Dr. Huerta Exam 1 Chapter Three

Front 1

Federal System

Back 1

A system in which power is formally divided between the national government and regional entities such as states.

Front 2

Confederal System

Back 2

A system of government in which power rests primarily with regional entities that have banded together to form a league of independent governments.

Front 3

Unitary System

Back 3

A system of government in which the national government has ultimate control over all areas of policy.

Front 4

Necessary and Proper (Elastic) Clause

Back 4

The last clause of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which authorizes Congress to make "all laws which shall be necessary and proper" for executing the constitutions enumerated powers; sometimes called the elastic clause because it allows congressional powers to expand.

Front 5

Tenth Amendment

Back 5

The amendment to the constitution that says: "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."

Front 6

Police Powers

Back 6

The powers reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment dealing with health, safety, public welfare, and morality.

Front 7

Supremacy Clause

Back 7

Article VI, Clause 2 of the Constitution specifying that federal laws and treaties passed pursuant to the Constitution trump contradictory state laws dealing with the same topic.

Front 8

Concurrent Powers

Back 8

Powers shared by the national government and the states (Ex. Tax).

Front 9

Full Faith and Credit Clause

Back 9

The requirement of Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution that requires states to recognize "the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other state."

Front 10

Privileges and Immunities Clause

Back 10

A provision of Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution that forbids a state from depriving citizens of other stats the rights it confers upon its own citizens.

Front 11

Extradition Clause

Back 11

A provision of Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution that requires states to return (extradite), upon request, a fugitive who has fled the law to the state that has jurisdiction over the crime.

Front 12

Interstate Compacts

Back 12

Contracts between two or more states that create an agreement on a particular policy issue.

Front 13

Dual Federalism

Back 13

An interpretation of federalism that favors states' rights and regards states and the national government as "dual sovereigns" (two relative equals).

Front 14

Cooperative Federalism

Back 14

An interpretation of Federalism that favors national supremacy and assumes that states will cooperate in the enforcement of federal regulations.

Front 15

Commerce Clause

Back 15

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which gives congress the authority to "regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes."

Front 16

Nullification

Back 16

The concept that states can invalidate federal laws that they believe to be unconstitutional.

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Secession

Back 17

The act of withdrawing from membership in a federation.

Front 18

Categorical Grants

Back 18

Funds from the national government to state and local governments that must be used to implement a specific federal regulation in a particular way, leaving recipients no flexibility regarding how to spend it.

Front 19

Unfunded Mandates

Back 19

A legal requirement imposed on states by Congress to administer a program that comes with no federal money to pay for it.

Front 20

Block Grants

Back 20

Funds from the national government to state and local governments that are earmarked for some general policy area, such as education, while giving recipients flexibility to spend those funds within that policy area as they see fit.