Exam No. 1 – Essay Section
PS103 – Fall 2008
Professor Russell Renka
Answer one question with 2 ½ to 3 honest pages, either typewritten or word processed. When citing source materials in support of your essay, be sure to give the author or authors their due by naming them as the source. And please be certain that when you quote or closely paraphrase the words of others, enclose all direct uses of their words in quotes. If you don’t, I’ll automatically return the paper unread and un-graded for you to correct that. Essay value is 100 points.
Due date: Use Word 2007 with the .docx suffix, or Rich Text Format (.rtf), as these help to curb possible virus transmissions. This is due by or before midnight Wednesday, September 24 at the Drop Box under the "Essay 1" heading.
1. The Framers wanted a central government strong enough to avoid the fatal flaws of the Articles of Confederation, but not so strong as to become tyrannical. First cite those flaws with some evidence to illustrate them. Then specify the primary mechanisms they put in place to achieve each of these objectives. Separation of powers, federalism, and the analysis of Madison’s Federalist No. 10 should all get your consideration here.
2. The federal government became steadily stronger and more important during the course of the 20th century. Using Chapters 1-4 and 18 and my notes, identify the pertinent evidence that points to this. This should include expanded war-making power with attendant restrictions on civil liberties; an expanded use of the commerce clause; and selective incorporation of the federal Bill of Rights to the states. You may want to take Patterson's term "devolution" into consideration and define how much rollback of federal power this trend represents.
Sources: When citing source materials in support of your essay, include author or authors. When you quote or closely paraphrase the words of others, enclose all direct uses of their words in quotes to avoid committing plagiarism. If you don’t, I’ll automatically return the paper unread and un-graded for you to correct that. When you cite Patterson in the body of your paper, always include the specific page or pages you used (via "Patterson 2007, 133" in text; or with MLA footnotes, use their standard method). With website references such as Renka's chapter 4 notes on civil liberties, cite the author and paper title ("Renka, Civil Liberties .."). At paper's end, put Endnotes or References down, and do full citation of these sources. Here you'd include the specific URL for all website references, alongside the authors, publication year, title of the article, and date of access of the URL.