Fiche de révision : Civilisation politique des États-Unis

📋 Plan du Cours

1. Évaluations et textes étudiés
2. Indépendance et Déclaration de 1776
3. Constitution et séparation des pouvoirs
4. République et débats fédéralistes
5. Abolitionnisme et The Liberator

📅 Repères chronologiques

1. 1756 to 1763The Seven Years’ War left Great Britain practically collapsed because it was very costly.
2. April 1775The War of Independence began at Lexington, Massachusetts.
3. July 4, 1776The Declaration of Independence was signed after being submitted to the Second Continental Congress on July 2, 1776.
4. January 16, 1788Federalist Paper No. 39 was first published by The Independent Journal. - James Madison, The Conformity of the Plan to Republican Principles, 1788
5. January 1, 1831William Lloyd Garrison published the first issue of The Liberator.
6. 1832Garrison co-founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society. - William Lloyd Garrison, 1832

📖 1. Évaluations et textes étudiés

★ À maîtriser

• The course includes three evaluations: a video to summarize in W7 during a tutorial, a text to comment on in W9 during a lecture, and an individual oral examination based on an unknown text, with 45 minutes of preparation.

Compléments

• The brochure contains texts by the Committee of Five, the Founding Fathers, James Madison, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Alexander H. Stephens, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Mr Everett, Susan B. Anthony, and the authors of the Declaration of Sentiments.

📖 2. Indépendance et Déclaration de 1776

★ À maîtriser

• The Declaration of Independence was written by a Committee of Five including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman.

• The thirteen colonies were North Carolina, South Carolina, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia.

• The colonists opposed :

  • the Sugar Act of 1764
  • the Stamp Act of 1765
  • the Intolerable Act of 1774

• The Declaration presents universal rights as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, whereas John Locke used the term property.

Compléments

📌 In the course, liberty means being something that cannot be taken from someone, whereas freedom means having something.

💡 Astuce mémo

Taxes → rebellion → independence

📖 3. Constitution et séparation des pouvoirs

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Constitution : the supreme law of the United States

★ À maîtriser

• The Constitution was written by the Founding Fathers between May 25 and September 17, 1787, ratified by nine states on June 21, 1788, and became effective on March 4, 1789.

📌 The Constitution organizes power horizontally among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, and vertically between the federal government and the states.

• The legislative branch makes laws, the executive branch carries out laws, and the judicial branch evaluates and interprets laws.

• The first three articles establish the legislative branch led by a bicameral Congress, the executive branch led by the president, and the judiciary in which the Supreme Court holds power.

• The compromise between the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan created a bicameral Congress with two senators per state and a House of Representatives based on proportional representation.

Compléments

📌 A bill passes from Congress to the House and Senate and then goes to the president, who can approve it or veto it.

• The Constitution has been modified 27 times since 1791.

📌 The Supreme Court’s members are appointed for life so that no one can fire them and they can make independent decisions without bias.

💡 Astuce mémo

Horizontal : Congress–President–Supreme Court ; vertical : Federal–State

📖 4. République et débats fédéralistes

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Republic : James Madison, 1788 - A republic is founded only on the people, chooses rulers who must not abuse their power, and gives those rulers office for a limited period unless the people agree to impeach them.

★ À maîtriser

• The Federalist Papers are a collection of 85 essays written by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton to promote ratification of the Constitution between October 1787 and April 1788.

📌 Madison describes the United States government as partly national, governing the consolidated states and American people, and partly federal, governing several sovereign states. - James Madison, 1788

• Madison concludes that the proposed Constitution is neither strictly national nor strictly federal but a composition of both. - James Madison, 1788

• The Bill of Rights includes :

  • freedom of religion
  • the right to own weapons
  • protection against unreasonable searches
  • protection against excessive bail

• The Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery in 1865, the Fourteenth Amendment made anyone born in the United States a citizen, and the Fifteenth Amendment allowed Black men to vote.

• In 1954, the Supreme Court declared segregation unconstitutional, after declaring it constitutional under the doctrine of “separate but equal” in 1896.

Compléments

• James Madison wrote 29 Federalist essays, Hamilton wrote 51, and John Jay wrote five before becoming ill; the essays were published under the pen name Publius. - Federalist Papers

💡 Astuce mémo

Federalists : strong government ; Anti-Federalists : fear of tyranny

📖 5. Abolitionnisme et The Liberator

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Enfranchisement : William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator, 1831 - full citizenship rights for formerly enslaved people, including voting, serving on juries, and running for or holding political office

★ À maîtriser

• Garrison’s inaugural editorial defended the immediate abolition of slavery and the enfranchisement of formerly enslaved people. - William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator, 1831

• Garrison quoted the Declaration of Independence to argue that all people are created equal and possess unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. - William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator, 1831

Compléments

• Garrison directed his anger at (William Lloyd Garrison, 1831) :
  • Southern slaveholders
  • Northern apologists
  • moderate abolitionists

📌 The North was associated with industry, trade, manufacturing, and textiles, whereas the South was associated with slavery and cotton.

💡 Astuce mémo

Slavery → abolitionist press → emancipation and enfranchisement

📊 Tableaux de synthèse

Organisation des pouvoirs constitutionnels