America's Democratic Republic

by Greenberg, Edward S.; Page, Benjamin I.

• ISBN13: 9780205806744
• ISBN10: 0205806740
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-12-13
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

Updated in a new 4th edition, America's Democratic Republic is a brief, affordable book in an accessible trade-like format that explores the clash between the democratic aspirations of the American people and the republican foundations of our Constitution.

Written with a lively, narrative style, this text traces the storyline of American government and focuses on the long standing and inescapable tension between the country’s 18th Century republican Constitutional foundations and the democratic aspirations of the American people.

Updated throughout!

-Includes results of the historic 2008 presidential and congressional elections, as well as important 2008 Supreme Court decisions.

-New scholarship woven throughout the book offers illuminating insight into modern policies, practices, and institutions. In Chapter 9 (Political Parties), for example, the authors identify a seventh party era, which they call “the parties at war” to describe the extreme partisanship that has defined American politics since the mid-1990s. Elsewhere, the authors point to new data and trends indicating increased inequality in recent years.

-Updated figures throughout provide current data

Table of Contents

Preface	p. x
About the authors	p. xvii
Democratic Aspirations, Republican Constitutional Foundations	p. 1
The American Democratic Republic	p. 3
Eighteenth-Century Republicanism	p. 6
Democracy	p. 9
The American Democratic Republic	p. 17
Key Terms	p. 19
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 20
Internet Sources	p. 20
The Constitution	p. 21
The American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence	p. 23
The Articles of Confederation: The First Constitution	p. 25
The Democratic Challenge	p. 27
The Constitutional Convention	p. 29
What the Framers Created	p. 33
The Struggle to Ratify the Constitution	p. 38
The Changing Constitution and the American Democratic Republic	p. 40
Key Terms	p. 42
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 43
Internet Sources	p. 43
Federalism: States and Nation	p. 44
Federalism as a System of Government	p. 47
Federalism in the Constitution	p. 50
The Evolution of American Federalism	p. 54
Fiscal Federalism	p. 64
U.S. Federalism: Pro and Con	p. 68
Federalism and the Democratic Republic	p. 70
Key Terms	p. 72
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 72
Internet Sources	p. 72
Civil Liberties	p. 74
Civil Liberties in the Constitution	p. 76
Rights and Liberties in the Nineteenth Century	p. 79
Nationalization of the Bill of Rights	p. 81
Freedom of Speech	p. 84
Freedom of the Press	p. 88
Religious Freedom	p. 91
Privacy	p. 95
Rights of Those Accused of a Crime	p. 98
Civil Liberties and Terrorism	p. 104
Civil Liberties and the Democratic Republic	p. 107
Key Terms	p. 108
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 108
Internet Sources	p. 109
Civil Rights	p. 110
Civill Rights Before the Twentieth Century	p. 113
The Contemporary status of Civil Rights for Racial Minorities	p. 118
The Contemporary Status of Civil Rights for Women	p. 128
Broadening the Civil Rights Umbrella	p. 132
Civil Rights in the Democratic Republic	p. 136
Key Terms	p. 138
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 138
Internet Sources	p. 139
Political Institutions	p. 141
Public Opinion	p. 143
Democracy and Public Opinion	p. 146
Finding Out What People Think	p. 147
Political Socialization: Learning Political Beliefs and Attitudes	p. 151
How and Why People's Political Attitudes Differ	p. 153
The Contours of American Public Opinion: Are the People Fit to Rule?	p. 163
Does Public Opinion Determine What Government Does?	p. 173
Public Opinion and the Democratic Republic	p. 176
Key Terms	p. 177
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 177
Internet Sources	p. 178
The News Media	p. 179
Roles of the News Media in a Democracy	p. 182
Mainstream and Nonmainstream News Media	p. 183
How the Mainstream News Media Work	p. 190
Effects of the News Media on Politics	p. 205
Democratic and Republican Encounters	p. 213
Key Terms	p. 214
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 214
Internet Sources	p. 215
Interest Groups	p. 216
Interest Groups in a Democratic Society: Contrasting Views	p. 220
The Interest Group Universe	p. 223
Why There Are So Many Interest Groups	p. 228
What Interest Groups Do	p. 230
Interest Groups and Inequality in American Politics	p. 236
Curing the Mischief of Factions	p. 242
Interest Groups and the Democratic Republic	p. 243
Key Terms	p. 245
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 245
Internet Sources	p. 246
Political Parties	p. 247
The Role of Political Parties in a Democratic Republic	p. 251
The American Two-Party System	p. 253
The Democratic and Republican Parties	p. 260
The Parties in Government and in the Electorate	p. 271
Political Parties and the Democratic Republic	p. 274
Key Terms	p. 275
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 275
Internet Sources	p. 276
Elections and citizen Participation	p. 277
The Place of Elections in Democratic and Republican Theories	p. 281
Voting in the United States	p. 285
Who Votes?	p. 291
Campaigning for Office	p. 295
Election Outcomes	p. 312
Elections and Participation in the Democratic Republic	p. 317
Key Terms	p. 318
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 319
Internet Sources	p. 319
Government Institutions	p. 321
Congress	p. 323
The Eighteenth-Century Republican Constitutional Foundations of Congress	p. 327
Representation and Democracy	p. 329
How Congress Works	p. 340
How Effective Is Congress?	p. 361
Congress and the Democratic Republic	p. 361
Key Terms	p. 363
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 363
Internet Sources	p. 364
ThePresident	p. 365
The Expanding Presidency	p. 368
The Powers and Roles of the President	p. 374
The President's Staff and Cabinet	p. 384
The President and Congress: Perpetual Tug-of-War	p. 388
The President and the People: An Evolving Relationship	p. 393
The Presidency and the Democratic Republic	p. 396
Key Terms	p. 398
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 398
Internet Sources	p. 399
TheFedral Bureaucracy	p. 400
The Bureaucracy in Democratic and Eighteenth-Century Republican Doctrines	p. 403
The American Bureaucracy: How Exceptional?	p. 404
How the Executive Branch Is Organized	p. 407
What Do Bureaucrats Do?	p. 409
Who Are the Bureaucrats?	p. 413
Political and Governmental Influences on Bureaucratic Behavior	p. 416
Reforming the Federal Bureaucracy	p. 423
The Federal Bureaucracy and the Democratic Republic	p. 428
Key Terms	p. 429
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 429
Internet Sources	p. 430
Thee Courts	p. 431
The Foundations of Judicial Power	p. 434
Eighteenth-Century Republican Constitutional Design	p. 435
The U.S. Court System: Organization and Jurisdiction	p. 438
Appointment to the Federal Bench	p. 442
The Supreme Court in Action	p. 446
The Supreme Court as a National Policymaker	p. 451
Outside Influences on the Court	p. 459
The Supreme Court and the Democratic Republic	p. 463
Key Terms	p. 463
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 464
Internet Sources	p. 464
What Government Does	p. 467
The Budget and Economic Policies	p. 469
Public Policy	p. 473
Economic Policies	p. 475
The Main Players and Influences on Economic Policy	p. 479
The Government's Macroeconomic Policy Tools	p. 482
Taxing, Spending, and the Federal Budget	p. 485
Regulation	p. 496
Economic Policies in the Democratic Republic	p. 500
Key Terms	p. 501
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 501
Internet Sources	p. 502
Social Safety Nets	p. 503
Why Safety Net Programs?	p. 506
An Outline of American Safety Net Programs	p. 510
Social Insurance	p. 512
Means-Tested Programs	p. 519
Differences in the American System of Social Safety Nets	p. 524
Social Safety Nets in the Democratic Republic	p. 528
Key Terms	p. 529
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 530
Internet Sources	p. 530
Foreign Policy and National Defense	p. 531
Foreign Policy and Democracy: A Contradiction in Terms?	p. 534
The World's Superpower (Still)	p. 535
Problems of the Post-Cold War World	p. 545
The Middle East	p. 548
Foreign and Defense Policies and the Democratic Republic	p. 556
Key Terms	p. 558
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 558
Internet Sources	p. 559
Appendix
The Declaration of Independence	p. A-1
The Constitution of the United States	p. A-4
The Federalist Papers, Nos. 10, 51, and 78	p. A-23
Presidents and Congresses, 1789-2013	p. A-36
Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, 1789-2010	p. A-42
Glossary	p. G-1
Endnotes	p. N-1
Credits	p. C-1
Index	p. I-1
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