Warm-up:
1. What are some of the most common occupations in the 1%?
2. According to the author, what's wrong with the disparity in income, wealth, and power which we currently face in the United States?
3. Using context clues from the article (and following quote), define plutocracy.
"Huge disparities in income are turning democracy into plutocracy"
Objectives:
Vocabulary:
Great Compromise: A compromise at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that reconciled the interests of small and large states by allowing the former to predominate in the Senate and the latter in the House. Under the agreement each state received 2 representatives in the Senate, regardless of size, but was allotted representatives on the basis of population in the House.
checks and balances: the power of the legislature, executive, and judicial branches of government to block some acts by the other two branches.
faction: according to James Madison, a group of people who seek to influence public policy in ways contrary to the public good.
Federalist Papers: A series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay (all using the name Publius) that were published in New York newspapers in 1787-1788 to convince New Yorkers to adopt the newly proposed Constitution. They are classics of American political and Constitutional thought.
bill of attainder: a bill that declares a person, without a trial, to be guilty of a crime. The State legislatures and Congress are forbidden to pass such acts by Article I of the Constitution.
amendments: changes in, or additions to, the US Constitution. Amendments are proposed by a 2/3 vote of both houses of Congress or by a convention called by Congress at the request of the state legislatures and ratified by approval of 3/4 of the states.
Homework:
- Read Wilson p. 17-25 (to The Challenge)
- Answer Questions 1-4