
punishment be with the knout, as many strokes as may be decided
upon. The hundred-men and fifty-men should receive very stringent
instructions to watch without relenting the ten-men and not to be
indulgent to them, but to fear the law like fire, lest their
transgressions reach the ears of high personages. And the ten-men
should watch all the shops under their charge, and see to it that no
inferior wares are adulterated by the admixture of better material, but
that they are sold such as they are, the good wares as good wares,
the mediocre as mediocre, and the poor as poor, and that right
weights and measures be given, and that the prices be not raised on
the goods, and that there be no adulterations. Let only the right price
be asked, and let them measure foreign stuffs, brocade, calamanco
and silks from the first end, and not from the last. And no matter what
buyer there come, whether rich or poor, whether experienced or
inexperienced, let them all be treated in the same fair manner, and
let there not a kopek be added to the price of one rouble or ten
roubles.
Whatever fine is to be collected should be collected by the
hundred-men, without delay, on the day the offence has been
committed. All the fines ought to be entered in a ledger which should
be reported every month in the proper office. No transaction, neither
great nor small, should take place with the foreigners who frequent
the fairs, without the permission of the Chief Commander of the
Merchant Guild. Whoever dares to sell even a rouble’s worth of
goods to these foreigners without the permission of the Chief
Commander shall be fined a hundredfold, a hundred roubles for
every rouble sold, and the punishment shall be administered with the
knout, as many strokes as may be decreed, that they should
remember them and never do so again.

FROM THE CHAPTER “ON THE PEASANTRY”

Much might be added to the protection of the peasantry if their


houses were rebuilt so that they could live more freely and
peacefully; for much damage is done to them through overcrowding:
if one man’s house take fire, the whole village is threatened, and
frequently not a single house is left. This leads to endless poverty. If
they had not been so much crowded in their settlements, they would
not be so easily ruined. It is against this ruin that they ought to be
protected. Let them build their houses farther from each other, nor
join yard to yard, but with intervals, a few houses in a lot; the streets
ought to be wide, where there is sufficient space, not less than two
hundred feet in width; where the space is crowded, not less than one
hundred feet in width. In this way, if there should be a fire, all the
neighbours would run to put it out: there being intervals between the
houses, it would be easy to reach them from all sides, and as there
would be little danger for the neighbouring houses, the peasants
would not rush, as before, to save their own possessions, but would
aid their unfortunate neighbour. As the settlements are now
arranged, it is utterly impossible for the neighbours to bring aid; they
rush for their own, which they cannot all save, but generally lose
everything they have. Thus they are ruined and become
impoverished.
Not a small degree of annoyance is caused the peasants from not
having literate people among them. There are many villages of
twenty or thirty houses that have not a single man that can read; if
any come to them with an ukase, or without an ukase, pretending to
have one, they believe him, and suffer damages; for they are all
blind,—they see nothing and understand nothing. They are not able
to dispute with the people that pretend having ukases, and they
frequently pay unwarranted taxes to them. To guard the peasants
from such losses, it seems to me, they ought to be compelled to
send their children of ten years and less to some subdeacon to be
instructed how to read and write. I think it would not be a bad thing if
the smallest village were not without a literate man, so there ought to
be a strict law compelling the peasants to have their children
instructed for three or four years. And there ought to be a severe
punishment for those who do not have their children taught anything
for four years, or who do not have them instructed at all as they grow
up.
Having learned to read and write, they will not only conduct more
intelligently the affairs of their masters, but they will be also useful in
the Government, being eligible as hundred-men and fifty-men, and
no one would abuse them and mulct them for nothing.
Feofán (in private life Eleázar) Prokopóvich.
(1681-1763.)
Peter the Great’s reforms were not so much the beginning
of a new movement, as the accomplishment of a mental
ferment which was taking place in Russia towards the end of
the seventeenth century, and they were successful and
permanent in the degree that he made use of persons who
were already in sympathy with Western culture. The most
important of these was Feofán Prokopóvich. Prokopóvich
studied in the schools of Kíev, then became a Uniat and
continued his studies in Poland, then went to Rome and
entered the College of St. Athanasius, which had been
established for the purpose of a Catholic propaganda among
the Greeks and Slavs of the Eastern Church. There he
distinguished himself for his brilliant learning, which included
a thorough knowledge of the classics. He returned to Russia
in 1702, renounced his Uniat affiliations and became a
teacher in the Kíev Academy. Here he composed a text-book
on the art of poetry and a tragi-comedy, Vladímir, which was
played by the students of the Academy. Peter I. met Feofán in
1709, after the victory at Poltáva, when the latter received him
in Kíev with a panegyric. In 1716 he was called to St.
Petersburg, where, during the absence of Peter, he employed
his oratorical powers to advocate the Emperor’s reforms. The
following year he was made bishop of Nóvgorod. The
following year he was entrusted with reforming the
government of the Church, which he did by his famous
Spiritual Reglement, a work that breathes the most
enlightened liberalism. One of the chief changes introduced
by this Reglement was the abandonment of the all-powerful
Patriarchate, and the substitution for it of the Holy Synod, of
which he became the ruling spirit. After the death of Peter the
Great, his enemies swooped down upon him, but, having
passed the school of the Jesuits, he was an adept at
diplomacy and intrigue, and paid them back in their own coin.
However, Prokopóvich is remembered for the enormous good
he did, for his prodigious learning, to which many foreigners
who visited Russia are witnesses, but especially for
encouraging scholarship and literature. Tatíshchev and
Kantemír were his friends, and upon the appearance of
Kantemír’s first satire (see p. 223), he was the first to hail his
promising talent.
There is a translation of Prokopóvich’s Catechism under the
title, The Russian Catechism, composed and published by
order of the Czar [Peter I. Translated from the Russian by J.
T. Philipps], London [1723], second edition 1725.

FROM “THE SPIRITUAL REGLEMENT”


OF INSTRUCTION

It is known to the whole world how weak and impotent the Russian
army was when it had no regular instruction, and how incomparably
its strength was increased and became great and terrible when our
august monarch, his Imperial Highness Peter the First, instructed it
in a proper manner. The same is true of architecture, medicine,
political government, and all other affairs.
But, most of all, that is true of the government of the Church: when
there is not the light of instruction, the Church cannot have any good
conduct, and impossibly can there be avoided disorder and
superstitions that deserve a great deal of ridicule, as well as strife,
and most foolish heresies.
Many foolishly assert that instruction is the cause of heresy. But
the heretics of ancient days, the Valentinians, Manichæans,
Catharists, Euchites, Donatists and others, whose stupid acts are
described by Irenæus, Epiphanius, Augustine, Theodoret and others,
raved, not through instruction, but through arrogant foolishness. And
did not our own dissenters rave so deliriously through their lack of
culture, and ignorance? Though there are some heresiarchs, such
as were Arius, Nestorius and a few others, yet their heresies arose
not through instruction, but from an imperfect understanding of the
Holy Writ, and they grew and were strengthened through malice and
false pride which did not permit them to change their wrong opinion
after they had discovered the truth, and against their conscience.
And though their instruction gave them the power to use sophisms,
that is, cunning proofs of their elucubrations, yet he who would want
to ascribe this evil simply to instruction would be compelled to say
that where a physician poisons a patient, his knowledge of medicine
was the cause thereof, and where a soldier valiantly and cunningly
strikes down the enemy, military art is the cause of killing. And when
we look through history, as through a telescope, at the past ages, we
shall discover more evil in the Dark Ages than in those that were
enlightened through culture. The bishops were not so arrogant
before the fifth century as they were afterwards, especially the
bishops of Rome and Constantinople, because before there was
learning, and afterwards it grew less. If learning were dangerous to
the Church and State, the best Christians would not study
themselves, and would forbid others to study; but we see that all our
ancient teachers studied not only the Holy Writ, but also profane
philosophy. Besides many others, the most famous pillars of the
Church have advocated profane learning, namely: Basil the Great in
his instruction to the studying youths, Chrysostom in his books on
monastic life, Gregory the Theologue in his sermon on Julian the
Apostate. I should have a great deal to say, if I were to dwell on this
alone.
Good and thorough instruction is the root and seed and foundation
of all usefulness, both for the fatherland and the Church. There is,
however, a kind of instruction which does not deserve that name,
though it is deemed by certain clever but not well-informed men to
be the real instruction.
Many are in the habit of asking in what schools such and such an
one has been educated? When they hear that he has been in
rhetoric, philosophy and theology, they are prone to place him very
high, for the sake of those names, but in that they frequently err, for
not all get good instruction from good teachers, one on account of
his dulness, another on account of his laziness; how much is that the
case when the teacher is little, or not at all, proficient in his subject!
It is important to know that from the sixth to the fifteenth century,
that is, for nine hundred years, all learning in Europe was of a very
meagre and imperfect character, so that we see in the authors who
wrote at that time great sharpness of wit, but small enlightenment.
With the fifteenth century there began to appear better-informed and
more skilful teachers, and by degrees many academies acquired a
greater importance than in those ancient Augustan times; many
other schools, on the contrary, stuck fast in their ancient slime,
preserving, indeed, the names of rhetoric, philosophy and other
sciences, but in reality having none of them. Different causes have
led to this, but space does not permit their mention here.
People who have received, so to say, an empty and fantastic
education in these institutions are generally more stupid than those
who have received none at all. Being themselves in the dark, they
deem themselves to be perfect, and imagining that they have
learned all that there is to be learned, neither have the desire, nor
think it worth while to read books and study more. On the other
hand, a man who has received the proper schooling is never
satisfied with his knowledge, and never stops learning, even though
he has passed the age of Methuselah.
But this is the greatest misfortune: the above-mentioned
imperfectly instructed people are not only useless, but also very
harmful to society, State and Church. They humble themselves
beyond necessity before the authorities, attempting through cunning
to appropriate to themselves favours, and crawl into higher places.
They hate people of the same standing as themselves, and if anyone
is praised for his learning, they use their utmost endeavour to
depreciate and denounce him before the people and authorities.
They are prone to take part in rebellions, hoping to gain advantages
for themselves through them. When they take to theological
discussions, they cannot help falling into heresies, for, being
ignorant, they easily fall into error, after which they will not change
the opinion they have uttered, for fear of appearing not to have
known all. But wise men have this proverb: “It is the property of a
wise man to change his opinion.”

FUNERAL SERMON ON PETER THE GREAT

What is this, and what have we lived to see, O Russians? What


are we doing now? We are burying Peter the Great! Is it not a
dream? Not a vision of the night? Oh, what a real sorrow! Oh, what
certain bitter reality! Contrary to all expectations and hopes he has
ended his life who has been the cause of our innumerable
benefactions and joys, who has resuscitated Russia as if from the
dead, and has raised it to great power and glory, nay, has begot it
and brought it up, he the true father of his country, whom for his
deserts all the good sons of Russia wished to be immortal, and
whom, on account of his youth and bodily strength, they had hoped
to see many years alive. O dire calamity! He has ended his life just
as he was beginning to live after his labours, unrest, sorrows,
calamities, after so many and varied deaths.
We see well how we have angered Thee, O Lord, and how long
we have tempted Thy long-suffering! O we unfortunate and unworthy
people! O the infinitude of our sins! He who does not see that is
blind. He who sees it and does not confess is turned to stone in his
heartlessness. But why should we increase our woes and heart-pain,
which we ought rather attempt to allay? But if we are to mention his
great talents, acts and works we shall only be stung more severely
by the loss of our good man, and we shall sob aloud. Only in a
lethargy, or some deathlike sleep, could we at all forget our so sad
loss. What a great and what a good man we have lost!
O Russia, this Samson of yours came to you when no one in the
world had expected him, and when he appeared the whole world
marvelled. He found you weak in power, and to conform with his
name he made you of stone and adamant. He found an army
dangerous at home, weak in the field and scorned by the foe, and he
gave his country a useful army that is terrible to the enemy, and
everywhere renowned and glorious. He defended his country, and at
the same time returned to it the lands that had been taken away from
it, and increased it by the acquisition of new provinces. When he
crushed those who rose against us, he at the same time broke the
strength of our ill-wishers and subdued their spirits, and, closing up
the lips of envy, compelled the whole world to proclaim glorious
things of himself.
O Russia, he was your first Japheth, who had accomplished a
deed unheard of in your annals, having introduced the building and
sailing of ships. He gave you a new fleet that, to the wonderment of
the world and surpassing all expectation, was in no way inferior to
much older fleets, and he opened for you a path to all the ends of the
earth, and spread your power and glory to the extreme corners of the
ocean, to the limits of your usefulness, to the limits which justice had
placed; and the might of your dominion, which heretofore was firm
on land, he has now made strong and permanent upon the sea.
O Russia, he is your Moses! Are not his laws like a firm protection
of truth, and like unbreakable fetters of wrong-doing? And are not his
statutes clear, a light upon your path? And are not the high ruling
Senate and the many special institutions of his so many lights in the
search of advantage, the warding off of harm, the safety of the
peaceful, and the unmasking of the wrongdoers? He has verily left
us in doubt whether he is more to be praised for being loved and
cherished by the good and simple-hearted, or for being hated by
unrepenting flatterers and rascals.
O Russia, he is your Solomon, who has received from the Lord his
very great reason and wisdom. Have we not sufficient testimony
thereof in the many philosophic arts, which he himself practised and
many subjects introduced under his supervision, and in the many
cunning industrial arts which have never before been heard of
among us? And he also introduced the chins[126] and degrees, and
civil order, and decent manners in daily intercourse, and the rules of
acceptable habits and customs, and now we see and admire the
external appearance and internal worth of our country, which from
within and without is far superior to what it was in former years.
He is also, O Russian Church, your David and Constantine. The
synodal government is his creation, and its written and oral
instructions were his care. Oh, how often his heart was heavy when
he saw the ignorance in the path of salvation! How great his zeal
was against superstition and deceptive simulations, and the
senseless, hostile and destructive heresy amongst us! How great
was his desire and endeavour to see more learning among the
clergy, and a greater godliness and more decent worship in the
people!
But, O renowned man! Can we in a short sermon mention all his
glory? The present sorrow and grief which compels us to shed tears
and sigh does not allow of an extended speech. Perhaps in time this
thorn that stings our hearts will be dulled, and then we will speak at
greater length of his deeds and virtues, though we shall never be
able sufficiently to praise him according to his worth. To-day, though
we are only making a short mention of him and, as it were, are only
touching the hems of his garments, we, poor unfortunate people,
see, O hearers, who has left us and whom we have lost.
Let us not, O Russians, faint with sorrow and grief, for the great
monarch and our father has not left us in a bad plight. He has left us,
but not poor and necessitous: the immeasurable wealth of his power
and glory, which has been realised by his above-mentioned deeds, is
with us. Russia will be such as he has made it; he has made it an
object of love to the good, and it will be loved; he has made it terrible
to the enemy, and terrible it will remain; he has made it glorious
throughout the whole world, and it will not cease to be glorious. He
has left us religious, civil and military institutions. He has left us, and
his body will decay, but his spirit will stay.
Above all, in leaving this temporal world, he has not left us
orphaned. How could we, indeed, call ourselves orphaned when we
see his legacy to the throne, his real helpmate in life, a ruler like him
after his demise, you, most gracious and autocrat Empress, great
heroine and monarch, and mother of all the Russias? The whole
world is a witness that your sex does not prevent your being like
Peter the Great. Who does not know your wisdom as a ruler, and
your motherly womanliness, and your natural God-given talents?
And all this took place and was confirmed in you not merely through
your association with so great a monarch, but also in your
communion with his wisdom, labours and various calamities. He,
having tried you during a series of years, like gold in the crucible,
deemed it insufficient to have you as a cohabiter of his bed, but
made you also the heir to his crown, and power, and throne. How
can we help hoping that you will confirm what he has done, will
create anew what he has left undone and will keep all in good
condition? Only, O valiant soul, try to overcome this unendurable
calamity which has been intensified by the loss of your most beloved
daughter, and which, like a severe wound, has been torn beyond
measure by this new sting. And as you have been seen by all ever
present with Peter of glorious deeds, an incessant companion in all
his labours and troubles, so try even now to be such in this your very
bitter loss.
And you, noble assembly, of all ranks and degrees, sons of
Russia, with your faithfulness and obedience console your Empress
and mother. Console yourselves also, seeing the undoubted signs of
Peter’s spirit in your Empress, and that not all of Peter has passed
away. Then let us bow before our Lord who has thus visited us,
praying Him, the God of mercy and father of all consolation, to wipe
the unrestrained tears of her Highness, our most autocratic
Empress, and her precious blood, her daughters, grandchildren,
nieces and all the high family, and to soothe the grief of their hearts
with His gracious care, and to console us all in His mercy.
O Russia, seeing what a great man has left you, see also how
great he has left you. Amen!

FOOTNOTES:

[126] There are fourteen rank distinctions, called “chins,” in


Russia; they are acquired through service only, independently of
birth.
Vasíli Nikítich Tatíshchev. (1686-1750.)
Tatíshchev was one of the most distinguished and
intelligent friends of the reforms of Peter the Great. Having
studied first at Moscow and then in Germany, he was
attached to the Berg-und-Manufaktur-Kolleg (Department of
Mining and Manufactures). The president of the institution
pointed out to Peter the Great the necessity for a geography
of the empire, and this task was entrusted to Tatíshchev. In
the course of his work, the latter was induced to make a
thorough study of old historical documents, of which he
discovered a large number. Several of the chronicles he
mentions and had access to have not been preserved, and
later historians have to rely on the statements made by
Tatíshchev for some important historical information. In 1720
he was sent to Siberia for the purpose of prospecting for
copper and silver and establishing various plants. Then began
a laborious career, in a large variety of capacities, among
them that of Governor of Astrakhán. The years 1724-26 he
passed in Sweden, where he cultivated the acquaintance of
Swedish scholars and made a study of foreign sources of
Russian history. Thus Tatíshchev had ample opportunities for
becoming the first historiographer of Russia. His History of
Russia, which was published in the reign of Catherine the
Great, shows an intimate knowledge of the philosophical
systems of Descartes and Tomasius, and the political systems
of Christian Wolff, Puffendorf and Hugo Grotius, as well as
Machiavelli and Locke. He was opposed to a political
supremacy of the Church even more decidedly than
Prokopóvich, the author of the Spiritual Reglement (see p.
211). It is an interesting fact that when Tatíshchev found no
sympathy for his History in St. Petersburg, he corresponded
with a friend in England for the purpose of having it published
in English by the Royal Society at London, but there could not
be found an Englishman who was competent to undertake the
translation. Of his other works, his Spiritual Testament and
Instruction to my Son Evgráf, though replete with liberal
views, is the last in the long chain of Instructions in which the
older period abounds, such as the Instruction of Vladímir
Monomákh (p. 50), and the Domostróy of Sylvester (p. 126). It
has been translated into English: The Testament of B.
Tatischef, translated from the Russian manuscript by J.
Martinof, Paris, 1860.

FROM THE “RUSSIAN HISTORY”

One ought not to discuss the usefulness of history, for everybody


can see and feel it; but as some are not accustomed to see things
clearly and discuss them in detail, and often through their perverted
understanding make the useful to appear as harmful and the harmful
as useful, and consequently transgress in their acts and deeds (as
indeed I have heard such people, to my disgust, talk loud of the
uselessness of history), I deemed it proper to give a short review of
it.
To begin with, history is nothing else than the recounting of past
acts and occurrences, good and bad; for all that we have
experienced in recent or long-passed days through our senses of
hearing, seeing and feeling, or that we reproduce by our memory, is
really history, and it teaches us, whether through our acts or those of
others, to emulate the good and beware of the evil. For example,
when I recollect that I saw yesterday a fisherman who had been
catching fish and had had a certain success in it, I naturally receive
in my mind an impulse to do likewise; or if I saw yesterday a thief or
some other criminal, who had been sentenced to a severe
punishment or death, terror will naturally keep me from committing
such an act as would cause my utter ruin. All the histories we read
act upon us in the same manner: the deeds of ancient days are
represented to us so vividly that we seem to have seen and felt them
ourselves.
For this reason we may say that no man, no condition of life, no
profession, science, nor government, much less a single individual,
can be perfect, wise and useful without a knowledge of the same.
For example, let us take the sciences. The first and greatest of them
all is theology, that is, the science of God, His all-wisdom,
almightiness, which alone leads us to future bliss, and so forth. Now,
no theologian can be called wise who does not know the ancient
divine acts which have been revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures,
and when, with whom and why there have been disputes about
certain dogmas and articles of faith, or when and why this has been
established and that discarded; why certain statutes and orders of
the ancient Church have been changed, discontinued, and new ones
introduced; consequently he must know divine and church history, as
well as civil history, as Huet, the famous French theologian, has
sufficiently pointed out.
The second science is jurisprudence, which teaches proper
conduct and our duties to God, ourselves and our neighbours, in
order to acquire peace of body and soul. No jurist can be called wise
who does not know former interpretations and discussions of natural
and civil laws. And how can a judge pass right judgment if he does
not know the origin and application of old and new laws? Indeed, he
must know the history of the laws.
The third is medicine, or leechcraft, which science consists in the
art of preserving health, and bringing back the lost health, or in
preventing the disease from spreading. All this depends on history,
for the physician must gain his knowledge from the ancients, must
know what is the cause of diseases, what medicine and treatment to
give, what the property and strength of each medicine is, all of which
no man could find out in a hundred years through his own
experience and investigation. But to experiment on the sick is a
dangerous matter, from which they could easily be ruined, though
this is not infrequently the case with certain ignoramuses. I shall not
mention many other parts of philosophy, but I may summarise by
saying that all philosophy is based on history and supported by it, for
all the right and wrong and faulty opinions which we find with the
ancients are history as regards our knowledge, and form the basis
for our corrections.
Statesmanship is composed of three different parts: of the internal
government, or economy, external relations, and military affairs. All
three demand not less history than the other sciences, and without it
cannot be perfect. Thus, in political economy it is necessary to know
what has caused ruin in former days: how it has been warded off or
minimised; what have been the favourable influences; how obtained
and preserved, so that the present and future may be wisely judged
in the light of that knowledge. On account of this wisdom, the ancient
Romans represented their god Janus with two faces, for he knew
perfectly the past, and from its examples wisely judged the future.
For the administration of foreign affairs it is necessary to know not
only one’s own country, but also other governments: what conditions
they have formerly been in; what has brought about changes in
them; what states they are in now; with whom they have had
disputes and wars, and for what; what treaties have been made and
confirmed with them, in order to proceed intelligently in the acts at
hand.
For military leaders it is very important to know by what device and
cunning great forces of the enemy have been vanquished, or kept
from victory, and so forth, as we see Alexander the Great having
held Homer’s books on the Trojan war in great respect, and having
been instructed by them. For this reason many great generals have
described their own acts and those of others. Of these the most
illustrious example is Julius Cæsar, who has described his wars, that
future generals might after him use his acts for their own examples,
and many famous generals on land and on the sea have followed in
his footsteps by writing of their exploits. Many great rulers have
either themselves written of their acts, or have ordered expert people
to write of them, not only that their memory should live in glory, but
that their descendants should have examples to follow.
As regards the usefulness of Russian history it must be remarked,
that, as is the case with all other histories, the knowledge of one’s
own history and geography is more important for any nation or
region than that of foreign histories; at the same time it must be kept
in mind that without the knowledge of foreign histories, one’s own is
not clear and sufficient: 1. That the writer of contemporary history
cannot know all the external influences for good and bad; 2. That the
writers are frequently compelled, out of fear, to suppress, or change,
or modify some very important circumstances of contemporary
history; 3. That from passion, love, or hatred, they describe quite
differently from what were the actual occurrences, and that the facts
are frequently related more correctly and in detail by outsiders. Thus,
in my present work, the first part, dealing with the Russian antiquity,
has mainly been drawn from foreign sources for lack of native
writers, and in the other parts many errors and lacunæ have been
corrected and filled out from foreign sources. European historians
accuse us of having no old history, and of knowing nothing of our
antiquity, simply because they do not know what historians we
possess, and though some have made a few extracts, or have
translated from them a passage here and there, others, thinking that
we have no better ones than those quoted, despise them. Some of
our own ignorant writers agree with them, while those who do not
wish to trouble themselves by looking into the ancient sources or
who do not understand the text, have, ostensibly to give a better
explanation, but in reality to hide the truth, invented fables of their
own and thus have obscured the real facts as told by the ancients,
as, for example, in the case of the foundation of Kíev, and that of
Nóvgorod by Slavén, and so forth.
I wish to say here emphatically that all the famous European
historians will not be able to know or tell anything correctly of many
of our antiquities, no matter what their efforts in Russian history may
be, if they do not read our sources,—for example, of the many
nations who have existed here in ancient days, as the Amazons,
Alans, Huns, Avars, Cimbrians and Cimmerians; nor do they know
anything of the Scythians, Sarmatians and Slavs, their tribes, origin,
habitations and migrations, or of the anciently famous large cities of
the Essedonians, Archipeans, Cumanians, etc., where they have
lived, and what their present names are; but all this they could find
out through a study of Russian history. This history is not only of use
to us Russians, but also to the whole learned world, in order that by
it the fables and lies invented by our enemies, the Poles and others,
for the sake of disparaging our ancestors, may be laid bare and
contradicted.
Such is the usefulness of history. But everybody ought to know,
and this is easily perceived, that history describes not only customs,
deeds and occurrences, but also the consequences resulting from
them, namely, that the wise, just, kind, brave, constant and faithful
are rewarded with honour, glory and well-being, while the vicious,
foolish, evildoers, avaricious, cowardly, perverse and faithless will
gain eternal dishonour, shame and insult: from which all may learn
how desirable it is to obtain the first and avoid the second.
Prince Antiókh (Antiochus) Kantemír. (1708-
1744.)
Antiókh Kantemír was not a Russian by birth. His father,
Demetrius, had for a number of years been hospodar of
Moldavia. Harassed by the intrigues of a rival at
Constantinople, he emigrated with four thousand of his
Moldavians to Russia, where he arrived after the unfortunate
Prut expedition, in 1711. Himself one of the most
accomplished scholars and linguists of Europe, he with the
aid of his cultivated Greek wife bestowed the minutest care on
the education of his six children.
Having arrived in Russia in his third year, Antiókh acquired
Russian as his mother tongue, though he also spoke fluently
six or seven other languages, and was well versed in Latin
and ancient Greek. By education, however, he was anything
but a Russian, and his sympathies were naturally directed
towards the most extreme reformatory tendencies which
Peter the Great advocated for the State and Feofán
Prokopóvich for the Church; both of them were not slow in
recognising his unusual talents. In 1732 Empress Anna
appointed him ambassador to the Court of St. James, and in
1738 he was transferred to Paris, where he passed his short
life in communion with Maupertuis, Montesquieu, Abbé
Guasco, and others. Besides a few shorter poems and
imitations and translations of Anacreon, and an unfinished
ode on the death of Peter the Great, Kantemír composed ten
satires, of which the one below is the first. It is on these
satires that his reputation mainly rests. In style, they are
imitations of Boileau and Horace, though never slavish. His
language is not always free from Gallicisms, but otherwise it
represents the first successful attempt to introduce colloquial
Russian into poetry. The chief value of the satires,
independently of their literary perfection, lay in their powerful

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