The United States Of America

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Federalism

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a system of governance in which political authority is shared between the national government and regional or state governments

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North American Free Trade Agreement

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a treaty among the U.S., Mexico, and Canada implemented on January 1, 1994, that largely eliminates trade barriers among the three nations and establishes procedures to resolve trade disputes. NAFTA serves as a model for an eventual Free Trade Area of the Americas zone that could include most nations in the Western Hemisphere

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Unincorporated Territory

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a U.S. territory that is not on the road to statehood and does not have all of the protections of the U.S. Constitution

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The Declaration of Independence

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the document asserting that the British colonies in what is now the United States had declared themselves independent from Great Britain. Signed in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776

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The Articles of Confederation

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the first governing document of the United States, agreed to in 1777 and ratified in 1781. The Articles concentrated most powers in the states and made the national government largely dependent on voluntary contributions of the state

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Naturalization

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the process by which U.S. citizenship is granted to a foreign citizen or national after he or she fulfills the Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)

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Electoral College

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a body of political insiders who are elected on election day and meet the following month to formally elect the president

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Bill of Rights

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the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution-- ratified 1791-- which established limits on the actions of government. Initially, the Bill of Rights limited only the federal government. The Fourteenth Amendment and subsequent judicial rulings extended the provisions of the Bill to the states

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The New Deal

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The Roosevelt administration's response to the economic crisis of the Great Depression. The federal government used its constitutional powers to regulate interstate commerce in order to vastly expand federal regulation of business. Also established nationally guaranteed safety net, including programs such as Social Security. Finally, it subsidized agriculture and offered farmers protections against the cyclical nature of demand. Federal government assumed dominance over states in delivering services to the people.

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Social Security

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National systems of contributory and non-contributory benefits to provide assistance for the elderly, sick, disabled, unemployed, and others similarly in need of assistance. The specific coverage of social security, a key component of the welfare state, varies by country.

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Property Taxes

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Taxes levied by local governments on the assessed value of property. Property taxes are the primary way in which local jurisdictions in the United States pay for the costs of primary and secondary education. Because the value of property varies dramatically from neighborhood to neighborhood, the funding available for schools-- and the quality of education-- also varies from place to place.

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Interest Groups

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Organizations that seek to represent the interests-- usually economic-- of their members in dealings with the government. Important examples are associations representing people with specific occupations, business interests, racial and ethnic groups, or age groups in society.

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USA PATRIOT Act

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Legislation passed by the United States Congress in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. The legislation dramatically expanded the federal government's ability to conduct surveillance, to enforce laws, to limit civil liberties, and to fight terrorism.

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Four Primary Critical Junctures

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1) The Revolutionary Era (1773-1789)

2) The Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1876)

3) The New Deal Era (1933-1940)

4) Divided Government, Frequently Shifting Partisan Dominance, and Political Contestation on the Scope of Government (1968-Present)

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The Fourteenth Amendment

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Adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws, and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War.

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Separation of Powers

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An organization of political institutions within the state in which the executive, legislature, and judiciary have autonomous powers and no one branch dominates the others. This is the common pattern in presidential systems, as opposed to parliamentary systems, in which there is a fusion of powers.

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single-member-plurality (SMP) electoral system

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An electoral system in which candidates run for a single seat from a specific geographic district. The winner is the person who receives the most votes, whether or not they amount to a majority. SMP systems, unlike systems of proportional representation, increase the likelihood that two national coalition parties will form.

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Free Market

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A system in which government regulation of the economy is absent or limited. Relative to other advanced democracies, the United States has traditionally had a freer market economically.

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Laissez-Faire

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A term taken from the French, which means, "to let do," in other words, to allow to act freely. In political economy, it refers to the pattern in which state management is limited to such matters as enforcing contracts and protecting property rights, while private market forces are free to operate with only minimal state regulation.

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Police powers

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Powers that are traditionally held by the states to regulate public safety and welfare. Police powers are the for of interaction with the government that citizens most often experience. Even with the growth in federal government powers in the twentieth century, police powers remain the primary responsibility of the states and localities

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Federal Reserve Board

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The U.S. central bank established by congress to regulate the banking industry and the money supply

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Regulations

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the rules that explain the implementation of the laws. When the legislature passes a law, it sets broad principles for implementation, but how the law is actually implemented is determined by regulations written by executive branch agencies. The regulation-writing process allows interested parties to influence the eventual shape of the law in practice

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Distributive Policies

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Policies that allocate state resources into an area that lawmakers perceive needs to be promoted.

For example, leaders today believe that students should have access to the Internet. In order to accomplish this goal, telephone users are being taxed to provide money for schools to establish connections to the Internet (which, in large part, uses telephone lines to transfer data)

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Redistributive Policies

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Policies that take resources from one person or group in society and allocate them to a different, usually more disadvantaged, group. The U.S. has traditionally opposed redistributive policies to the disadvantaged .

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Iron Triangle Relationships

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A term coined by students of American politics to refer to the relationships of mutual support formed by particular government agencies, members of congressional committees or subcommittees, and interest groups in various policy areas.

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Marbury V. Madison

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The 1803 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the federal courts inherently had the authority to review the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress and signed by the president. The ruling, initially used sparingly, placed the courts centrally in the system of checks and balances.

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Checks and Balances

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A governmental system of divided authority in which coequal branches can restrain each other's actions.

For example, the U.S. president must sign legislation passed by Congress for it to become law. If the president vetoes a bill, Congress can override that veto by two-thirds vote of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

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Bicameral

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A legislative body with two houses,such as the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of representatives. Just as the U.S. constitution divides responsibilities between the branches of the federal government and between the federal and state governments, it divides the legislative responsibilities between the Senate ant the House.

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Divided Government

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1968-- present.

1) The national government has been routinely divided between the two political parties with dominance of each branch of government shifting regularly.

2) there has been apparent inefficiency caused by the divided government

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Free Trade

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a policy in international markets in which governments do not restrict imports or exports