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76 Cards in this Set
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A legislature divided into two houses; the US Congress and all state legislatures except Nebraska's are this |
Bicameral Legislature |
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Federal grants given more or less automatically to states or communities to support broad programs in areas such as community development and social services |
Block Grant |
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Federal grants that can be used only for specific purposes, or "categories," of state and local spending. They come with strings attached, such as nondiscrimination provisions |
Categorical Grant |
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Those who believe the majority of the power should rest in the hands of a unified central government |
Centralists |
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Features of the constitution that limit government's power by requiring that power be balanced among the different governmental institutions. These institutions continually contain one another's activities. |
Checks and Balances |
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States that the national government controls all trade whether it be interstate or international; decided in gibbons v. ogden |
Commerce Clause
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Specific powers shared by the national and state governments |
Concurrent Powers |
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A form of an international organization that brings several autonomous states together for a common purpose |
Confederation |
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People who favor state or local action rather than national action |
Decentralists |
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Government controlled directly by the citizens. Procedures in some states such as the initiative, the referendum, and the recall give voters a direct impact on policymaking and the political process by means of the voting booth and can therefore be considered forms of this. |
Direct Democracy |
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Final paragraph of the Constitution which authorizes Congress to pass all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out the enumerated powers |
Elastic Clause |
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Powers of the federal government that are specifically addressed in the Constitution; for Congress, including the powers to coin money and regulate its value and impose taxes |
Enumerated Powers |
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A way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels of government have formal authority over the same land and people. It is a system of shared power between units of government |
Federalism |
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System of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres, each responsible for some policies |
Dual Federalism |
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A system of government in which powers and policy assignments are shared between states and the national government |
Cooperative Federalism |
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The devolution of powers from the federal government government to state governments; a policy in 1969, that turned over powers and responsibilities of some U.S. federal programs to state and local governments and reduced the role of national government in domestic affairs (states are closer to the people and problems) |
New Federalism |
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A collection of 85 articles written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison under the name "Publius" to defend the Constitution in detail |
Federalist Papers |
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A change in the actual wording of the Constitution. Proposed by Congress (2/3rds in both houses) or national convention, and ratified by the states (3/4ths) |
Formal Amendment |
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Powers of the federal government that go beyond those enumerated in the Constitution, in accordance with the statement in the Constitution that Congress has the power to "make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution" the powers enumerated in article I |
Implied Powers |
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A system of government that gives citizens the opportunity to vote for representatives who will work on their behalf |
Indirect Democracy |
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Powers that the government holds simply because it's a government; natural rights; one such is participating in foreign relations |
Inherent Powers |
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A change made in the Constitution not by actual written amendment, but by the experience of government under the Constitution; the methods include (1) legislation passed by Congress; (2) actions taken by the President; (3) decisions of the Supreme Court; (4) the activities of political parties; and (5) custom |
Informal Amendment |
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Power of the courts to determine whether acts of Congress and, by implication, the executive are in accord with the US Constitution. Established by Marbury v. Madison |
Judicial Review |
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Government order towards the states, requirement, sometimes funded and sometimes underfunded and sometimes not funded at all. Examples are the Americans with disabilities act, clean water act, civil rights act of 1964. |
Mandates (and unfunded mandates) |
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Inherent powers of state governments to pass laws to protect health, safety, and welfare; the national government has no directly granted police powers but accomplishes the same goals through other delegated powers |
Police Powers |
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Basic principle of the American system of government that asserts that the people are the source of any and all governmental power and that government can exist only with the consent of the governed |
Popular Sovereignty |
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10th Amendment sates that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people" |
Reserved Powers |
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A feature of the Constitution that requires each of the three branches of government - executive, legislative, and judicial - to be relatively independent of the others so that one cannot control the others. Power is shared among among these three institutions |
Separation of Powers |
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A series of attacks on court houses by a small band of farmers led by revolutionary war captain Daniel Shays to block foreclosure proceedings |
Shays' Rebellion |
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A majority greater than a sample majority of over one half, e.g., 3/5, 2/3 |
Supermajority |
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A legislature with only one legislative chamber, as opposed to a bicameral (two-chamber) legislature, such as the U.S. Congress. Today, Nebraska is the only state in the Union with this type of legislature |
Unicameral Legislature |
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Supreme Court asserted its right to determine the meaning of the U.S. Constitution. The decision established the court's power of judicial review over acts of Congress |
Marbury v. Madison (1803) |
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Supreme Court decision that established the supremacy of the national government over state governments. The court, led by chief justice John Marshall, held that confess had certain implied powers in addition to the powers enumerated in the Constitution |
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) |
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Landmark case in which the Supreme Court interpreted very broadly the clause of the Constitution giving Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce, as encompassing virtually every form of commercial activity |
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) |
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Federal gun free school zones act of 1990 forbade possession of firearms in public; this declared that act unconstitutional |
U.S. v. Lopez (1995) |
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States required to run background checks on every gun sale, struck down because 10th amendment says that you cannot force local law agencies to enforce federal law for them |
Printz v. U.S. (1997) |
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Purpose of the Constitution |
Preamble |
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A court order requiring jailers to explain to a judge why they are holding a prisoner in custody |
writ of habeas corpus |
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Opposite of writ of habeas corpus; says that the act of declaring prisoners not worthy by trial is unconstitutional |
bill of attainder clause |
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Says you cannot be punished for a crime that was not illegal when you committed it |
es post facto clause |
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States have to go through the federal government to make contracts |
contracts clause |
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requiring each state to recognize the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of all other states |
full faith and credit clause |
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the provision of the constitution according citizens of each state the privileges of citizens of other states |
privileges and immunities clause |
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legal process where a state surrenders someone to the state in which their crime has been committed |
extradition clause |
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makes the constitution, national laws, and treaties supreme over state laws as long as the national government is acting within its constitutional limits |
supremacy clause |
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10th Amendment Constitutional amendment stating "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people" |
reserved power clause |
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required that businesses create access for disabled people inside, such as ramps and elevators; wasn't funded by the national government |
Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 |
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Required the Congressional budget office to fund the costs of bills with mandates; anti discrimination legislation, or laws that require the government to take action in exchange for grants, are excluded; forced federal agencies to create new processes to allow state and local officials to be more involved in the development of mandates |
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 1995 |
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gave aid to families rather than individuals through block grants, no federal funds to recipients who haven't worked within 2 years, no federal funds to recipients who have received federal money over 5 years, states must spend at least 75% of what they had previously spent on welfare |
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (Welfare Reform Act of 1996) |
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Standards of performance in schools, including loss of federal aid if they don't meet the standards; parents of students in low performing schools that can't increase their performance are allowed to switch schools |
No Child Left Behind 2002 |
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Important ideas of John Locke |
- all the powers in a government should have equal responsibilities and powers (checks and balances) - an individual gives up some of their power to be a part of a society; once you join that society, you can't get the power back - the purpose of government is to have peace, safety, and public good for the people - if a government is not governing as it should, the people have a right to overrule it - natural rights: life, liberty, property (Constitution says: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness) - limited government |
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Article 1 |
Legislative |
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Article 2 |
Executive |
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Article 3 |
Judiciary |
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Article 4 |
Interstate Relations |
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Article 5 |
Amending the Constitution |
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Article 6 |
Debts, Supremacy, and Oaths |
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Article 7 |
Ratifying the Constitution |
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"Great Principles" of the U.S. Constitution |
form a more perfect union establish justice insure domestic tranquility provide for the common defense promote general welfare secure the blessings of liberty |
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How long is a term in the house? What are the qualifications? |
Term: 2 years Qualifications: 25 years old, 7 years a citizen, and inhabiter of their state |
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How long is a term of a senator? What are the qualifications? |
Term: 6 years Qualifications: 30 years old, 9 years a citizen, and inhabiter of their state |
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Which house impeaches a public official and which removes the official? |
house impeaches, senate removes |
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Where do tax bills originate, who collects taxes? |
house of reps; all of congress |
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How long is the term of a president? What are the qualifications? |
Term: 4 years Qualifications: 35 years old, natural born citizen |
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betraying one's country by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrown the government |
definition of treason |
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Who appoints justices and creates federal courts? |
the president |
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Who can approve treaties? |
the Senate |
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federal government pays a certain percent of the project's funds, they share the cost |
Formula Grant |
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Federal government pays for the project to hapen |
Project Grant |
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Free & fair elections, freedom of expression, right to assemble & protest, majority with minority rights |
Fundamental Democratic Processes |
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Obligations of States |
full faith and credit privileges and immunities extradition contracts |
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Obligations of Federal Government |
republican form of government in states protect states against invasion or domestic violence grant new states same right as other states |
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Why does Madison believe the government's power must be separated? How should this be accomplished? |
Because he didn't want one group having more than the next; separation of powers (3 branches), checks and balances |
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According to Madison why should the judiciary be treated differently than the other 2 branches |
judiciary has different qualifications and their roles aren't as specified in the Constitution; they hold office for their whole lifetime |
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What is the "great difficulty in framing a gov't which is to be administered by men over men"? |
making the laws matter to the people, running to the consent of the governed but also so the gov't can govern itself; checks and balances fixes this |
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Why does Madison call the U.S. a "compound republic" and why does this create a "double security" for the "rights of the people"? |
Constitution divides power among 3 branches but also divides it between federal gov't and states; this distribution of power between two gov'ts is the most novel thing in the Constitution; federalism checks national powers, states perform taste that the federal gov't cannot |
