US Government and Politics:

Introduction

Zim Nwokora
Deakin University
 Preliminaries I
Welcome

Some “nuts and bolts” about the course

A. What this course is

B. What this course isn’t

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 Preliminaries II
How to prepare and perform:

A. Weekly readings and classwork

B. Assignment 1: campaign strategy brief

C. Assignment 2: scholarly research essay

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Teaching Week Commencing Topic Assignment
Week 1 March 6, 2023 Intro & Constitution
Week 2 March 13, 2023 Political Parties
Week 3 March 20, 2023 Elections
Week 4 March 27, 2023 Congress
Week 5 April 3, 2023 Presidency
Intra-trimester break (April 7-16)
Week 6 April 17, 2023 Supreme Court Ass. 1 due Monday,
17 April, 8pm
Week 7 April 24, 2023 Interest Groups
Week 8 May 1, 2023 Federalism
Week 9 May 8, 2023 Economic Policy
Week 10 May 15, 2023 Foreign Policy
Week 11 May 22, 2023 Review
-- -- -- Ass. 2 due Monday,
29 May, 8pm
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 Preliminaries III
How to prepare and perform:

D. Interactions

E. Any questions?

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 The Constitution:
Creating the Rules of the Game
 What is a Constitution?
What does one do?

A. The “rules of the game” in a democracy

B. Government v. Government: How are governing

powers divided? How are these divisions enforced?

C. Government v. Citizen: What should the state be

able (and unable) to control?

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 Congress Hall
President’s House Site
Old City Hall
(USSC, 1790-1800)

Carpenters’
Hall

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 Some History: The Founding I

Key point:

The Constitution as a political creation

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 The Founding II
The American Revolution

A struggle among 5 distinct sectors of American society:

(1) New England merchants
(2) Southern planters
(3) The “royalists” – holders of royal lands, offices and
licenses
(4) Shopkeepers
(5) Small farmers

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 The Founding III
The Boston Tea Party

Merchants, planters and royalists versus

shopkeepers and farmers

British tax and trade policies (culminating in Boston

Tea Party) strengthened standing of the “radicals”
(i.e., shopkeepers and farmers) and weakened
“colonial elite” (i.e., shopkeepers and farmers)
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 Articles of Confederation
Followed Declaration of Independence (1776)

Became the first Constitution

No executive branch (execution of laws left to states)

Weak Congress (with powers mainly in foreign

policy)

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 Constitutional Convention (1787)
Response to weaknesses of Articles of
Confederation

Two major factions:

A. Large states (population), wanted power =
population
B. Small states, wanted power evenly divided
between states

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 The Great Compromise
Negotiated settlement between large states and small
ones

New Constitution would embody two competing

principles of representation: (1) population (i.e.,
“person equality”) and (2) state equality

Lower House (Representatives) > population

Upper House (Senate) > states
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 The Preamble

“We the People of the United States, in

Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic
Tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general Welfare,
and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain
and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America.”

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 Articles of the Constitution
Article I: Legislative Branch
A. House of Representatives and House of Senate
B. HoR: members given 2-year terms and subject to
direct election (white males)
C. C. Senate: six-year terms, staggered and indirect
elections
D. E. Congress granted powers to tax, borrow and
declare war
E. Powers not listed are reserved to states
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 Articles of the Constitution
Article II: Executive Branch
A. Single-person executive to provide “energy”
B. Presidents given power to veto congressional
bills; accept ambassadors; and appointment
department personnel
C. Indirect election using Electoral College

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 Articles of the Constitution
Article III: Judicial Branch
A. Powers to resolve conflicts between federal and
state laws
B. Powers to resolve conflicts between citizens and
governments
C. Judges granted lifetime appointments to protect
them from popular politics and interference from
other branches

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Checks and Balances

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 Amending the Constitution
Article V

4 methods, involving a mixture of (1) House and Senate

ratification; (2) state legislature ratification; (3) national
convention; and (4) state convention

Very difficult to achieve! Only 27 amendments in 200 years

(out of 11,000 formally offered in Congress)

First 10 Amendments constitute the Bill of Rights

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 Voting Rights in the Constitution
Several subsequent amendments deal with voting
rights

14th & 15 Amendments (late 19th C.) extends vote to

black men

19th Amendment (1920) extends franchise to women

26th Amendment (1971) extends franchise to 18yrs +

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 Constitutional Hardball Game
2 Teams: L and R

Elected with 50% probability

If elected, can implement policy/law reform

1 point for a moderate agenda; 3 points for a radical agenda

(e.g., controversial appointments, norm breaking)

Team with most number of points after 5 rounds wins overall

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 Collective Welfare Scenarios
Constitutional Stability A Strained Constitutional A New Constitutional
Order Order

Constitutional rules and Constitutional rules and Constitutional rules have

norms are routinely norms are regularly been reconfigured, but there
followed; politics is challenged; politics is often is stability within the new
“ordinary” and focuses on about “constitutional” order, a waning of
debates about the direction of matters and regime stability constitutional politics and a
public policy is lower than at other times return to ordinary-style
political competition
Combined Party 1 and Party Combined Party 1 and Party Party 1 or Party 2
2 score 2 score

= 5 points or less = 6-12 points = 12 points or more

** deduct 3 points from both

parties

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 Some Questions about Constitutional
Hardball
“Political actors understand that they are in a position to put in
place a new set of deep institutional arrangements … a
constitutional order” (Tushnet, 2004: 523)

A fair description of contemporary American politics?

Why is it a problem?

What might be done to ‘lower the stakes’ and move away from
‘hardball’?

What does the simple game representation miss or neglect?

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