AP U.S. Government and Politics · Lesson 1

Democratic ideals and models of democracy

Know Know it

American government rests on a few core ideas, many drawn from Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke. Natural rights are rights people hold by being human, such as life, liberty and property. Under the social contract, people agree to form a government so it will protect those rights.

Popular sovereignty means the government's power comes from the people. Republicanism means citizens elect representatives to make laws for them. Limited government means the government has only the powers the people give it.

The Declaration of Independence (1776) states these ideas plainly: people have unalienable rights, governments get their just powers from the consent of the governed, and people may alter or abolish a government that destroys their rights. The Constitution (1787) builds them into a working plan, with limits on power and elected officials.

Three models of democracy
ModelWho has influenceExample in U.S. government
ParticipatoryMany citizens, through direct and broad involvementState ballot initiatives and town meetings
PluralistMany organized groups competing with each otherInterest groups lobbying Congress on a bill
EliteA small, educated or wealthy fewThe Electoral College and, originally, senators chosen by state legislatures

Trap Popular sovereignty is not direct democracy

Popular sovereignty says the people are the source of power. It does not mean the people vote on every law. The Constitution set up a republic, in which elected representatives make most decisions.

Worked example Easy

A colonial writer argues that people agree to set up a government so it will protect them, and that they may replace it if it fails to do so. Which idea is the writer using?

  1. The social contractAnswer
  2. Courts striking down laws
  3. Federalism
  4. Checks and balances

How to solve it

  1. Find the core claim: people agree to a government in return for protection.
  2. Notice the second part: they may replace a government that fails them.
  3. An agreement between people and government, with a right to replace it, is the social contract.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Correct. The social contract is an agreement in which people accept a government in exchange for protection, and may replace a government that breaks it.
  • B. Incorrect. Courts striking down laws is judicial review, and the writer never mentions courts or laws.
  • C. Incorrect. Federalism divides power between national and state governments, not between people and rulers.
  • D. Incorrect. Checks and balances let branches limit each other, but the writer is describing why government exists at all.

Explain Explain it

Task verbs: identify, explain

To explain an ideal, name it and then show where it appears in a document or a practice. To place a scenario in a model of democracy, ask who holds the influence: many citizens directly, many competing groups, or a small few.

Worked example Medium

Residents of a state gather enough signatures to put a proposed law on the ballot, and voters then approve it directly. Which model of democracy does this process reflect?

  1. Elite democracy
  2. Pluralist democracy
  3. Participatory democracyAnswer
  4. A unitary system

How to solve it

  1. Ask who makes the decision: ordinary voters, directly.
  2. Broad, direct involvement of citizens is the mark of the participatory model.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Incorrect. Elite democracy gives a small, educated few the most say, but here ordinary voters decide.
  • B. Incorrect. Pluralist democracy centers on organized groups competing, while this process lets individual voters act directly.
  • C. Correct. A citizen initiative lets ordinary people propose and pass a law themselves, the core of participatory democracy.
  • D. Incorrect. A unitary system describes how power is divided between levels of government, not a model of who takes part.

Explain Your turn

The Declaration of Independence says governments get their just powers from the consent of the governed. Explain how this idea connects to popular sovereignty and to the colonists' claim that they could break away from Britain.

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A full answer does this

  • Says that power comes from the people, which is popular sovereignty
  • Says that a government that breaks its side of the bargain loses its claim, so the people may replace it

Model answer

Consent of the governed means a government's authority comes from the people, which is popular sovereignty. If the people are the source of power, a government that abuses their rights has broken its side of the bargain, so the colonists argued they could withdraw consent from the king and form a new government.

Apply Apply it

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