Ap Gov't Chapter 3

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Federalism

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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.

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Unitary governments

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A way of organizing a nation so that all power resides in the central government. Most national governments today are unitary governments.

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Intergovernmental relations

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The workings of the federal system—the entire set of interactions among national, state, and local governments, including regulations, transfers of funds, and the sharing of information.

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Supremacy Clause

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The clause in Article VI of the Constitution that makes the Constitution, national laws and treaties supreme over state laws as long as the national government is acting within its constitutional limits.

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Tenth Amendment

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The 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.”

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McCulloch v. Maryland

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An 1819 Supreme Court decision that established the supremacy of the national government over state governments. The Court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, held that Congress had certain implied powers in addition to the powers enumerated in the Constitution.

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Enumerated powers

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Powers of the federal government that are specifically addressed in the Constitution; for Congress, including the powers listed in Article I, Section 8, for example, to coin money and regulate its value and impose taxes.

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Implied powers

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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.

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Elastic Clause

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The final paragraph of Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which authorizes Congress to pass all laws “necessary and proper” to carry out the enumerated powers.

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Gibbons v. Ogden

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A landmark case decided in 1824 in which the Supreme Court interpreted very broadly the clause in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution giving Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce as encompassing virtually every form of commercial activity.

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Full Faith and credit

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A clause in Article IV of the Constitution requiring each state to recognize the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of all other states.

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Extradition

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A legal process whereby a state surrenders a person charged with a crime to the state in which the crime is alleged to have been committed.

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Privileges and immunities

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The provision of the Constitution according citizens of each state the privileges of citizens of other states.

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Dual federalism

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A system of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres, each responsible for some policies.

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Cooperative federalism

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A system of government in which powers and policy assignments are shared between states and the national government.

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Devolution

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Transferring responsibility for policies from the federal government to state and local governments.

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Fiscal federalism

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The pattern of spending, taxing, and providing grants in the federal system; it is the cornerstone of the national government’s relations with state and local governments.

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Categorical grants

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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

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Project grants

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Federal categorical grant given for specific purposes and awarded on the basis of the merits of applications

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Formula grants

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Federal categorical grants distributed according to a formula specified in legislation or in administrative regulations.

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Block grants

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Federal grants are given more or less automatically to states or communities to support broad programs in areas such as community development and social services.