UNIT 1 Mastery Project

-Kenneth Hernandez

LO 1.A.1:
Compare how various models of
representative democracy are reflected
through major institutions, policies, events,
or debates in the U.S.

Small local to local communities are primarily used to representative democracy where everyone
votes for a representative by their opinion. Whereas there is Pluralist democracy, innumerable
groups that share very similar interest and influence government policy(e.g. unfortunately white
male republicans with strong opinions on womens rights/abortion/ etc.). Furthermore, there is
Elite democracy that only allows a small wealthy group to make all the decisions of democratic
government, this is only a theory(illuminati).

LO 1.B.1:
Analyze and compare democratic ideals
reflected in U.S. foundational documents.

The founding fathers thought that the new born country should be something other than tyranny. So
they settled on a representative democratic government. In addition to this representative
democracy, they created the Constitution in which explains the basis of how the government should
be.

LO 1.B.2:
Compare and interpret Federalist and AntiFederalist views on central government and
democracy

Federalists argued in the federalist papers to ratify the Constitution. Madison established his
argument in the Federalist 10 and it was to establish a government to be capable of controlling
violence when it arises by factions. Also to remove these factions that cause trouble. Anti-Federalists
writings in Brutus 1 argued for laws to equally apply to all citizens, and Anti-Federalists were against
the constitution and believed the new national government would not be efficient enough to govern
all its American people.

LO 1.C.1:
Explain the relationship between key provisions of the
Articles of Confederation and the debate over granting
greater power to the federal government formerly
reserved to the states.

The articles were weak and congress had no power to collect taxes and could only ask for money,
including that states had different currency. Congress not being able to collect money, resulted no
income for the government.
Another challenge was that there was not an executive branch that could coordinate work of the
government or enforce laws.
Thirdly, there was not a national court in the articles of confederation which resulted no way to settle
disputes among the states. States had to fight things out and figure their own rights without the aid of
the federal court.

LO 1.C.2:
Analyze causes and effects of constitutional compromises
in addressing political, economic, and regional divisions

A compromise that aided the political issue of the country was the Great Compromise which
resolved the problem of representation in congress, allowing each state to have two representatives
in the upper house.
A compromise which was deemed outrageous to modern standards was the 3/5ths compromise
which made slaves count as 3/5ths a person to give the south the upper hand in regional
representation.
Lastly, the Commerce Compromise which regulated interstate trade and national trade, and banned
slave trade for 20 years in favor of both North and South states. South didnt want a complete ban
and the North came with the compromise
All three of these compromises were deemed necessary for the ratification of the Constitution.

LO 1.C.3:
Explain how the issues raised in the ratification debate
are reflected in ongoing philosophical disagreements
about democracy and governmental power.

Issues raised during the ratification debate was the decision on how much power should be given to the
newborn government. Ongoing philosophical disagreements were brought by Anti-Federalists and
Federalists. Federalists wanted to ratify the Constitution, Anti-Federalists did not want to ratify it because
they believed it would give the government too much power. An example would be when the Federal
government legalized gay marriage across the country when gay marriage was decided by state.

LO 1.D.1:
Evaluate the relationship between separation of powers
and checks and balances.

Separation of powers, and checks and balances play a significant role for the government of the USA.
both of these systems ensure that no branch becomes more powerful than the other(like a game of
rock, paper, scissors). In separation of powers, each branch is given their own separate power and a
responsibility to that power. Checks and balances is a literal check the other branch and balance its
power out.
In separation of powers, Congress makes laws, The President enforces laws and grant pardons, and
the Judicial branch interprets laws.
In checks and balances, Congress can approve nominations, override a veto, and impeach the
president. The president can veto laws made by congress, and nominate judges for judges in
legislation. The judiciary can declare acts/laws unconstitutional.

LO 1.E.1:
Assess how the distribution of powers among three
federal branches affects policy making

Distribution of powers among the three branches ensure not one branch makes a policy unfair. For
example, immigration policy in the role of creation, implementation, and continuation.
In the role of creation, congress creates the bills on immigration, the Executive branch creates the
department of Homeland security, and The Judicial branch interprets laws of things immigration related. In
the role of implementation, Congress released the secure borders act, the Executive branch cracks down
and strengthens border patrol, The judicial branch appoints a lawyer for immigrants. In the role of
continuation, Congress allows green cards to be distributed to certain immigrants, the Executive branch
does background checks and over new immigrants, and the Judiciary still appoints a lawyer.

LO 1.F.1
Explain how and why the appropriate balance of power
between national and state governments has been
interpreted differently over time.

Appropriate balance of power between national and state government is interpreted differently because of
events and votes by the people. If the problem were a national problem, then the national government
would take care of it and set their own law such as Copyright. Balance between the state and the federal
government is like layered cake in which each government has its own powers and functions. Examples of
different interpretations are McCulloch v. Maryland. In McCulloch v Maryland, the court decided that
congress had powers to establish a national bank and the states could not tax the national the national
bank because the powers of the national government came from the people not the state. Another power
balance example is the Tenth Amendment. The Tenth Amendment allowed the federal govt to have certain
powers granted by the constitution, for example US v Lopez. US v Lopez created a conflict between state
and national government due to a man bringing a gun to a school. Federal government claimed that
possessing a weapon in an educational environment should be a crime, however state government argues
that it violates his rights to bare arms.

LO 1.F.2:
Analyze questions over the allocation and scope of central
power within a federal structure

Conflicts over the scope of central power within a federal structure is seen in the Kim Davis trials. Kim Davis
is a female government employee who refused to present a gay couple their marriage license because it
violates her religion. In which is her right to the first amendment, however Congress passed the legalization
of gay marriage. This leads into conflict within the federal structure. Another example would be the US v
Lopez which is stated in the prompt prior to this one; in Texas, a man walked on campus with his open carry
weapon which is content by state law, however is not seen the same by federal law. To federal law, it was
seen as a violent action considering that the campus was a place of education.