American Government 1.3 Types of Government

Drill: Unitary (Government) & Federal (Government) 
Unitary Government: gives all key powers to central government.
Federal Government: divides the powers of government between the national government and state governments.

OBJECTIVE
Students will summarize the relationship between democracy and free enterprise by reading excerpts from today’s assignment.
	
I. Major Types of Government (pages 18–20)
A. autocracy – (dictatorship or absolute monarchy, power) authority resides in a single individual.
B. democracy - the people hold the sovereign power of government.
II. Characteristics of Democracy (pages 20–23)
A.	works to secure an equal opportunity for people 
B.	is based on majority rule through the people’s elected representatives, but respects the rights of minorities.
C. is based on free and open elections 
D. Political parties choose candidates for office, respect the voters’ decisions in elections, and act as loyal opposition.
III. The Purposes of Government (pages 9–11)
A. are needed to maintain social order by making and enforcing laws.
B. provide essential services for people, such as promoting public health and safety.
C. pass laws that shape and control the nation’s economy 
Odds & Ends
A. an uneducated public keeps a democracy from prospering.
B. autocracy  is a government that is ruled by one person
C. oligarchy  is a government ruled by a few persons
D. democracy ruled by many persons
E. examples of political parties are Democrats and Republicans
F. a network of voluntary associations is an example of a civil society
G. A totalitarian dictatorship is a form of autocracy.
H. As in a dictatorship, oligarchies usually suppress political opposition.

American Government 1.3 Types of Government

Reading Review:
1.	D
2.	A
3.	E
4.	C
5.	B
6.	A
7.	C
8.	A
9.	C
10.	B		

Central Issues

1. The general topic of this excerpt self-government.
2. According to Mill, People need not be protected against the powers of government since the people themselves elect government officials to represent their interests.
3. What Mill means by the phrase “tyranny of the majority” is that decisions made and supported by the majority of the people are applied to everyone whether they agree or disagree?
4. The central issue in this excerpt suggests that Mill’s central concern is the “tyranny of the majority,” the idea that self-government is not really “the power of people over themselves” but rather over each person by the majority of others.

Review: In today’s lesson, we summarized the relationship between democracy and free enterprise. 

Homework: Autocracy & Democracy
Autocracy - power and control reside in a single individual.
Democracy - the people hold control of government

Name ___________________________________________________Class ___________ Date_______

American Government 1.3 Types of Government

Match each item in Column A with the items in Column B. Write the correct letters in the blanks. 
Column A
_____1. ruled by one person
_____2. ruled by a few persons
_____3. ruled by many persons
_____4. Democrats and Republicans
_____5. network of voluntary associations
	Column B
A. oligarchy
B. civil society
C. political parties
D. autocracy
E. democracy

In the blank at the left, write the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question. 

_____6. Totalitarian dictatorship is a form of this type of government.
A. autocracy 							C. democracy
B. oligarchy 							D. republic
_____7. As in a dictatorship, these governments usually suppress political opposition.
A. republics 							C. oligarchies
B. constitutional monarchy 					D. democracies
_____8. The United States has this form of government.
A. representative democracy 					C. direct democracy
B. monarchy 							D. constitutional republic
_____9. In which form of government do individuals have the most freedom?
A. autocracy 							C. democracy
B. monarchy 							D. oligarchy
_____10. This is NOT needed for democracy to prosper.
A. a social consensus 						C. a civil society
B. an uneducated public 						D. free enterprise

American Government 1.3b Types of Government

Identifying Central Issues Central issues are the main ideas or the main questions answered in a piece of writing. Below is an excerpt from John Stuart Mill’s essay On Liberty for you to practice the skill of identifying central issues.

Born in England in 1806, John Stuart Mill was a major political and social thinker of his time. His theories about the meaning of individual liberty and the role of government continue to have applications to society today.
TIACTIVITY 2
Skill Reinforcement Activity Chapter 1
A time, however, came, in the progress of human affairs, when men ceased to think it a necessity of nature that their governors should be an independent power, opposed in interest to themselves. It appeared to them much better that the various magistrates of the State should be their tenants or delegates, revocable at their pleasure. . . . What was now wanted was, that the rulers should be identified with the people; that their interest and will should be the interest and will of the nation. The nation did not need to be protected against its own will. . . .
...The notion,that the people have no need to limit their power over themselves, might seem
axiomatic, when popular government was a thing only dreamed about, or read of as having existed at some distant period of the past....In time, however, a democratic republic came to occupy a large portion of the earth’s surface, and made itself felt as one of the most powerful members of the community of nations; and elective and responsible government became subject to the observations and criticisms which wait upon a great existing fact. It was now perceived that such phrases as ‘self-government,’ and ‘the power of the people over themselves,’ do not express the true state of the case.
The ‘people’ who exercise the power, are not always the same people with those over whom it is exercised; and the ‘self government’ spoken of, is not the government of each by himself, but of each by all the rest. The will of the people, moreover, practically means, the will of the most numerous or the most active part of the people; . . . and in political speculations ‘the tyranny of the majority’ is now generally included among the evils against which society requires to be on its guard.
—John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859.

Critical Thinking Answer the questions that follow.
1. What is the general topic of this excerpt? 

2. According to Mill, why do people assume that a government elected by the people does not need to have limits placed on its powers? 

3. What does Mill mean by the phrase “tyranny of the majority”? 

4. Explain what you think is the central issue in this excerpt. 

In your own words, summarize today’s lesson.