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130 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
Slavery:
What happened in 1619?
The first slaves were brought from Africa to Jamestown
What was the time span for Reconstruction after the Civil War?
1865 - 1877
What year was the 14th Amendment passed?
1868
What year was the 15th Amendment passed?
1870
Define:
14th Amendment
???
Fifteenth Amendment
The constitutional amendment adopted in 1870 to extend suffrage to African Americans.
Jim Crow laws
they were laws that sanctioned legal segregation: separate schools, etc.
Plessy v. Ferguson
A test case of Jim Crow laws. He's 1/8 black and challenges the law that he should move from a section of a street car. Supreme ct said no, separate but equal.
In 1948 President Truman orders what?
the integration of the military
Brown v. Board of Education
The 1954 Supreme Court decision holding that school segregation in Topeka, Kansas, was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. This case marked the end of legal segregation in the United States.
equal results
A policy statement about equality holding that government has a duty to help break down barriers to equal opportunity. Affirmative action is an example of a policy justified as promoting equal results rather than merely equal opportunities.
Who is earl warren?
???
Korematsu v. United States
A 1944 Supreme Court decision that upheld as constitutional the internment of more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent in encampments during World War II.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
A law passed in 1990 that requires employers and public facilities to make "reasonable accommodations" for people with disabilities and prohibits discrimination against these individuals in employment.
Dred Scott v. Sanford
The 1857 Supreme Court decision ruling that a slave who had escaped to a free state enjoyed no rights as a citizen and that Congress had no authority to ban slavery in the teritories.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The law that made racial discrimination against any group in hotels, motels, and restaurants illegal and forbade many forms of job discrimination.
poll taxes
Small taxes, levied on the right to vote, that often fell due at a time of year when poor African-American sharecroppers had the least cash on hand. This method was used by most Southern states to exclude African Americans from voting registers. Poll taxes were declared void by the Twenty-fourth Amendment in 1964.
grandfather clause
One of the methods used by Southern states to deny African Americans the right to vote. In order to exempt illiterate whites from taking a literacy test before voting, the clause exempted people whose grandfathers were eligible to vote in 1860, thereby disenfranchising the grandchildren of slaves. The grandfather clause was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1913.
white primary
One of the means used to discourage African-American voting that permitted political parties in the havily Democratic South to exclude African Americans from primary elections, thus depriving them of a voice in the real contests. The Supreme Court declared white primaries unconstitutional in 1941.
Plessy v. Ferguson
A 1896 Supreme Court decision that provided a constitutional justification for segregation by ruling that a Louisiana law requiring "equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races" was not constitutional.
What was the suprise in Civil Rights Act of 1964?
Women were given equal rights in employment.
Nineteenth Amendment
The constitutional amendment adopted in 1920 that guarantees women the right to vote.
suffrage
The legal right to vote, extended to African Americans by the Fifteenth Amendment, to women by the Nineteenth Amendment, and the people over the age of 18 by the Twenty-sixth Amendment.
Twenty-fourth Amendment
The constitutional amendment passed in 1964 that declared poll taxes void.
equal protection of the laws
Part of the Fourteenth Amendment emphasizing that the laws must provide equivalent "protection" to all people. As one member of Congress said during debate on the amendment, it should provide "equal protection of life, liberty, and property" to all a state's citizens.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
A law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African-American suffrage. Under the law, federal regisrars were sent to Southern states and counties that had long histories of discrimination; as a result, hundreds of thousands of African Americans were registered and the number of African-American elected officials increased dramatically.
Thirteenth Amendment
The constitutional amendment passed after the Civil War that forbade slavery and involuntary servitude.
civil rights movement
A movement that began in the 1950s and organized both African Americans and whites to end the policies of segregation. It sought to establish equal opportunities in the political and economic sectors and to end policies that erected barriers between people because of race.
comparable worth
The issue raised when women who hold traditionally female jobs are paid less than men for working at jobs requiring comparable skill.
equal opportunity
A policy statement about equality holding that the rules of the game should be the same for everyone. Most of our civil rights policies over the past three decades have presumed that equality of opportunity is a public policy goal.
Regents of the University of California Bakke
A 1978 Supreme Court decision holding that a state university could not admit less qualified individuals solely because of their race. The court did not, however, rule that such affirmative action policies and the use of race as a criterion for admission where unconstitutional, only that they had to be formulated differently.
Craig v. Boren
In this 1976 Supreme Court decision, the Court determined that gender classification cases would have a “heightened” or “middle level” of scrutiny. In other words, the courts were to show less deference to gender classifications than to more routine classifications, but more deference than to racial classifications.
Reed v. Reed
The landmark case in 1971 in which the Supreme Court for the first time upheld a claim for gender discrimination.
civil rights
Policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals.
Adarand Constructors v. Pena
A 1995 Supreme Court decision holding that federal programs that classify people by race, even for an ostensibly benign purpose such as expanding opportunities for minorities, should be presumed to be unconstitutional. Such programs must be subject to the most searching judicial inquiry and can survive only if they are “narrowly tailored” to accomplish a “compelling governmental interest.”
Political Ideology
A COHERENT set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose.
agents of socialization
Families, schools, television, peer groups, and other influences that contribute to political socialization by shaping formal and especially informal learning about politics.
census
A valuable tool for understanding demographic changes. The Constitution requires that the government conduct an “actual enumeration” of the population every 10 years.
civil disobedience
A form of political participation that reflects a conscious decision to break a law believed to be immoral and to suffer the consequences.
conservatism
A political ideology whose advocates fear the growth of government, deplore government's drag on private-sector initiatives, dislike permissiveness in society, and place a priority on military needs over social needs.
conservatives
Those who advocate conservatism.
demography
The science of population changes.
exit polls
Public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision.
gender gap
A term that refers to the regular pattern by which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates. Women tend to be significantly less conservative than men and are more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose the higher levels of military spending.
liberalism
A political ideology whose advocates prefer a government active in dealing with human needs, support individual rights and liberties, and give higher priority to social needs than to military needs.
liberals
Those who advocate liberalism.
melting pot
The mixing of cultures, ideas, and peoples that has changed the American nation. The United States, with its history of immigration, has often been called a melting pot.
minority majority
The emergence of a non-Caucasian majority, as compared with a white, generally Anglo-Saxon majority. It is predicted that, by about 2060, Hispanic Americans, African Americans, and Asian Americans together will outnumber white Americans.
political culture
An overall set of values widely shared within a society.
political ideology
A coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose. It helps give meaning to political events, personalities, and policies.
political socialization
According to Richard Dawson, “the process through which an individual acquires his (or her) particular political orientations – his (or her) knowledge, feelings, and evaluations regarding his (or her) political world.”
protest
A form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and unconventional tactics.
public opinion
The distribution of the population's beliefs about politics and policy issues.
random digit dialing
A technique used by pollsters to place telephone calls randomly to both listed and unlisted numbers when conducting a survey.
random sampling
The key technique employed by sophisticated survey researchers, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected for the sample.
reapportionment
The process of reallocating seats in the House of Representatives every 10 years on the basis of the results of the census.
sample
A relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole.
sampling error
The level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results.
talking head
A shot of a person's face talking directly to the camera. Because this is visually unappealing, the major commercial networks rarely show a politician talking one-on-one for very long.
narrowcasting
As opposed to the traditional “broadcasting”, the appeal to a narrow, particular audience by channels such as ESPN, MTV and C-SPAN, which focus on a narrow particular interest.
trial balloons
An intentional news leak for the purpose of assessing the political reaction.
print media
Newspapers and magazines, as compared with broadcast media.
mass media
Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and other means of popular communication. They are a key part of high-tech politics.
newspaper chains
Newspapers published by massive media conglomerates that account for almost three-quarters of the nation's daily circulation. Often these chains control broadcast media as well.
high-tech politics
A politics in which the behavior of citizens and policymakers and the political agenda itself are increasingly shaped by technology.
broadcast media
Television and radio, as compared with print media.
beats
Specific locations from which news frequency emanates, such as Congress or the White House. Most top reporters work a particular beat, thereby becoming specialists in what goes on at that location.
investigative journalism
The use of detective-like reporting to unearth scandals, scams, and schemes, putting reporters in adversarial relationships with political leaders.
sound bites
Short video clips of approximately 15 seconds, which are typically all that is shown from a politician's speech or activities on the nightly television news.
policy entrepreneurs
People who invest their political “capital” in an issue. According to John Kingdon, a policy entrepreneur “could be in or out of government, in elected or appointed positions, in interest groups or research organizations.”
media events
Events purposely staged for the media that nonetheless look spontaneous. In keeping with politics as theater, media events can be staged by individuals, groups, and government officials, especially presidents.
press conferences
Meetings of public officials with reporters.
party realignment
The displacement of the majority party by the minority party, usually during a critical election period.
ticket-splitting
Voting with one party for one office and with another party for other offices. It has become the norm in American voting behavior.
national chairperson
One of the institutions that keeps the party operating between conventions. The national chairperson is responsible for the day-to-day activities of the party and is usually hand-picked by the presidential nominee.
rational-choice theory
A popular theory in political science to explain the actions of voters as well as politicians. It assumes that individuals act in their own best interest, carefully weighing the costs and benefits of possible alternatives.
direct mail
A high-tech method of raising money for a political cause or candidate. It involves sending information and requests for money to people whose names appear on lists of those who have supported similar views or candidates in the past.
closed primaries
Elections to select party nominees in which only people who have registered in advance with the party can vote for that party's candidates, thus encouraging greater party loyalty.
coalition government
When two or more parties join together to form a majority in a national legislature. This form of government is quite common in the multiparty systems of Europe.
New Deal Coalition
A coalition forged by Franklin Roosevelt and the Democrats, who dominated American politics from the 1930s to the 1960s. Its basic elements where the urban working class, ethnic groups, Catholics and Jews, the poor, Southerners, African Americans, and Democratic intellectuals.
party dealignment
The gradual disengagement of people and politicians from the parties, as seen in part by shrinking party identification.
responsible party model
A view favored by some political scientists about how parties should work. According to the model, parties should offer clear choices to the voters, who can then use those choices as cues to their own preferences of candidates. Once in office, parties would carry out their campaign promises.
critical election
An electoral “earthquake” whereby new issues emerge, new coalitions replace old ones, and the majority party is often displaced by the minority party. Critical election periods are sometimes marked by a national crisis and may require more than one election to bring about a new party era.
open primaries
Elections to select party nominees in which voters can decide on election day whether they want to participate in the Democratic or Republican contests.
party competition
The battle of the parties for control of public offices. Ups and downs of the two major parties are one of the most important elements in American politics.
third parties
Electoral contenders other than the two major parties. American third parties are not unusual, but they rarely win elections.
national convention
The meeting of party delegates every four years to choose a presidential ticket and write the party's platform.
national committee
One of the institutions that keeps the party operating between conventions. The national committee is composed of representatives from the states and territories.
blanket primaries
Elections to select party nominees in which voters are presented with a list of candidates from all the parties. Voters can then select some Democrats and some Republicans if they like.
political party
According to Anthony Downs, a “team of men (and women) seeking to control the governing apparatus by gaining office in a duly constituted election.”
party eras
Historical periods in which a majority of voters cling to the party in power, which tends to win a majority of the elections.
party identification
A citizen's self-proclaimed preference for one party or the other.
proportional representation
An electoral system used throughout most of Europe that awards legislative seats to political parties in proportion to the number of votes won in an election.
party neutrality
A term used to describe the fact that many Americans are indifferent toward the two major political parties.
party machines
A type of political party organization that relies heavily on material inducements, such as patronage, to win votes and to govern.
party image
The voter's perceptions of what the Republicans or Democrats stand for, such as conservatism or liberalism.
coalition
A group of individuals with a common interest upon which every political party depends.
winner-take-all system
An electoral system in which legislative seats are awarded only to the candidates who come in first in their constituencies. In American presidential elections, the system in which the winner of the popular vote in a state receives all the electoral votes of the state.
patronage
One of the key inducements used by machines. A patronage job, promotion, or contract is one that is given for political reasons rather than for merit or competence alone.
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
A six-member bipartisan agency created by the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974. The FEC administers the campaign finance laws and enforces compliance with their requirements.

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regional primaries
A proposal by critics of the caucuses and presidential primaries to replace these electoral methods with regional primaries held early in the election year.

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party platform
A political party's statement of its goals and policies for the next four years. The platform is drafted prior to the party convention by a committee whose members are chosen in rough proportion to each canddates strength. It is the best formal statement of the party's beliefs.

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conversion
One of three key consequences of electoral campaigns for voters, in which the voter's mind is actually changed.

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campaign strategy
The master game plan candidates lay out to guide their electoral campaign.

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frontloading
The recent tendency of states to hold primaries early in the calendar in order to capitalize on media attention. At one time, it was considered advantageous for a state to choose its delegates late in the primary season so that it could play a decisive role. However, in recent years, votes cast in states that have held late primaries have been irrelevant given that one candidate had already sewn up the nomination early on.

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activation
One of three key consequences of electoral campaigns for voters, in which the boter is activated to contribute money or ring doorbells instead of just voting.

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national primary
A proposal by critics of the caucuses and presidential primaries systems who would replace these electoral methods with a nationwide primary held early in the election year.

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presidential primaries
Elections in which voters in a state vote for a candidate (or delegates pledged to him or her). Most delegates to the national party conventions are chosen this way.

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nomination
The official endorsement of a candidate for office by a political party. Generally, success in the nomination game requrires momentum, money, and media attention.

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McGovern-Fraser Commission
A commission formed at the 1968 Democratic convention in response to demands for reform by minority groups and others who sought better representation.

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selective perception
The phenomenon that people often pay the most attention to things they already agree with and interpret them according to their own predispositions.

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superdelegates
National party leaders who automatically get a delegate slot at the Democratic national party convention.

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political action committees (PACS)
Funding vehicles created by the 1974 campaign finance reforms. A corporation, union, or some other interest group can create a PAC and register it with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which will metiulously monitor the PAC's expenditures.

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Federal Election Campaign Act
A law passed in 1974 for reforming campaign finances. The act created the Federal Election Commission (FEC), provided public financing for presidential primaries and general elections, limited presidential campaign spending, required disclosure, and attempted to limit contributions.

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caucus (state party)
A meeting of all state party leaders for selecting delegates to the national party convention. Caucuses are usually organized as a pyramid.

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reinforcement
One of three key consequences of electoral campaigns for voters, in which the voter's candidate preference is reinforced.

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soft money
Political contributions earmarked for party-building expenses at the grass-roots level (buttons, pamphlets, yard signs, etc.). Unlike money that goes to the campaign of a particular candidate, such party donations are not subject to contribution limits.

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national party convention
The supreme power within each of the parties. The convention meets every four years to nominate the party's presidential and vice-presidential candidates and to write the party's platform.

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mandate theory of elections
The idea that the winning candidate has a mandate from the people to carry out his or her platforms and politics. Politicians like the theory better than political scientists do.

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political efficacy
The belief that one's political participation really matters – that one's vote can actually make a difference.

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Motor Voter Act
Passed in 1993, this Act went into effect for the 1996 election. It requires states to permit people to register to vote at the same time they apply for drivers' licenses. This should lessen the bureaucratic hassles of voter registration, though critics charge that it may also increase registration fraud.

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initiative
A process permitted in some states whereby voters may place proposed changes in the state constitution on a state referendum if sufficient signatures are obtained on petitions calling for such a referendum.

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legitimacy
A characterization of elections by political scientists meaning that they are almost universally accepted as a fair and free method of selecting political leaders. When legitimacy is high, as in the United States, even the losers accept the results peacefully.

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policy differences
The perception of a clear choice between the parties. Those who see such choices are more likely to vote.

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policy voting
Voting that occurs when electoral choices are made on the basis of the voters' policy preferences and on the basiss of where the candidates stand on policy issues. For the voter, policy voting is hard work.

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retrospective voting
A theory of voting in which voters essentially ask this simple question: “What have you done for me lately?”

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referendum
A state-level method of direct legislation that gives voters a chance to approve or disapprove proposed legislation or a proposed constitutional amendment.

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civic duty
The belief that is order to support democratic government, a citizen should always vote.

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voter registration
A system adopted by the states that requires voters to register well in advance of election day. Although a few states permit election day registration for presidential elections, advance registration dampens voter turnout.

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electoral college
A unique American institution, created by the Constitution, providing for the selection of the president by electors chosen by the state parties. Although the electoral college vote usually reflects a popular majority, the winner-take-all rule gives clout to big states.

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