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77 Cards in this Set
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Popular government/ sovereignty |
The concept that ultimate political authority is based on the will of the people.
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Authority |
The right and power of a government or other entity to enforce its decisions.
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Liberalism |
A set of beliefs that includes the advocacy of positive government action to improve the welfare of individuals, support for civil rights, and tolerance for political and social change.
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Check and balances |
A major principle of the American system of government whereby each branch of the government can check the actions of the others.
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Bill of Rights |
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution
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Seperation of Powers |
The principle of dividing governmental powers among different branches of government.
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Amendmant Process-proposal |
a two-thirds vote in each chamber of Congress or a national convention that is called by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures. Ratification can occur by one of two methods: by a positive vote in three-fourths of the legislatures of the various states or by special conventions called in the states and a positive vote in three-fourths of them. |
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Marbury v. Madison |
established Jeducial review. |
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Ex post facto Laws |
ake an act illegal only after it has already happened.
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Necessary and proper clause/ elastic clause |
The clause in Article I, Section 8, that grants Congress the power to do whatever is necessary to execute its specifically delegated powers.
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Confederal System |
A system consisting of a league of independent states, in which the central government created by the league has only limited powers over the states.
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Inherent Powers |
A power of the president derived from the statements in the Constitution that “the executive Power shall be vested in a President” and that the president should “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”; defined through practice rather than through law.
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Denied/ Prohitbited powers |
The twelfth article of the amendments to the constitution of the United States, declares, 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 |
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cooperative federalism |
A model of federalism in which the states and the national government cooperate in solving problems. |
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Interposition |
a claimed right of a U.S. state to oppose actions of the federal government that the state deems unconstitutional. |
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Amendment process-Ratification |
by a positive vote in three-fourths of the legislatures of the various states or by special conventions called in the states and a positive vote in three-fourths of them. |
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Process of incorporation/incorporation theory |
The view that most of the protections of the Bill of Rights apply to state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause. |
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Due Process |
The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution each deals with the administration of justice as a safeguard from arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property by the Government outside the sanction of law. |
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Clear and Present danger test |
Clear and present danger was a doctrine adopted by the Supreme Court of the United States to determine under what circumstances limits can be placed on First Amendment freedoms of speech, press, or assembly. |
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Right to Privacy |
Although the right to Privacy is not directly expressed in the constitution. It is implied in the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, & 14th amendments. |
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Undue Burden |
An obstacle that is intentionally and unfairly put in the way of a party that is seeking to exercise a constitutional right |
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Miranda v. Arizona |
(1966) Miranda Rights derive from this case to protect innocent people. Miranda was charged with rape and robbery, he did not know he had the right to a lawyer and that he did not have to speak. He self-incriminated himself, his lawyers said that according to the 5th and 6th amendment the he should have known his rights. After a retrial he was still found guilty but of a lesser charge. |
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Patriot act |
Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 |
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Pro Patriot Act |
Give the government the means to fight terrorists |
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Anti Patriot Act |
It is unconstitutional |
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Limited government |
A government with powers that are limited either through a written document or through widely shared beliefs |
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representative democracy |
A form of government in which representatives elected by the people make and enforce laws and policies; may retain the monarchy in a ceremonial role. |
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Constitution |
A written document that serves as a benchmark against which we measure whether the actions of the government are appropriate or not. |
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Articles of confederation |
created a weak central government. |
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1st Amendment |
Freedoms, (Press, assembly, association, & religion) |
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2nd amendment |
Right to Bare arms |
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3rd amendment |
Quartering of Soldiers |
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4th amendment |
Protection against unreasonable search and Seizure |
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5th amendment |
protection against self-incrimination |
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14th Amendment |
defining national citizenship and forbidding the states to restrict the basic rights of citizens or other persons |
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judicial reveiw |
The power of the Supreme Court and other courts to examine and possibly declare unconstitutional federal or state laws and other acts of government. |
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McCulloch v. Maryland |
a) Has Congress the power to create and incorporate a bank of the united states? b) Has Maryland the right to Levy a tax against the bank chartered by Congress? The Supreme Court ruled that Congress had implied powers under the Necessary and Proper Clause of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution to create the Second Bank of the United States and that the state of Maryland lacked the power to tax the Bank. |
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Bill of attainer |
is an act of a legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them, often without a trial. |
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Federalism |
The mixed or compound mode of government, combining a general government (the central or 'federal' government) with regional governments (provincial, state, cantonal, territorial or other sub-unit governments) in a single political system. |
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Enumerated Powers |
A power specifically granted to the national government by the Constitution. The first seventeen clauses of Article I, Section 8, specify most of the enumerated powers of Congress |
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Reserved Powers |
powers which are not "enumerated" (written down, assigned). |
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dual federaliam |
A model of federalism in which the states and the national government each remain supreme within their own spheres. The doctrine looks on nation and state as co-equal sovereign powers. Neither the state government nor the national government should interfere in the other's sphere. |
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States' rights |
The rights and powers held by individual US states rather than by the federal government. |
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Nullification |
The right of a state to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law which that state has deemed unconstitutional. |
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establishment clause |
The part of the First Amendment prohibiting the establishment of a church officially supported by the national government. It determines the legality of giving state and local government aid to religious organizations and schools, allowing or requiring school prayers, and teaching evolution versus creationism. |
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right to counsel |
Found in the 6th amendment, Originally just applied to Capital cases and mentally ill. |
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Gideon v. wainwright |
(1965) This case incorporated the 5th & 6th amendments to felonies.Convicted of breaking and entering, knew he had the right to counsel (6th Amendment) and Protection against self incrimination (5th Amendment) so he asked for an Attorney. The judge said those rights are not incorporated to felonies, that they only applied to Capital crimes. Gideon defended himself in the trial and was found guilty and sentenced to 5 years in prison. He went to the prison library and wrote a letter to the Supreme Court saying he had the right to an attorney. They agreed and retried him with an attorney and he was found not guilty. |
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Roe v. Wade |
(1973) Jane Roe wanted to get an abortion in Texas which laws stated that a women could only have an abortion if the woman's life was at danger. Roe won the case 7/2 and the Trimester framework was established. |
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public safety exception |
A police does not have to read the Miranda Rights if the public's safety is at risk. Derives from New York v. Quarles (1984), a case in which the Supreme Court considered the admissibility of a statement elicited by a police officer who apprehended a rape suspect who was thought to be carrying a firearm. |
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Direct Democracy |
A system of government in which political decisions are made by the people directly, rather than by their elected representatives; probably attained most easily in small political communities. |
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Indirect democracy |
A form of government in which representatives elected by the people make and enforce laws and policies; may retain the monarchy in a ceremonial role. |
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Conservatism |
A set of beliefs that includes a limited role for the national government in helping individuals, support for traditional ideals and life choices, and a cautious response to change. |
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Article I |
Legislative Powers (Congress) |
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Article II |
Executive powers (President) |
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Article III |
Judicial Powers (Courts) |
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Article IV |
Relations among states |
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Article V |
Amendment Process |
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Article VI |
National Supremacy |
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Article VII |
Ratification (9 states to ratify) |
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Republic |
A form of government in which sovereign power rests with the people, rather than with a king or a monarch. |
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Federalists |
The name given to one who was in favor of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and the creation of a federal union with a strong central government. |
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Anti-Federalists |
An individual who opposed the ratification of the new Constitution in 1787. The Anti-Federalists were opposed to a strong central government. |
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Federalist Papers |
A collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution |
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Supremacy Clause |
The constitutional provision that makes the Constitution and federal laws superior to all conflicting state and local laws. |
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Writ of habeas Corpus |
Means, "you have the body." An order that requires jailers to bring a prisoner before a court or a judge and explain why the person is being held. |
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Unitary System |
A centralized governmental system in which ultimate governmental authority rests in the hands of the national, or central, government. |
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implied powers |
"Necessary and Proper Clause" (sometimes also called the "Elastic Clause") grants Congress a set of so-called implied powers—that is, powers not explicitly named in the Constitution but assumed to exist due to their being necessary to implement the expressed powers that are named in Article I. |
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Concurrent Powers |
Powers held jointly by the national and state governments. |
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Devolution |
The transfer of powers from a national or central government to a state or local government. |
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Civil Liberties |
Those personal freedoms, including freedom of religion and freedom of speech, that are protected for all individuals. Civil liberties set forth restrain the government from taking certain actions against individuals. |
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Civil Rights |
Generally, all rights rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law. |
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Free Exercise clause |
he provision of the First Amendment guaranteeing the free exercise of religion. The provision constrains the national government from prohibiting individuals from practicing the religion of their choice. |
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Search and seizure |
A procedure used in many civil law and common law legal systems by which police or other authorities and their agents, who suspect that a crime has been committed, do a search of a person's property and confiscate any relevant evidence to the crime. |
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Exclusionary Rule |
A judicial policy prohibiting the admission at trial of illegally obtained evidence |
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Politics of Abortion |
Liberals are usually for and Conservatives are against abortion. |
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Escobedo v. Illinios |
(1964) A United States Supreme Court case holding that criminal suspects have a right to counsel during police interrogations under the Sixth Amendment. |
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Griswold v. Connecticut |
(1965) The Supreme Court ruled that a state's ban on the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy. The case concerned a Connecticut law that criminalized the encouragement or use of birth control. |
