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Goverment

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Goverment
02/20/2013
Ann M Tonkovich
POL 103 American Government

Chapter 1
Compare and contrast the different “Pathways of Action” Americans have to influence public policy and politics.
Pathways to action include elections, lobbing, courts, grassroots mobilization, and cultural change. The effectiveness of one pathway may have over another often depends upon who is using it. People with a lot of money may be able to use litigation more effectively as were people with good organizational skills can conduct petition drives, community meetings, and stage public rallies. Resources, knowledge, and skill play a big role in our pathway to influence public policy and politics.

Chapter 2
Compare and contrast the differences between the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution.
The simple difference between the Articles of Confederation and US Constitution is that the articles were not strong enough to hold our young nation together. The articles operated the US as separate states. Under the articles, it was very difficult to pass laws, because they required 9 out of the 13 states' approval, for ratification. Even so, there was no law enforcement, so the states that did not agree with the laws did not follow them. People could get away with breaking the laws, because it was very hard to convict them.

After about 13 years or so, our founding fathers realized that the articles were too ineffective and needed to be revised. They drafted the US Constitution, which had similar values, but set up a 3-branch system of government, acting as a federal government.

Chapter 3
Compare and contrast the differences between Cooperative and Creative Federalism.
Duel Federalism: Both the State and Federal levels of government are in their own separate spheres, and do not work together to solve issues. They should be coequal sovereign governments, but within the limits that they both have (States limitations as made by the Constitution).
-separate, equal power

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