Fiche de révision : Naissance et institutions des États-Unis

📋 Plan du Cours

1. Colonisation et diversité coloniale
2. Des tensions à l’indépendance
3. Constitution et fondation fédérale
4. Congrès et pouvoir législatif
5. Présidence et élections nationales
6. Justice fédérale et Cour suprême
7. Fédéralisme et gouvernements locaux
8. Partis politiques et réalignements électoraux
9. Inscription et modalités de vote

📅 Repères chronologiques

1. 1607Jamestown was founded in the colony of Virginia, beginning English colonization in North America.
2. 1756–1763The Seven Years’ War lasted.
3. September 1783The Treaty of Paris was signed.
4. 1860Republican Abraham Lincoln won the election, followed by the secession of Southern states.
5. 1967Thurgood Marshall became the first Black Supreme Court Justice.
6. 1981Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman on the Supreme Court.

📖 1. Colonisation et diversité coloniale

★ À maîtriser

• Enslaved Africans were brought to Virginia after 1619, and slavery became deeply integrated into the economy.

Compléments

• In 1534, Henry VIII broke with Rome and became head of the Church of England.

📌 The two camps among English colonists were the Puritans and the Separatists.

• Indentured servants worked for 4 to 7 years in exchange for the cost of their passage to the colonies.

💡 Astuce mémo

Jamestown (1607) → servitude et esclavage

📖 2. Des tensions à l’indépendance

📝 Points essentiels

• Colonial opposition escalated from taxes and resistance to the outbreak of the War of Independence and the Declaration of Independence.

💡 Astuce mémo

Taxes → résistance → guerre → indépendance

📖 3. Constitution et fondation fédérale

★ À maîtriser

• The 1787 Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia with 55 delegates from 12 states.

📌 Federalists supported a stronger central government, while Anti-Federalists opposed a strong constitution.

• The Constitution was ratified only after the Bill of Rights, a set of 10 amendments, was added.

Compléments

• State constitutions limited governors’ power, expanded legislative powers, and began with a declaration of rights.

• The principles listed for the new political order included separation of executive, legislative, and judicial powers.

💡 Astuce mémo

Federalists : pouvoir central fort ; Anti-Federalists : méfiance envers une constitution forte

📖 4. Congrès et pouvoir législatif

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Congress : The legislative branch of the US government, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

★ À maîtriser

• Congress makes federal laws, oversees their implementation and the executive branch, regulates trade and money, and handles the annual budget.

• Congress can impeach federal officials, override a presidential veto with a two-thirds vote in each house, declare war, and advise the President on foreign affairs and appointments.

• The Senate has 100 members, with two senators from each state regardless of population.

• Since the 17th Amendment in 1913, senators have been directly elected by the people for six-year terms, with one-third of the Senate renewed every two years.

Compléments

• The House of Representatives handles financial bills, can impeach elected officials, and selects a President if the Electoral College fails to do so.

📖 5. Présidence et élections nationales

★ À maîtriser

• The Electoral College has 538 votes, and a candidate needs 270 to win.

• Presidential elections take place on the first Tuesday of November every four years.

• The President is Commander in Chief of the Army, Navy, and National Guard, leads foreign policy, makes treaties, and nominates Supreme Court justices.

Compléments

• Since 1933, the President-elect has taken the oath of office on January 20 under the 20th Amendment.

• The Vice-President is second in charge after the President and presides over the US Senate.

📖 6. Justice fédérale et Cour suprême

★ À maîtriser

• Article III of the Constitution establishes the judicial branch and provides for the creation of the Supreme Court.

• The federal judicial hierarchy consists of District courts, Courts of Appeals, and the Supreme Court, in ascending order.

• Federal judicial appointments are made with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Compléments

• Only 20–30% of Supreme Court rulings are unanimous, and many divided rulings are decided 5–4.

💡 Astuce mémo

District courts → Courts of Appeals → Supreme Court

📖 7. Fédéralisme et gouvernements locaux

★ À maîtriser

📌 The Tenth Amendment limits federal powers to those enumerated or assigned to the federal government.

📌 Dual federalism, or the layered-cake model, assigns distinct spheres of government to national and state levels, whereas marble-cake federalism describes national, state, and local governments as intertwined and cooperating.

• Federal grants include : categorical grants for specific purposes, block grants for general purposes, matching funds whose costs are shared by state and federal governments

Compléments

• Each state has its own constitution, capital, and governor, who heads the state executive.

• States delegate powers to local governments, including counties that provide services and municipal governments for cities, towns, and villages.

💡 Astuce mémo

Layered cake : pouvoirs distincts ; marble cake : pouvoirs imbriqués

📖 8. Partis politiques et réalignements électoraux

★ À maîtriser

• Strong party identification began in the 1850s, when the issue of slavery divided the country in the decade before the Civil War of 1861–1865.

• From the 1960s, the Democratic Party supported the Civil Rights Movement, angering white Southern Democrats, many of whom began voting Republican in national elections.

Compléments

• The Republican Party was founded in 1850 with the slogan “Free labor, free land, free men.”

• The Republican Party’s Southern strategy used coded words or themes such as “State rights,” “law and order,” and “immigration” to appeal to Southern voters.

• In the 1970s and 1980s, the Republican Party began attracting white industrial workers and Evangelical Christians.

💡 Astuce mémo

Esclavage → réalignement du Sud → Southern strategy

📖 9. Inscription et modalités de vote

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Early voting : Allows voters to cast a ballot in person or by mail before Election Day.

★ À maîtriser

📌 The United States uses a system of relative majority, or plurality, rather than absolute majority.

Compléments

• Most states require voters to register, while North Dakota does not require voter registration.

• Thirty states currently allow same-day voter registration.