weektwo

Class Notes:

 

Class Vocab:

   

• Presaged: something that foreshadows a future event, something that has prophetic significance, something that holds foresight; prescience.
• Sage: philosopher
• Wordsmith: a person skilled in using words
• Scrutiny: surveillance; close and continuous watching or guarding.
• Corruption: perversion of integrity.
• Watergate Scandal: The affair began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. The FBI connected the payments to the burglars to a slush fund used by the 1972 Committee to Re-elect the President. As evidence mounted against the president's staff, which included former staff members testifying against them in an investigation conducted by the Senate Watergate Committee, it was revealed that President Nixon had a tape recording system in his offices and that he had recorded many conversations. Recordings from these tapes implicated the president, revealing that he had attempted to cover up the break-in. After a series of court battles, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the president had to hand over the tapes; he ultimately complied. 
• Era: a period of time marked by distinctive character, events
• Afflict: to distress with mental or bodily pain; trouble greatly orgrievously
• Watchdogism:   

• Fourth Estate: The concept of the Fourth Estate (or fourth estate) is a societal or political force or institution whose influence is not consistently or officially recognized. It now most commonly refers to the news media; especially print journalism. Thomas Carlyle attributed the origin of the term to Edmund Burke, who used it in a parliamentary debate in 1787 on the opening up of press reporting of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. Earlier writers have applied the term to lawyers, to the queen of England (acting as a free agent, independent of the king), and to the proletariat. The Fourth Estate as described by Thomas Carlyle in his bookOn Heroes and Hero Worship:"Burke said there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters' Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal).
• Pander: Gratify or indulge   
• James Madison: James Madison, Jr. (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was an American politician and political philosopher who served as the fourthPresident of the United States (1809–1817) and is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
  He was the principal author of the United States Constitution, and is often called the "Father of the Constitution". In 1788, he wrote over a third of the Federalist Papers, the most influential commentary on the Constitution.
  Madison's most distinctive belief as a political theorist was that the new republic needed checks and balances to protect individual rights from the tyranny of the majority.^[1][2][3][4]
  Although blocked by his foes from the Senate he became a leader in the new House of Representatives, drafting many basic laws. In one of his most famous roles he drafted the first ten amendments to the Constitution and thus is known as the "Father of the Bill of Rights".^[5]Madison worked closely with the President George Washington to organize the new federal government. Breaking with Treasury SecretaryAlexander Hamilton in 1791, Madison and Thomas Jefferson organized what they called the Republican Party (later called by historians theDemocratic-Republican Party)^[6] in opposition to key policies of the Federalists, especially the national bank and the Jay Treaty. He secretly co-authored, along with Thomas Jefferson, the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798 to protest the Alien and Sedition Acts.
  As Jefferson's Secretary of State (1801–1809), Madison supervised the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the nation's size, and sponsored the ill-fated Embargo Act of 1807. As president, he led the poorly prepared nation into the War of 1812 against Great Britain. A series of disasters at the beginning of the war damaged his reputation, but by 1814–15 American forces repulsed major British invasions, the Federalist opposition fell into disarray, and Americans felt triumphant at the end of the war despite its ending in stalemate for both sides. During and after the war, Madison reversed many of his positions. By 1815, he supported the creation of the second National Bank, a strong military, and a high tariff to protect the new factories opened during the war. 
• Determinate: Precisely limited or defined; definite. Conclusively settled; final.
• Relevant: Having a bearing on or connection with the matter at hand.
• Complacency: A feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy
• Subsuming: To classify, include, or incorporate in a more comprehensive category or under a general principle
• Soverign: Complete independence and self-government
• Empowered: To invest with power, especially legal power or official authority
• Objective: Uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices 
• Subjective: Particular to a given person; personal
• Libel: defamation by written or printed words, pictures, or in any form other than by spoken words or gestures.
• Shield Laws: a law protecting journalists from forced disclosure of confidential sources of information.
• Prior Restraint: a court order banning publication of unpublished material.
• Fair Use: the conditions under which you can use material that is copyrighted by someone else without paying royalties