Poli sci take home exam
Tyler Willett
Political Science
11/9/14
Take home exam
1. The First Amendment is the most important and crucial amendment
guaranteed by the bill of rights. The First Amendment protects Americans
freedom of religion, speech, press, right of assembly, and petition. The first
clause of the First Amendment is the Freedom in the establishment clause,
which creates the separation of church and state. However, certain
encounters between the state and church are allowed if it can pass the lemon
test, which is a three pronged test to make sure no religion is favored and
doesn’t oppress other religions. The second clause is the Free Exercise clause.
This clause protects everyone’s right to believe and practice which ever faith
you so desire. The Free speech clause protects people’s right to voice their
opinions on matters. Some speech is absolutely protected such as political
speech, and others are conditionally protected such as obscenity. The
freedom of the press is the protection of the ability to publish opinions and
news no matter how bad it may be. The government can’t even stop
information about them from being published even if it puts them in a bad
light. This is also referred to as the Doctrine against prior restraint. The right
of assembly is the individual right or ability to come together and collectively
express, promote, pursue, and defend common interests. The right to petition
is the protection of the right to publicly express their distress of grievance of
an even. When any of these clauses are believed to be infringed upon, the
government must view it with strict scrutiny to prove that it is acting
constitutionally. If these rights are to be infringed upon, the government must
show a compelling state interest to explain why they are doing this. This
amendment is so important because it allows for Americans to believe freely
and not discriminated against because of their beliefs and opinions. It also
ties into many of the other amendments because it is the most basic and
essential human right.
2. There are three main branches of government in the United States. The first
is the Legislature, created by article one of the constitution. The Legislature is
broken up into two parts; the senate and the House of Representatives. The
senate has 2 people from each state to represent their constituents. The Vice
President is the president of the senate, and makes tie breaking votes if the
need arises. The House of Representatives has representatives from each
state based on their population, the higher the population the more
representatives a state will have. The speaker of the house, or majority
leader is John Boehner. The Legislature proposes and creates laws for our
nation. They also have the power to declare war. Along with all their other
powers, this branch has implied powers, which grants them all the laws
necessary to carry out the other laws they have to enforce. The second part
is the executive branch, created by article two of the constitution. This branch
consists of the president and his advisors. This branch has the power to
negotiate foreign treaties, enforce laws, and act as a judge in granting
pardons. Much like the Legislature, this branch also has a set of unsaid laws
that give them the ability to carry out the laws they are required to enforce
and they are called implied powers. The president also has a very unique
ability to delegate his power to other people if there is a lot of work that
needs to be done in a time sensitive manor. The third branch is the Judiciary
branch which is the court system, created by the third article of the
constitution. This system includes federal and state trial courts, then a case
can move to an appeals court, then if need be, it gets passed to the State
Supreme court or U.S. Supreme court which is also a type of appeals court.
The Federal Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of other decisions
made in trial courts. For it to reach this stage however, it must be a case in
controversy, it must be standing, and it cannot be moot. All three of these
branches have checks and balances to limit the other branches powers. The
Legislative branch has the power to impeach a president if they feel he is not
properly performing his duties. They also have the power to override a
president’s veto of a bill with a two thirds vote. The executive branch has the
power to veto any laws created by the legislature and also pardon people in
court cases. The Judiciary branch has probably the most powerful checks and
balance, whereas they granted themselves the power of judicial review in the
court case of Marbury vs. Madison. This is believed to be the most powerful of
the checks and balances because it allows the courts to declare any act or bill
created by any other branch of the government unconstitutional and cancels
out that act or bill.
3. The Civil Rights act came about in our country during the abolition/ women’s
rights movements. After the Civil war ended, the 13 th, 14th, and 15th
reconstruction amendments were added to the constitution. The 13 th
amendment abolished slavery, the 14th amendment created equal protection
and due process of the law, and the 15 th gave voting rights to African
Americans. However, these laws were very often not acknowledged in the
south, and Jim Crow law was still followed, which involved continued
discrimination of African Americans. Then in 1896 in the court case of Plessy
v. Ferguson, it is stated that all things can be segregated but must be equal
to both races. This was not the case however, for African Americans were still
very poorly treated and were not given equal rights and commodities as
whites. People such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks battled against
this discrimination to gain equal rights by protesting and having sit in’s. This
occurred for some time until the Brown v. Board of Education court case of
1954. In this court case the idea of separate but equal was struck down and
the power for states to discriminate based on race was eliminated. This gave
blacks more of an opportunity to be accepted into schools and get job
opportunities. While this is occurring, women also are putting in their efforts
to gain rights and a voice in what happens in society. During the abolition
movement they were looking to help the African Americans, but had no
political influence or say in matters. Then in 1848, the Seneca Falls
convention occurred, which was the first women’s convention to advocate for
women’s rights. The rights they were fighting for was emancipation from men
and the right to vote, because in those times women were viewed as their
husbands property. Then, in 1920, the 19 th amendment was passed, giving
women the right to vote. Since then there has been a steady increase in
equality in job opportunities and education for males and females but to this
day it is still not wholly equal. Today, things like affirmative action are giving
much more education and job opportunities to women to equal the playing
field and give each gender a fair chance.
4. Affirmative action is increasing opportunities for people who have in the past
been discriminated against. This can apply to a broad spectrum of
possibilities such as college admissions to job opportunities. Affirmative
action is seen mostly in today’s society in regards to opportunities given to
women. I believe that there should be no affirmative action given when being
admitted to a university. I believe this because you should be accepted to a
university based on the academic effort and achievement you have acquired
over your years of schooling. You should not accept somebody who has lower
achievements because of their race or gender, but accept somebody who has
worked hard and put forth the effort to have the requirements needed to be
accepted to your university.
Political Science
11/9/14
Take home exam
1. The First Amendment is the most important and crucial amendment
guaranteed by the bill of rights. The First Amendment protects Americans
freedom of religion, speech, press, right of assembly, and petition. The first
clause of the First Amendment is the Freedom in the establishment clause,
which creates the separation of church and state. However, certain
encounters between the state and church are allowed if it can pass the lemon
test, which is a three pronged test to make sure no religion is favored and
doesn’t oppress other religions. The second clause is the Free Exercise clause.
This clause protects everyone’s right to believe and practice which ever faith
you so desire. The Free speech clause protects people’s right to voice their
opinions on matters. Some speech is absolutely protected such as political
speech, and others are conditionally protected such as obscenity. The
freedom of the press is the protection of the ability to publish opinions and
news no matter how bad it may be. The government can’t even stop
information about them from being published even if it puts them in a bad
light. This is also referred to as the Doctrine against prior restraint. The right
of assembly is the individual right or ability to come together and collectively
express, promote, pursue, and defend common interests. The right to petition
is the protection of the right to publicly express their distress of grievance of
an even. When any of these clauses are believed to be infringed upon, the
government must view it with strict scrutiny to prove that it is acting
constitutionally. If these rights are to be infringed upon, the government must
show a compelling state interest to explain why they are doing this. This
amendment is so important because it allows for Americans to believe freely
and not discriminated against because of their beliefs and opinions. It also
ties into many of the other amendments because it is the most basic and
essential human right.
2. There are three main branches of government in the United States. The first
is the Legislature, created by article one of the constitution. The Legislature is
broken up into two parts; the senate and the House of Representatives. The
senate has 2 people from each state to represent their constituents. The Vice
President is the president of the senate, and makes tie breaking votes if the
need arises. The House of Representatives has representatives from each
state based on their population, the higher the population the more
representatives a state will have. The speaker of the house, or majority
leader is John Boehner. The Legislature proposes and creates laws for our
nation. They also have the power to declare war. Along with all their other
powers, this branch has implied powers, which grants them all the laws
necessary to carry out the other laws they have to enforce. The second part
is the executive branch, created by article two of the constitution. This branch
consists of the president and his advisors. This branch has the power to
negotiate foreign treaties, enforce laws, and act as a judge in granting
pardons. Much like the Legislature, this branch also has a set of unsaid laws
that give them the ability to carry out the laws they are required to enforce
and they are called implied powers. The president also has a very unique
ability to delegate his power to other people if there is a lot of work that
needs to be done in a time sensitive manor. The third branch is the Judiciary
branch which is the court system, created by the third article of the
constitution. This system includes federal and state trial courts, then a case
can move to an appeals court, then if need be, it gets passed to the State
Supreme court or U.S. Supreme court which is also a type of appeals court.
The Federal Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of other decisions
made in trial courts. For it to reach this stage however, it must be a case in
controversy, it must be standing, and it cannot be moot. All three of these
branches have checks and balances to limit the other branches powers. The
Legislative branch has the power to impeach a president if they feel he is not
properly performing his duties. They also have the power to override a
president’s veto of a bill with a two thirds vote. The executive branch has the
power to veto any laws created by the legislature and also pardon people in
court cases. The Judiciary branch has probably the most powerful checks and
balance, whereas they granted themselves the power of judicial review in the
court case of Marbury vs. Madison. This is believed to be the most powerful of
the checks and balances because it allows the courts to declare any act or bill
created by any other branch of the government unconstitutional and cancels
out that act or bill.
3. The Civil Rights act came about in our country during the abolition/ women’s
rights movements. After the Civil war ended, the 13 th, 14th, and 15th
reconstruction amendments were added to the constitution. The 13 th
amendment abolished slavery, the 14th amendment created equal protection
and due process of the law, and the 15 th gave voting rights to African
Americans. However, these laws were very often not acknowledged in the
south, and Jim Crow law was still followed, which involved continued
discrimination of African Americans. Then in 1896 in the court case of Plessy
v. Ferguson, it is stated that all things can be segregated but must be equal
to both races. This was not the case however, for African Americans were still
very poorly treated and were not given equal rights and commodities as
whites. People such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks battled against
this discrimination to gain equal rights by protesting and having sit in’s. This
occurred for some time until the Brown v. Board of Education court case of
1954. In this court case the idea of separate but equal was struck down and
the power for states to discriminate based on race was eliminated. This gave
blacks more of an opportunity to be accepted into schools and get job
opportunities. While this is occurring, women also are putting in their efforts
to gain rights and a voice in what happens in society. During the abolition
movement they were looking to help the African Americans, but had no
political influence or say in matters. Then in 1848, the Seneca Falls
convention occurred, which was the first women’s convention to advocate for
women’s rights. The rights they were fighting for was emancipation from men
and the right to vote, because in those times women were viewed as their
husbands property. Then, in 1920, the 19 th amendment was passed, giving
women the right to vote. Since then there has been a steady increase in
equality in job opportunities and education for males and females but to this
day it is still not wholly equal. Today, things like affirmative action are giving
much more education and job opportunities to women to equal the playing
field and give each gender a fair chance.
4. Affirmative action is increasing opportunities for people who have in the past
been discriminated against. This can apply to a broad spectrum of
possibilities such as college admissions to job opportunities. Affirmative
action is seen mostly in today’s society in regards to opportunities given to
women. I believe that there should be no affirmative action given when being
admitted to a university. I believe this because you should be accepted to a
university based on the academic effort and achievement you have acquired
over your years of schooling. You should not accept somebody who has lower
achievements because of their race or gender, but accept somebody who has
worked hard and put forth the effort to have the requirements needed to be
accepted to your university.