American Political System

"Marbury and others sought an original action for their commissions in the Supreme Court. But the congressional act conferring that authority conflicts with Article III Section 2 of the Constitution. The judicial power in the United States extends to all cases under the Constitution and the Supreme Court is bound to decide cases according to the Constitution rather than the law when the two conflict. So if a law is found to be in conflict with the Constitution, then the law is invalid. In this case, Section 13 of the Judiciary Act ran counter to the Constitution and is therefore void. Thus, lacking authority, the Supreme Court canceled Marbury's claim" (Oyez, Marbury v. Madison) This passage is an explanation of why the Supreme Court rules that it did not have the authority to order the delivery of Marbury's and his peers' commissions. The reasoning that the Supreme Court provided is that although it is illegal for Madison to not deliver the commissions and his ...

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich" (JFK). In this quote, JFK is demonstrating his administration's commitment to helping the poverty-stricken groups around the world. This statement is preceded by his declaration that the U.S. will do so not because it is trying to win their votes or because the communists are doing the same, but because it is the right thing to do. Simply put, in this quotation, JFK is outlining the priorities of his administration. I chose this quotes because I agree with it. The welfare of the rich and the poor is connected as ignoring the needs of the poor will not and cannot preserve the welfare of the rich. A body cannot heal when one of its organs is failing, yet, it is clear, given the current direction of politics, that our political leaders do not understand this. Time and again they make decisions that adversely affect the poor and it is clear evidence that they no longer hold the sam...

"What does all this mean? It means states can actually control the extent of gerrymandering. Take New York, for example. It's the one state among the eight that has shown a meaningful decrease in the level of gerrymandering across multiple congressional terms. New York also has also set up an independent advisory commission that recommends congressional and state redistricting plans to the state legislature. This commission was set up in 1978, and shortly thereafter the level of gerrymandering in the state peaked and has been declining ever since. While the New York legislature is not bound to follow the advisory committee's recommendations, this does suggest that subjecting legislators to some oversight in the redistricting process could rein in their enthusiasm for rigging that process in their favor" (Ingraham).  In this quote, Ingraham is using the decrease in gerrymandering in New York to demonstrate how gerrymandering is not an unsolvable issue. He is expla...

"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour" (Douglass). In this quote, Fredrick Douglass, while addressing the crowd gathered to celebrate the independence of the U.S, e...

“The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise. He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice. He has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men—both natives and foreigners. Having deprived her of this first right of a citizen, the elective franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides. He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead” (Stanton). In this passage, Stanton states that the history of mankind is full of instances of men taking advantage of and violating the most basic rights of women. She further makes this point by discussing the condition...

"Mr. President, in the excited times in which we live, there is found to exist a state of crimination and recrimination between the North and South. There are lists of grievances produced by each; and those grievances, real or supposed, alienate the minds of one portion of the country from the other, exasperate the feelings, and subdue the sense of fraternal affection, patriotic love, and mutual regard" (Webster).              In this quote, Webster is describing the acrimony between the North and the South. He talks about how both sides have complaints against each other and this animosity is threatening the unity of the country and dividing it. Webster goes on to discuss a specific grievance that the South has from the North, his opinion on which I found disappointing especially coming from a man who only thirty years prior to this speech stated that an “African slave-trader is a pirate and a felon; and in the sight of He...