Transcription
Now, I know what you're all thinking. Jack, why do you look so darn comfy? Well, it's 61° in the State of Florida now, which basically means it's winter. Which basically means I get to throw a hat on and a hoodie, and you should do the same because this video is going to be a long one. Let's go over every single competency so you can be successful on your FCL exam.
Before we get started, please go ahead and follow the link in the description to download our free FCL study guide review. I'm legitimately going to go through the PDF with you today, so it'll be awesome to have on hand so you can take notes. Ask questions, drop those in the comments, and I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.
Okay, so what you're looking at right now is the official Florida State FC study guide. But since I'm such a nice guy, I went ahead and I went through every single one of these competencies and then I answered the questions that they put forth on the study guide. So that's what we're going to do today. We're going to go through each of these questions, we're going to knock them out one by one, and by the end of this video, hopefully, you'll have a better understanding of what's expected from you on the F exam.
All right, so competency one. Let's take a look at John Locke, the consent of the governed, and the social contract. So John Locke is known for two main things, right? Natural rights, also the consent to the governed. We'll add a third with the social contract as well. So basically, what the social contract says is that you give up some rights, and in turn for giving up those rights, the government is going to provide you with some protections. I use this example all of the time. I give up the right to go around and punch people in the face so that the government protects me from being punched in the face by somebody else, right? In order to have a society that functions properly, you need to have some sort of contract in which the people give up rights and the government provides protection.
Okay, the consent of the government basically means that in order for the government to do X, Y, and Z, the people that actually have to follow the rules that the government puts forth have to agree to them, right? So the people that are are following the rules have to consent to the rules.
The next crucial idea here are checks and balances and separation of powers. So a lot of times, we can get these two ideas misconstrued or confused. So what I like to think about separation of powers is the idea of putting branches in separate places. So you have Congress, you have the executive branch, and then you have the judicial branch as well. The idea of separating those branches into different areas is the idea of separation of powers. Now, checks and balances are actually how those branches make sure that one doesn't gain too much power over the other. For example, the president can veto an act of Congress, or the judicial branch can view an act of Congress as unconstitutional. So all of these certain checks and balances are how we maintain the separation of powers and make sure that one branch isn't too powerful over the others.
So rule of law, due process, and equality under the law are all things that are kind of very, very similar or related, at least. So rule of law basically ensures that no matter who you are, right, you need to follow the rules. Whether you're a president, whether you're a teacher like myself, whether you're a janitor or a lawyer or a professional baseball player, the law applies to you evenly. It doesn't matter what you do, doesn't matter the connections that you have, the law applies to you just like it applies to everybody else.
Due process is the idea that the government cannot take away your rights without following certain processes. You'll see this a lot in the Fifth Amendment. So if the government wants to put you in jail or limit your rights in any capacity, they need to follow due process. If due process isn't followed, let's say during a criminal case, the person that is being accused or being tried has the ability to basically be let off because the government didn't do what they needed to do, right? So due process protects the rights of the people that are being accused so that they're not thrown in jail without sufficient evidence and the process being followed by the judicial system and the government.
Now, equality under the law, there's a big caveat here. So equal treatment and equal protection without the guarantee of equal outcomes. The biggest words there are "without the guarantee of equal outcomes." It's very, very, very difficult to provide equal protection and receive equal outcomes. That's just not the way that the world works. So it's really important to know that equality under the law means you have the same opportunities, necessarily, you know, more or less, but the outcomes aren't necessarily going to be equal.
So another vocabulary word here is popular sovereignty. So very basic, right? Popular sovereignty means that the government gets its power from the people. Elected officials do not have power unless the people elect them, right? So the idea of popular sovereignty basically says the people are the ones that are giving you power as an elected official. You need to go and use that power to benefit your constituency or the people that gave you that power in the first place, right? So popular sovereignty, the government gets its power from the people or the population.
Again, we talked about natural rights a little bit with with John Locke. So natural rights and natural law. The founders believed in natural rights that are inherent to all individuals. You'll see this in the Declaration of Independence, such as life, liberty. In the Declaration, it says pursuit of happiness, but John Locke argued for property instead of the pursuit of happiness. It was tweaked a little bit when Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration. Bottom line, just because you are a human being, just because you are a person, you have certain natural rights: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, property. You see this a lot in the Enlightenment, right? With John Locke, with Rousseau, with Montesquieu, all of these Enlightenment thinkers had similar ideas about natural rights and basically the rights that you get just because you're a person.
Okay, federalism. On a very general basis, is this division and sharing of powers between a federal government and a state government. So federal government being enumerated powers, state governments being reserved powers, and powers that they share being concurrent powers. This is what federalism is. The biggest argument and the biggest difference between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution is this idea of federalism. We talked about Anti-Federalists and Federalists, we'll get there in a couple of minutes, but the biggest takeaway from the vocabulary word of federalism is the division and the sharing of powers between a national government and a state government.
Individual liberty simply means individual freedoms. In America, we have a lot of those. First Amendment protections that basically guarantee us the right to be an individual, practice religion, assemble, speak the way that we'd like, write in the press about things that we're interested in. So individual freedom and your right to be your own individual person or unique person.
So when we think about a republican form of government, I don't want you to think of the Republican Party. Okay? Republican government means a government that is a republic. Okay? Another word for a republic is a representative democracy. So as long as the citizens are electing officials to go ahead and make decisions on their behalf, that is a republican form of government. It doesn't necessarily mean the Republican Party. So a republican form of government, again, is going to be a representative democracy in which people elect officials to go and make decisions on their behalf.
A pure democratic form of government is people gathering together, basically raising their hands to vote on policy decisions. Now, that's not going to be an efficient way of running government, especially in America with a population of 330 million or whatever we're at right now. So a direct democracy works really well in small communities. It doesn't work too well when the population gets too large.
So constitutionalism simply means that government actions are limited by a constitution. You can think of constitutionalism as an idea that pertains to limited government, okay? So limited government. The government can't just do whatever they want. They need to follow some sort of written agreement. In this case, we're talking about the Constitution. This is basically what constitutionalism is.
So majority rule and minority rights. Obviously, majority rule means that whatever the majority would like to do is the the rule of of the land. But minority rights are also understanding that yes, there is a minority that disagrees with the majority. We still need to make sure that these groups are uh not being taken advantage of or oppressed by the majority.
So the Bill of Rights and uh protections on civil liberties. Biggest thing about about the Bill of Rights is that it was argued for by the Anti-Federalists, specifically because they didn't want the federal government to have too much power over the states and the individual. So before The Constitution was even ratified, the Anti-Federalists argued that in order to protect civil liberties, personal freedoms, that the Bill of Rights needed to be added. So the First Amendment is the one that we're all familiar with. Whenever you think of the First Amendment, I want you to think of R.A.P.P.S.: religion, assembly, press, petitioning the government, and speech. When we're talking about the Bill of Rights and civil liberties and protections, we're really talking about the First Amendment all the way through the 10th Amendment.
So throughout the last couple of years, the fairness and the importance of free and fair elections has definitely been a controversial topic in America. I'm not here to talk about controversies. I'm here to talk to you about the straight facts about free and fair elections. So obviously, if you want a democracy or a republican form of government to function properly, you need free and fair elections. States have the ability to run the elections the way that they would like. Also, local municipalities have a capacity in that as well. But, you know, it's obvious that if you want the right person reflected by what the populace wants to be in power, then you need to make sure that your elections are free and fair, as well as efficient.
All right, time to get rolling on competency two. Let's start off with the Articles of the United States. So Article One pertains to the executive branch. All right? So very important. People argue that the executive branch is the most important branch in government. They do have the most powers based on what the Constitution provides them. So basically, all the enumerated powers, which we'll get into in a couple of minutes, basically reside in the legislative branch. So Article One being the most important article, we're talking about the legislative branch. Second article is the executive branch. Now, this is the president. Definitely still powerful, definitely still a proactive force in in terms of government, but that's going to be the second article, which is the executive. And then the judicial branch, which some view as the least important branch of government, is the third article. Now, the reason why people view the legislative branch as the least important is because they are reactionary. They don't go out and try to find things to change. A lot of times, especially in the Supreme Court, they're not going to make a decision or have power unless a case is is appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court. So the judicial branch is reactionary. The legislative and executive are more proactive in terms of shaping policy and basically providing the American people with a government that functions properly.
Federal courts are also established in Article 3, but it also kind of gives Congress the power to establish federal courts. So that's an example of checks and balances.
The Full Faith and Credit Clause basically means that the states have to respect each other's decisions. So, for example, I have a driver's license from the state of Florida. If I drive in New York, I don't have to provide a New York state driver's license because New York respects the fact that Florida was the one that admitted me such a driver's license. So basically, it just means that each state has to respect the decisions of the others.
The Fifth Amendment is about the amendment process. So make sure that you guys brush up on the amendment process. So two-thirds of both houses of Congress, or by Constitutional Convention called by two-thirds of the states. If that happens, then it goes out to each of the states, and then three-fourths of the states agree to ratify it, it becomes an amendment.
Article Six is the Supremacy Clause, which basically states that the Constitution is the highest law of the land. Federal government cannot abridge the Constitution. Local and state governments cannot abridge the Constitution as well. By the same token, local government cannot abridge state government, and state government cannot abridge federal, right? So you have your Constitution, federal, state, and local. Each level of government that is below the the uh Constitution cannot go against what the Constitution says.
So we have expressed, enumerated, delegated, and implied powers. So expressed, enumerated, and delegated means powers for the federal government, okay? These are powers expressly written in the Constitution. You can open up the Constitution today and go find expressed powers. Implied powers are derived from the Necessary and Proper Clause. So, for example, Congress has the right to raise an army, okay? It says nothing in the Constitution about aircraft carriers, RPGs, and anti-tank weapons, all right? But it's implied. In order for the United States to build an army, those sorts of technologies are necessary. So implied powers are powers that are not directly listed in the Constitution, but it's implied or understood that in order for Congress to carry out the expressed powers, they need to use these certain implied powers.
So we briefly talked about the amendment process. If you'd like to read a little bit more about it, here's some great information for you. Go ahead and pause the video again. We talked about the Bill of Rights in the first section. So if you want to go ahead and pause and get some more information about that, you can go ahead and do so now.
So the Constitution does a great job of protecting individual's rights, but just make sure that you know in certain circumstances that individual rights can be limited, uh, especially if it's an um, a matter of public safety or national security.
Quickly, the 14th Amendment defines citizenship. Make sure that you go over uh, fact, certain factors that affect voter turnout as well. So this could be accessibility, political engagement, public interest, and influence. So just know kind of what drives people to vote and what doesn't drive people to vote.
Really quick, uh, side note on the Bill of Rights. So originally, the Bill of Rights was only thought to apply on the federal level. But certain Supreme Court cases such as Gideon versus Wainwright, the Supreme Court argued that nope, it it applies on the federal level, but it also applies on the state level as well.
So what you need to know for the Federalist versus the Anti-Federalist is very, very simple. The Federalists were okay with ratifying the Constitution without the addition of the Bill of Rights. The Anti-Federalists argued that if the Bill of Rights was not added, then individual freedoms and liberties might be abridged by a tyrannical federal government, like we saw in England.
Here are some of the significant clauses that you need to know based on the Constitution. So the Supremacy Clause, we went over. Full Faith and Credit Clause. Commerce Clause grants Congress the power to regulate interest rate trade and interstate commerce. This is really important because under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government had no uh ability to regulate trade. Due process, equal protection, necessary and proper, and also the First Amendment. So when you think about the First Amendment Clause, they're really just talking about the First Amendment. You got to think R.A.P.P.S.: religion, assembly, press, petition the government, and speech.
Competency three. Let's get into it. So specifically, let's talk about how the Declaration of Independence was influenced by the Enlightenment. So obviously, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. He was heavily influenced by Enlightenment thinkers such as Locke, Montesquieu, Hobbes, Rousseau. So make sure you brush up on those Enlightenment ideas and know that things like natural rights, life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness were derived from John Locke's thinking.
So it's important to think of the Declaration as kind of like a roadmap that led to the Constitution. Originally, so a lot of the principles that actually came to fruition under the Constitution were elaborated upon or introduced by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. Individual liberty, equality, popular sovereignty, all of these ideas actually came to fruition under the Constitution, but they were introduced to the world in the Declaration of Independence.
So Massachusetts' constitution in 1780 was definitely a precursor to the Federal Constitution. Basically, what it did was serve as a model of what a constitution looks like, a written form of government that actually is successful. So all the state constitutions that preceded the Federal Constitution were almost like a roadmap for the founding fathers to actually use to go ahead and create our Federal Constitution.
Let's talk about the Articles of Confederation, which was our first attempt at developing some sort of constitution in the United States. So the Articles were influenced by the idea of sovereignty and specifically feared central power. So much so that they took all of the central power and swung it over to the states. Now, in theory, this sounds good because the federal government can no longer take advantage of its citizens, but unfortunately, what it did was created an imbalance of power between the states and the federal government, which thoroughly favored the states. So some of the weaknesses of the Articles led or include not being able to tax or raise an army or regulate interstate trade. So basically, the federal government could not function because they had no money, they had no way of making sure that the states were doing what they wanted them to do, uh, and they had a really difficult time raising an army.
A couple of the successes under the Articles of Confederation were the Northwest Ordinances. Basically, the Northwest Ordinance set up a plan for like surveying new lands that were won during the Revolutionary War. So in order to like, kind of admit new states into the union and and make sure that, you know, what the new areas look like, you need to survey them and then kind of develop a plan for how you're going to actually take that land, parcel it up, and then admit it into the Union.
So the Federalist Papers are basically the counter to the Anti-Federalists. So because the Articles of Confederation placed so much power into the hands of the states, the Federalists argued that way more power was necessary for the federal government to actually do their job. So on one hand, you have the Anti-Federalists, and then with the Federalist Papers, you have people that argued that a strong central government was super necessary. They came to that kind of agreement under the Bill of Rights, where individual freedoms, individual rights were protected, but the federal government still retained enough power to do its job.
So here are some major documents that you should get familiar with. So if you haven't done so already, go ahead and follow the link in the description. Download this free resource so that you can have this PDF and review it. So you have your Magna Carta, 1215. When you think Magna Carta, think limited government. That's the main principle. Mayflower Compact, similar idea of social contract, also gave the idea of direct democracy some credence. You have your English Bill of Rights, which which was an extension of the Magna Carta. Common Sense was the pamphlet published by Thomas Paine, which argued for independence from England. He sold about 500,000 copies, which is like basically like going platinum back then. You have your Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776, influenced by people like John Locke and Montesquieu. You have your Federalist and your Anti-Federalist papers, Anti-Federalists arguing for a weaker central government, Federalists arguing for a stronger central government.
So what I'm going to do, instead of going through every single one of these court cases and acts of legislation, is I'm just going to slowly scroll through. If you'd like to pause the video and take a look, you can. If not, download this PDF so you can go through them yourself.
So I hope you all got a lot out of that video. Again, it's important for me to kind of take what the state of Florida gives you for a review guide and then go through and explain it thoroughly to you so you know exactly what's expected on the F exam. If you found value in today's video, go ahead and give it a like, share it with a friend, and I hope to see you in the next.