American Government Chapter 6

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Beverley Willis
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1 American Government Chapter 6 Foreign Affairs The basic goal of American foreign policy is and always has been to safeguard the nation s security. American foreign policy today includes all that this Government does and says in world affairs. Current American foreign policy is based on the concept of security through defensive alliances. One important thing to note about foreign affairs is that the Constitution gives no role to the states in foreign affairs. A major part of U.S. foreign policy is the policy of deterrence. This is the policy of forestalling any attacks upon this country or its allies by maintaining massive military strength. It was created under President Truman as tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union developed after World War II. But foreign policy doesn t just focus on warding off the enemy. It also embodies the idea of assisting nations in need. Economic and military aid to other countries has been an important part of American foreign policy for more than 40 years. Since World War II the United States has provided more than $300 billion in economic and military aid to other nations. Before the mid-1950s the bulk of aid went to Europe. In recent years, the largest amount of American economic aid has not gone to Western Europe, rather it s gone to nations in Asia and Latin America. Sometimes our nation s foreign policy is torn between two interests. For instance, the United States policy in the Middle East is torn between support for Israel and the need for Arab oil. The State Department was the first of the several Cabinet departments created by Congress. This department is essential in foreign affairs. When the President needs advice about foreign policy, he ll turn to the State Department. 1

2 State Department offices are not organized according to geography only. Organization of offices has to do with the function as well as location. WHAT S YOUR OPINION? Six Presidents served as Secretary of State before reaching the White House. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, and James Buchanan. Do you think that serving as Secretary of State would be good experience for the Presidency? Why or why not? American ambassadors... are appointed by the President with Senate consent.... serve at the President s pleasure.... act as the President s personal representatives abroad. Certain special diplomats also carry the rank of ambassador. For example, the U.S. Representative to the UN and the American member of the North Atlantic Treaty Council are diplomats who carry the rank of ambassador. A Foreign Service officer who is temporarily in charge of an embassy is not known as the honorary ambassador. High-ranking Foreign Service officers serve as counselors to the ambassador, advising him or her on issues of law and diplomatic practice. Diplomatic immunity is a widely accepted, generally honored practice in world affairs. It s the allowance of ambassadors to reside within the boundaries of a particular area without subjecting them to the same laws as the citizens of that sovereign state. Their property, including their homes, are protected under this immunity. Diplomats who abuse their privileged status can be expelled from a country but not arrested. 2

3 QUICK FACT: President Truman named the first female ambassador. She was named ambassador to Denmark in A permit granted by one state that allows a citizen of another State to enter it is a visa. A passport is different in that you obtain it from the country you wish to leave instead of the country you wish to enter. The Constitution gives the power to determine the size and the budget of the Defense Department to Congress. The Framers wanted to emphasize civilian control to preserve the free government they were establishing. The official propaganda agency of the United States today is the United States Information Agency. It s the PR (public relations) agency of the nation. The USIA promotes the United States through radio, TV, books, films, tapes, etc. The period before World War II can best be described as isolationism. It s the practice of not becoming involved in issues outside of the United States. This idea dates back to the very beginning of the nation with George Washington warning against involvement in foreign affairs. Thomas Jefferson agreed with George Washington s policy of isolationism. As you can probably guess, the nations early history wasn t marked by intense internationalism. James Monroe took this idea a little further in 1823 by formalizing it in a document called the Monroe Doctrine. It guarantees the independence of Latin American countries, while at the same time protecting our position in the world from European intervention. The Monroe Doctrine applies to the Western Hemisphere, but it did not state that European powers must immediately give up all territory held in the western hemisphere. U.S. enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine was not met with unanimous praise by the other nations of the Americas. The feeling towards the U.S. was one of bitterness, seen in such nicknames as Yankee Imperialists. Franklin Roosevelt s Good Neighbor Policy was a conscious attempt to win friends in Latin America in the 1930s. 3

4 The main idea of the Monroe Doctrine the cautioning against foreign infringement is now laid out in the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (the Rio Pact). The Rio Pact of 1947 set out a warning against foreign intervention in the western hemisphere. The Spanish-American War marked the emergence of the United States as a first-class power in world politics. Through this relatively short battle it only lasted 4 months - the U.S. acquired the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The United States sent troops into Latin America and the Caribbean a number of times in the 1900s. The Open Door Policy applied to the Far East, specifically China. This doctrine promoted equal trade access of all interested nations, and along with it came an insistence that China s independence and sovereignty be preserved. The policy of resisting the expansion of Soviet power and influence in world politics was known as containment. Born in the late 40s, this idea was to contain the spread of communism. It was at the heart of our relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War years. At the end of the war in Vietnam President Nixon embraced a policy of detente (a French term meaning a relaxation of tensions) and began a purposeful attempt to improve American relations with the two major communist powers. The period of detente with the Soviet Union ended with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. QUICK QUESTION: The nation became involved in foreign wars four times in the 1900s. At the UN Conference on International Organization in 1945, the United Nations was formed. For the United States, this marked a shift from isolationism to global participation. The Constitution of the UN is a treaty called the United Nations Charter. The General Assembly of the 4

5 United Nations is composed of all the member nations, each having one vote. Five member nations hold the veto power in the UN Security Council. The following nations are all members of the UN: o Cuba o Russia o Israel The North Atlantic Treaty is a 16-member organization whose chief objective was to stand as a collective defense against the former Soviet Union. The United States and the nations of Western Europe are joined together in NATO to form a collective defense. Another notable U.S. alliance covers the Pacific region. The ANZUS pact of 1951 unites Australia, New Zealand, and the United States in a defensive alliance. The Taiwan Pact was in effect until It was an agreement between the U.S. and Nationalist China that promised U.S. assistance should China try to take over Taiwan. The United States continues to maintain limited relations with Taiwan through a unique agency called the American Institute in Taiwan. Technically, it is a tax-exempt corporation, not a temporary embassy. Under the negotiations of President Carter, the Camp David Accord was an attempt to build peace in the Middle East. The signing of the Camp David Accord ended more than 30 years of hostilities between Israel and Egypt. All world nations aren t grouped around the United States. Other newer Third World nations make up another growing group in world politics. Some aspects of foreign policy are fixed, while others are constantly changing as the global political climate changes. For example, insistence on freedom of the seas hasn t recently become a part of American foreign policy, it s been a basic part of it since the nation formed and it continues to be. 5

6 The U.S. Court System Most scholars agree that we do not live in a totally just society. The reality is that absolute justice is probably impossible to attain. Furthermore, justice is often difficult to define because it is a concept and not a physical reality. In practice, justice means that a law must be reasonable and fair in both its content and its administration. There are so many factors involved in trying to achieve justice, and since human beings are both responsible for committing acts of crime and creating the system to bring criminals to justice, it is bound to have flaws. But the founding concept of the U.S. justice system is of fairness. The idea that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty and that everyone should have equal access to a trial is at the foundation of our Constitution. QUICK QUESTION: Television news editors select the stories they will broadcast for both their importance and their entertainment value. Based on this, what is your opinion about the kind of news you see? Is it informative and interesting? Or do you find it sensational and violent? The only court specifically created by the Constitution is the Supreme Court. It is the highest court in the land and, therefore, it has the final word regarding any and all questions of federal law and the meaning of the Constitution. The Framers purposefully put The Supreme Court on the same level with the President and Congress to be the judicial check on their powers. The Supreme Court hears cases involving ambassadors, ministers, and consuls, and cases in which a state is a party; reviews cases from lower federal courts and from state supreme courts. Of the 3,500 to 4,000 cases appealed to the Supreme Court each year, approximately 120 are finally decided by the Court. If all the Supreme Court Justices take part in a case, that case must be decided by a majority vote. A written 6

7 statement by most of the Justices in support of a Supreme Court decision is a majority opinion. The Supreme Court has the ultimate power of judicial review. The power of the courts to determine the constitutionality of a governmental action is judicial review. All federal and state courts have this authority to a lesser degree than the Supreme Court. The Constitution does not explicitly spell out the power of judicial review. The importance of the case of Marbury v. Madison is that it was the first case in which the Supreme Court asserted that it had the power of judicial review, therefore establishing the principle of judicial review. Although most courts in this country may exercise this power, the ultimate exercise of judicial review rests with the Supreme Court, making it the final authority on the meaning of the Constitution. But the Supreme Court, like any branch of government, doesn t rule without limits. The size of the Supreme Court is set by Congress. Presidential appointees to the Supreme Court must be confirmed by the Senate. The term jurisdiction refers to the authority of the court to try and decide a case. (Police officers also have jurisdiction over certain areas to make arrests.) Concurrent jurisdiction means that a case may be heard in either a federal or a state court. Original jurisdiction is given to the court in which the case was first heard. Appellate jurisdiction goes to the Court of Appeals after its been heard in a lower court. Courts of Appeals have only appellate jurisdiction and receive most of their cases from District Courts within their circuits. The District Courts have original jurisdiction over cases involving federal criminal and civil laws. The Supreme Court has both appellate and original jurisdiction over all controversies between two or more states. The federal courts have jurisdiction over a case on the basis of the subject matter or the parties involved. Two types of federal courts are constitutional courts and special courts. One difference between constitutional courts and special courts is that the special courts hear a much narrower range of cases. Judges of the constitutional courts are appointed for life. 7

8 QUICK FACT: The annual loss due to crime in the United States is estimated at $150 billion. Ouch! All of the following statements are true about District Courts: o They are the federal trial courts. o They were set up by Congress in the Judiciary Act of o There are now 91 of them. Following are brief descriptions of other types of U.S. courts and the types of cases they hear:! The Tax Court hears civil cases involving tax laws.! An appeal of a court-martial decision would come before the Court of Military Appeals.! Cases related to tariff and trade laws come before the Court of International Trade.! Claims against the United States Government must go to the Claims Court. The United States wins its point whenever justice is done one of its citizens in the courts is etched in stone outside of the office of the United States Attorney General s office. It is a statement of what the U.S. Justice Department stands for. The post of Attorney General was established by the first session of Congress in The Attorney General is the head of the Justice Department. The Justice Department s responsibilities include advising the President and heads of other executive departments on legal matters, enforcing most federal criminal laws, operating the federal prison system, and representing the United States in court. The federal officers who make arrests, secure 8

9 jurors, and serve legal papers are marshals who work for the Justice Department. Writs of whats? A court order commanding a public officer to do something required by law is a writ of mandamus. The writ of certiorari is not a court order compelling a government official to perform a specific duty. 9

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