OUTCOME: SWBAT RECALL THE CHARACTERISTICS OF STATES AND THEORIES OF GOVERNMENT EXAMINE THE PURPOSES OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT KECSSMS. MURREN ECONOMICS 2/17/12

INITIAL ACTIVITY WHY DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THE FRAMERS OF THE CONSTITUTION SEPARATE THESE POWERS? Executive The president is the Head of State, and executes the laws Judicial The Supreme Court interprets the laws to ensure they are constitutional Legislative Congress creates the laws and frames public policy

MINI LESSON What is a State? A nation or country. A body of people living in a defined territory, organized politically and with the power to make and enforce law without the consent of a higher authority. Nation – An ethnic term used to refer to races or large groups of people Country – A geographic term used to refer to a particular place, region or area of land What are the characteristics of a state? Population Territory Sovereignty Government

MINI LESSON – CHARACTERISTICS OF A STATE Population- For a state to exist it must be inhabited. The size of the state is irrelevant to it’s existence. The world’s largest state is China (1.3 billion). The United States of America is the 3 rd most populous state with 300 million inhabitants. Vatican City is the world’s smallest state with about 800 permanent residents Territory – Just as a state cannot exist without people, it cannot exist without land (territory). The size of the land is also inconsequential. Vatican City is 109 acres, Russia is the largest state a6.6 million square miles, The United States is about 3.8 million square miles.

MINI LESSON – CHARACTERISTICS OF A STATE Sovereignty – Every State is sovereign that is they have supreme and absolute power within its own territory and can decide its own domestic and foreign policies. The States within the US are not states in the legal and international sense they are all sovereign to the laws of the American Constitution Government- Every State is politically organized, that means that they all have a government. Medial Critical Thinking Summary – Is Cuba a State? Is Puerto Rico a state? Is Bangladesh a state? Explain why or why not

MINI LESSON – THE ORIGINS OF THE STATE How did States originate? Force Theory- This theory assumes that states were born of force that one person or group of people claimed control of a particular area and forced others to submit to that person’ s or group’s rule. When that rule was established, all the basic elements of the state – population, territory, sovereignty and government were present. Evolutionary Theory- A population formed out of primitive families. The heads of these families settled in one territory and claimed it as their own and became a sovereign state. A family A clan A tribe A State

MINI LESSON – THE ORIGINS OF THE STATE The Divine Right Theory- This theory was widely accepted in the 15 th – 18 th centuries. It stated that God created the state making it sovereign and God had given those royal birth the divine right to rule. Opposition the ‘divine right of the kings’ was both treason and a mortal sin. Europeans, Chinese, Mayans Egyptians all believed in divine right – The Japanese Emperor governed by divine right until 1945 Social Contract Theory- A population in a given place gave up as much power as needed to a government to promote the well being of all. This theory was developed philosophers like Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau. – This theory argues that the state of Nature is so brutish that the state arose out of a voluntary act of free people.

CRITICAL THINKING SUMMARY Which of the four leading theories of the origin of the state best describes the origin of dictatorships? Explain your answer Examine the Preamble to the Constitution to determine which origin of state theory describes the origin of the United States We the people, In order to form a more perfect union, Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, Provide for the common defense, 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.