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88 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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1. autocracy 2. Oligarchy 3. Democracy |
Three Basic Approaches to Who Governs |
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autocracy |
government does not represent the people, single ruler government |
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oligarchy |
small group of people governing |
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democracy |
population has some influence over the government |
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1. Constitutional 2. Authoritarian 3. Totalitarian |
3 Ways Governments Govern |
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Constitutional Government |
long term rules are laid out, severely limited in actions it can carry out |
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Authoritarian Government |
don't have to answer to other, except for a select few |
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Totalitarian Government |
controls all the social institutions and all aspects of life |
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rule of law |
the laws in the constitution apply to everyone, even political leaders |
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democracy |
government ruled by the people |
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1. Elections with universal suffrage 2. Political parties 3. Interest groups 4. Constitution 5. Separation of power/independent judiciary 6. Cultural commitment 7. Citizen control over military and police 8. Guaranteed rights/civil liberties |
Attributes to Be Considered a Democracy |
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polyarchy |
countries that are close to a democracy, concept created by Robert Dahl (Ex: US, Canada, etc.) |
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Seven Years War/French and Indian War |
battle between France and England in the colonies 1. Colonists gained a sense of an American political identity 2. Britain needed money |
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Townshend Acts |
Britain established a tax on certain goods in the colonies; colonists boycotted these goods and wrote protests to the British government; British sent over troops |
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Boston Tea Party |
socially important people dressed up as natives to throw boxes of tea off import ships as a sign of protest to the Tea Act |
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1. The Boston Port Bill - Boston port was shut down 2. Mass Gov. Act - stripped the MA gov and handed it over to the British (no town meetings) 3. Quatering Act - colonists are forced to pay for housing of troops |
The Intolerable Acts |
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Articles of Confederation |
adopted by the Continental Congress in 1777 to establish a federal government |
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1. Had a unicameral congress 2. Each state had a single vote 3. No president or supreme court |
Articles of Confederation |
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1. Declara war and make peace 2. Make treaties and alliances 3. Coin or borrow money |
Under the Articles of Confederation: Congress had the power to |
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1. Levy taxes or regulate commerce between states 2. Keep a standing army |
Under the Articles of Confederation: Congress did not have the power to |
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1. Congress is weak than the states 2. Congress had to plead for funds from the states 3. National government was slow to react (everyone had to get together and have a majority vote) 4. Each state free to cut separate deals with overseas interests 5. Could not be amended without unanimous consent of Congress and all state legislatures |
Problems with the Articles of Confederation |
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bicameral |
Congress with two chambers or houses |
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unicameral |
Congress with one house |
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Shay's Rebellion |
farmers in MA were hard hit after the war (faced with debtor's prison), mustered their community militia against the government and closed local courts; government realized that Articles of Confederation were not working and called for a stronger national government |
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Constitutional Convention Of 1787 |
convention held in Philadelphia to form a constitution, passed in 1789 by 12/13 states |
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1. Congress has two bodies (first is elected by the people, second is appointed by the first) 2. Representation in the house should be proportional to population 3. President selected by congress to serve a single term |
The Virginia Plan |
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1. Congress has a single body 2. States have equal representation 3. A multi-person executive elected by congress |
New Jersey Plan |
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1. Congress is bicameral: A. chosen by the people - house of representatives based on population B. selected by legislature - senate equal number for each state 2. President elected through the electoral college |
The Great Compromise |
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1. Virginia Plan 2. New Jersey Plan 3. The Great Compromise (Connecticut) |
Three Plans of the Constitutional Convention |
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Three-fifths Compromise |
slaves states wanted each slave to count as a person, non slave states wanted each slave to count as 0 persons; compromise 5 slaves are counted as 3 people when determining representation by population |
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federalists *First two presidents were Federalists |
supported the new constitution and wanted a strong national government |
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antifederalists |
opposed the new constitution, preferred a more decentralized system of government |
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"The Federalist Papers" |
85 articles published in the New York papers by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton; urged approval of the Constitution and provided an intellectual basis for the American form of government |
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demagogue |
political leaders who seeks support by appealing to desires of the public rather than using a rational argument (fear of excessive democracy) |
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Article 1 - lays out Congress Article 2 - establishes Executive branch Article 3 - established the Judicial branch Article 4 - each state must give credit to the acts of other states Article 5 - established the amendment process Article 6 - established the supremacy clause (Federal Law is supreme over state law) Article 7 - established the ratification process for the new constitution |
Overview of the Constitution |
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1. excessive democracy, mob rule, demagogue 2. national government would be too strong and centralized |
The framers of the Constitution had 2 fear: |
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Lays out Congress and what their powers are 1. Representatives elected to the House by district voters for 2 year terms; 435 representatives in the House 2. Senators elected as state-level representatives for 6 year terms; 100 senators 3. Grants Congress the power to: A. Collect taxes B. Borrow money C. Regulate commerce D. Maintain a standing army E. Declare war and make peace
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Article 1 of the Constitution |
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Alien and Sedition Acts |
passed by Thomas Jefferson; permitted the harassment and jailing of people who criticized the government |
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Alien Enemy Act |
president has the right to expel any foreign born residents if they could be dangerous (still on the books today) |
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1. Unitary System 2. Confederal System 3. Federal System |
3 Types of Federalism |
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unitary system |
national government is supreme, states are only a subdivision of the nation |
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confederal system |
states are the major power, rule the Federal Government, states can sign compacts |
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federal system |
the national government and the states have almost equal power |
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1. The Interstate Commerce Clause 2. General Welfare Clause 3. Tenth Amendment |
3 Main Provisions of Federalism in the Constitution |
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The Interstate Commerce Clause |
Federal government is allowed to regulate trade between states |
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General Welfare Clause |
Congress can influence states directly through money, giving or taking away |
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Tenth Amendment |
the powers that are not listed in the Constitution are given to the states |
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McCullah vs. Maryland |
court case wanting to establish a national bank, used the supremacy clause for the first time |
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Gibbons vs. Ogden |
dispute over waterways, interstate commerce clause was used |
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dual federalism (aka Layer Cake Federalism) |
strict separation of federal and state government, no overlap |
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cooperative federalism (aka Marble Cake Federalism) |
blended mix of Federal and State Government |
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The New Deal |
FDR's instituted a program to spur the economy and reduce unemployment during the Great Depression |
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Court Packing Scheme |
FDR wanted to change the number of Supreme Court justices to support his plan so he proposed a retirement plan for supreme court justices |
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Supremacy clause |
Federal Law rules over state law |
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Article 4 of the Constitution |
each state must give full faith and credit to the official acts of other states |
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expressed powers |
powers that are granted to Congress |
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Doctrine of Expressed Powers |
Constitution grants certain powers and only those powers to Congress |
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Sedition Act |
you could be put in jail or fined for saying, writing, or printing anything that speaks badly of Congress or the president |
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Dillion's Rule |
there is a clear hierarchical relationship between states and local government, local government is a "creature of the state" |
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civil rights |
obligations imposed on government of protect citizens from the illegal actions of other citizens and other government agencies |
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civil liberties |
the protection of citizens from improper government action |
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Bill of Rights |
guarantee civil liberties of American citizens |
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1. Freedom of speech, religion, assembly, press, and petition. 2. Right to bear arms 3. No quartering of troops 4. No unreasonable search and seizures 5. No double jeopardy, can't be a witness against yourself, due process of law 6. Right to a fair and speedy trial 7. Right to have a jury 8. No excessive bail 9. Rights not in the constitution are reserved to the states or the people 10. Citizen have right outside of what is listed in the constitution |
Bill of Rights |
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Antifederalists supported the bill of rights because they wanted to guarantee their rights would be protected. It passed because the Federalists knew the Constitution wouldn't pass in antifederalist states without it. |
Who supported the bill or rights? Why did it pass? |
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Barron vs. Baltimore (1883) |
ruled that the Bill of Rights do not apply to to the states, only to the Federal Government (according to Court Justice John Marshall) |
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dual citizenship |
each American was considered a citizen of the national government and separately a citizen of the state they lived in |
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Young vs. American Mini-Theatres (1976) |
established zoning that restricted the location of adult movie theaters |
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zoning |
the public regulation of land and rules regulating property |
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Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) |
black man arrested for sitting in 1st class, concept of separate but equal became a guiding principle |
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reconstruction (1865-1877) |
federal troops in the south to make sure black get their rights after the civil war |
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Jim Crow Laws |
laws that enforced racial segregation for all public facilities in the south |
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Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) |
segregation in schools is abolished 1. States can not use race as a basis of discrimination in law 2. Federal government has the power and obligation to intervene against discriminatory practices 3. The principle of separate but equal was no longer valid |
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de jure segragation |
legally enforced segregation |
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de facto segregation |
actual segregation, hard to eliminate what's happening in the real world |
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Voting Right Act (1965) |
outlawed literacy tests, established extensive federal oversight of elections administered by states and local government |
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preclearance |
the policy that there are certain states that have such a history of a violating voting rights that the Federal Government has to approve any changes in voting laws |
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separation of powers |
government separated into multiple branches including the executive, legislative, and judicial |
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necessary and proper clause |
allowed Congress to expand on the power they are already assigned |
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double jeopardy |
can not be tried for the same crime twice |
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interstate commerce |
trade between two states |
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public good |
a benefits provided to a group of people that each member can enjoy without necessarily having to pay for it and for which one person's enjoyment does not inhibit the enjoyment of others |
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free riding |
benefit from the public good while avoiding the costs of contributing to it |
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collective action problem |
any situation where people are individually better off free riding and enjoying the public good that others produce without contributing toward the production of that good |
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mandate |
the belief that the electorate broadly supports your plans and has told you so with an electoral victory |
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block grants |
sums of money transferred to lower level governments as long as the general purpose of the grant is met |
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grants in aid |
money that is distributed to lower level governments with the purpose of funding special projects |
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strict scrutiny |
the highest level standard used by the Supreme Court to determine whether or not a law is compatible with the Constitution |
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affirmative action |
efforts to redress previous discrimination against women and minorities through active measures to promote their employment and educational opportunities |
