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Englisch (Subject) / Grundwissen (Lesson)

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• 13 original states North Carolina, South Carolna, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, New York, New Hampshire, Conneticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvaina, Virginia, Rhode Island
• 'Give me liberty of give me death' Last sentence of a speech by Patrick Henry 1775 Virginia convention sent troops to the War of Independence as a result of this
• Aliens in WWII GB, Canada, Australia, France, Russia, NZ, China
• 49th state of the Union? Alaska
• Who can become President? have to be legally born in the US have to be oat least 35 years before he/ she gets elected, has to have lived in the US for 14 years
• How many Supreme Court Justices are there? 9
• Head excecutive of a state government is called Governor
• Head excecutive of a city government is called Mayor
• main writer of the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson
• When was the D. o. I. adopted? 4th of July 1776
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• national anthem of the US the Star-Spangled Banner
• Who wrote the Star-Spangled Banner Francis Scott Key
• The Bill of Rights Freedom of speech, religion, press, peacable assembly and requesting change of government The right to bear arms The right to trial by jury in most cases The right to have a trial and a lawyer
• Civil War president: Abraham Lincoln 1861 - 1865
• Emancipation Proclamation freed many slaves
• 50th state Hawaii
• Who can declare war? The Congress
• Voting rights 15th, 19th, 24th, 26th amendment
• In what year was the Constitution written 1787
• United Nations provice economic aid to many countries discuss and try to resolve world problems
• Who is Commander in chief of the US military The President
• Election - which month? November
• Presidential democracy - USA/ France - the President is head of state and leader of the government - President nominates the ministers (members of government) - Parliament elected for a fixed legislative period; clear institutional separation of parliament and government - government members need not to be members of the parliament - strong position of the President (veto) - laws are debated and passed by the parliament (President can block it by using its veto) - strong President may act immediately -> but is it always wise afterwards? - the separation of power does not neccessarily mean more checks and balances than in a Parliamentary democracy
• Parliamentary Democracy - Germany - 
• The Northeast of the US - two sub-regions -> New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Conneticut) & Mid-Atlantic (NY, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) - flourishing tourist industry - economic center of the US - highly urban, ethnically mixed cities
• The South of the US - 11 states of the Confederacy during the Civil War from Virginia to Texa (plus border states: West Virginia & Oklahoma) - climante and soil suitable fpr growing cash crops such as tobacco and cotton (in the past), today more varied agricultural products - natural ressources such as iron ore, oil, pine forrests - increasingly urban-industrial
• The Midwest of the US - industrial -> states bordering the Great Lakes, many manufacturing centers, important farm states - agricultural -> the two Western tiers of states - Chicago as most important city - industrial cities have more and more problems with the loss of manufacturing jobs, slums and urban blight due to deindustrialization - population diverse due to immigration from Africa and Asia
• The West of the US - Southwest -> New Mexico, Arizona and parts of the surrounding states with similar climate and culture; Spanish-Mexican and Native communities; economy: cattle-and sheep-ranching, electronics and aerospace companies, mining, petroleum industry, tourism in the national parks; federal government as the largest landowner, dominates the economy; warm, dry climate; low population density -> but appears to be growing rapidly - Mountain-States -> economy: mining, agriculture (ranching, forrest), gambling, entertainment, computer software and technology; federal government as the largest landowner. dominates the economy; center of the Mormons - Pacific coast -> San Francisco as a center of the region; economy: Silicon Valley (computer firms) Napa Valley (wine district); metropolitan area around LA: Hollywood film industry, major energy, defense, aerospace companies
• Hawaii - 50th state - majority of the population is Asian American, especially of Japanese descent
• Alaska - 49th state - federal, state and Native American governments own more than 99% of all the land - huge profits from oil, highest per capita income in the US - high unemployment rate
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• History of settlement in the US - starting with people from Northwestern Europe, then people from southern and eastern Europe - suggestion that immigrants should setle in region that are similar to their home countries (like Scandinaviens settled in Minnesota and Dakota) - first immigrations laws in 1920s, but immigration still increasing, so 1960s more liberal immigration laws - first settlements were small and clinging to the Atlantic coast (looking to Europe) - when settlement moved away from the coast it still followed waterways - first 150 years of settlement until 1765: people moved westwards until the eastern flanks of the Appalachian Mountains - next century: frontier reached the Pacific Ocean; 1890 the frontier was gone (-> occupiying the country as their manifest destiny, growing population) - rapid advances of settlement along certain transportation routes (Ohio River, Mississippi River) - settlement Rocky Mountains to Alaska: no even pattern of settlement expansion, because the are was too dry, too hot/ cold for farming - also point settlement across otherwise nearly unpopulated landscape (areas with economic potential)
• Three principle zones of population - primary zone -> areas of earliest growth, the country's most advanced section economically; dense transportation net (harbours); rich mineral ressources; Boston/Chicago/St.Louis/Washington D.C.; 7 of the 12 most popular states - secondary zone -> wrapping around southern and western margins of the primary zone, extending westward until the Great Plains; much of Americas best agricultural land; most of the area is populated; service and manufacturing centers for the region - peripheral population zone -> land from the central Great Plains westwards; most of the land sparsely populated although there is Frisco, LA,...; population and economic growth at locations of special potential in an otherwise limited region
• Mobility history of the US 1. East to West movement 2. Rural to urban areas 3. movement between metropolitan areas (nowadays)
• The Belts - the Rust Belt (=manufacturing belt) -> located at the Northeast; coming from the Atlantic (water utility, weaving mills); had its height in the 1900s; economic trouble in 1970s (oil crisis); speeded the decline of several industries; deindustrialization -> structural unemployment; "white-flight"; service sector overtakes the manufacturing sector - the Sun Belt -> across the Southeast and Southwest; demographic and economic growth (Cold-War; influx of retirees); booming agribusiness; Silicon Valley (technology); increase of political influence - the Bible Belt -> religious are in the southern states of the US; people belice in the literal truth of the Bible; wanted tighter control about what is been taught at school (laws); Nashville as "The Buckle"
• Republicanism - the belief of a government without any classes of people privileged by birth or by occupational class - the Constitution prohibits inherited titles - in article 4 the document guarantees each state in the union a republican form of government
• Federalism - political system where the governing power is shared between the national government and the states - the power of the national government and of the states are limited by the rights preserved for the people in the Preamble of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights - the Preamble stresses popular sovereignity (-> people have the power behind the government)
• Separation of powers - legislative vs. excecutive vs. judicial - non-parliamentary system -> no person may serve in more than one branch at the same time => no concentration of power => cooperation and tension
• Checks and Balances - the three branches control eachother and equally divide the power among them - President nominates federal judges and offices and the Senat must confirm their appointment - President can veto legislation passed by the Congress, but a veto can be overridden by a two-third majority of both houses - Congress can remove members of the other branches from office but President can pardon people accused of federal crimes - Congress can raise money through taxes and spend it on government programs but when implementing laws the President and the Cabinet control the way funds are used
• The Legislative branch = Congress - Article 1, section 1: grants Congress all legislative powers in federal government (law-making)/ established bicameral structure: House of Representatives and Senate - meets in Capitol DC - direct election - currenty 114th Congress
• Senate = Upper House - elected for 6 years (must be at least 30 years old, US citizen for 9 years, resident of the state where elected) - elections every two years -> every two years 1/3 of the Senate is up for election - two members of each state - President of the Senate is the Vice-President; he has the right to decide in case of a tie vote (Stimmengleichheit) - 100 senators - growing diversity
• The House of Representatives = Lower House - elected for two years (25 year old, US citizen for 7 years, resident of their district) - proportional representation -> each state has at east one representative/ Congressional districts are apportioned to states by population - Speaker of the House currently: Paul Ryan - 435 representatives - growing diversity
• Structure of Congress - The Committee System -> members are assigned for different committees (like armed service, agricultur, budget), because there is a huge volume of legislation introduced each year, so they divide the labor - Support Service -> Library of Congess (for members and public/ largest library in the world); Congessional reserach service; Congressional budget office (economic data)
• Function and powers of Congress - Enumerated powers: lay and collect taxes; borrow and coin money; declare war; ... - Implied powers: the "necessary and proper" clause (Congress is allowed to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper fpr carrying into execution the foreign powers); extension of legislative power to far beyond those specified in Constitution
• How a bill becomes a law 1. Introduction of a bill in one chamber or both at the same time 2. The bill is referred to a committee 3. Committee discusses and shares opinions 4. "Mark-up session": Agreement on changes in the bill (maybe in a subcommittee) 5. Return the bill to the whole chamber for debate and a vote on passage (all bills need to pass all chambers; possible result: different texts) 6. Conference meeting (members of both chambers) produces compromise text 7. Final voting in both chambers 8. Compromise bill is sent to the President for approval 9. President signs the bill/ veto
• The Excecutive branch - President:Head of state and head of government; elected every 4 years by the electoral college; two terms only - Vice-President: Second highest executive official in the government; becomes President if the President should die - Cabinet: 15 Heads of Department; not responsible to Congress but to President; group of advisors
• Constitutional powers of the President - chief executive (Head of government) as in article 2, section 1 -> proposes laws and government programs to Congress; appoints federal judges with consent of Congress; keeps Congress informed about the state of the nation and the economy; prepares the federal government's budget; conducts America's freign policy; signs bills into laws - commander-in-chief of the armed forces as in article 2, section 2 -> can send out troops (but only Congress can declare war); power restricted since 1973 "War Powers Act" - chief diplomat -> power to make treaties - chief recruiting officer to the executive and courts - legislator -> by making recommondations to Congress
• Extra-constitutional duties of the President - head of state - party leader - national leader - agenda-setter - world leader (America as world power)
• the judicial branch - jurisdiction to protect the freedom of the individual and to control the government
• Common Law Judges are bound to similar precedent cases -> verdicts are very important because they set the tone for future cases
• Judicial review Judicial right to review the law -> The Supreme Court can declare laws as invalid without the confirmation of another organ of the state (protection of the Constitution)

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