Chapter 3: Federalism

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering constitutional foundations, historical evolution, landmark Supreme Court cases, grant-in-aid types, and federal mandates from Chapter 3: Federalism.

Devolution

The effort to scale back the size and activities of the national government and shift responsibilities back to the states.

Kelo v. City of New London (2005)

A controversial Supreme Court decision involving government seizure of private property, which prompted many state legislatures to restrict its scope through the passage of new laws.

Federal System

A system of government in which local units of government exist independently and can make decisions independent of the national government.

William H. Riker

An American political scientist who argued that the main effect of federalism since the Civil War has been to perpetuate racism.

Mobilization of Political Activity

According to the text, the most obvious effect of federalism.

Tenth Amendment

An amendment added to the Constitution at the insistence of the states to declare that powers not granted to the federal government are reserved to the states; historically, it has rarely had much practical significance.

Alexander Hamilton's View of Federalism

The perspective holding that the federal government was superior to the state governments.

John Marshall

The Chief Justice who powerfully defended the national supremacy view of the newly formed federal government.

McCulloch v. Maryland

A landmark Supreme Court decision determining that the 'necessary and proper clause' allowed Congress to establish a national bank and that a state could not tax the federal government.

Doctrine of Nullification

The principle that states have the power to declare federal laws void within their borders, commonly associated with John C. Calhoun but plainly evident in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions.

Commerce Clause

The constitutional clause that became the center of the debate over federalism after the Civil War; by the 1940s, Supreme Court rulings under it abandoned hard distinctions between interstate and intrastate commerce.

United States v. Morrison (2000)

A Supreme Court ruling where the Court refused to connect or extend the scope of the commerce clause to violence against women.

State Constitutions

State-level governing charters that tend to be far more detailed than the federal Constitution and embody a more expansive view of both government responsibilities and individual rights.

Referendum

A direct democracy procedure that allows voters to reject a measure adopted by the legislature.

Recall

A procedure that allows voters to remove an elected official from office before the end of their term.

Categorical Grants

Federal grants designated for specific, narrowly defined purposes; they frequently require matching state or local funds, have grown fastest in recent years, and are favored by Congress and the federal bureaucracy.

Block Grants

Federal grants combining multiple categorical programs into broader categories with fewer federal restrictions, sometimes called 'special revenue sharing' to give states greater spending freedom.

Revenue Sharing

A program in which federal funds were distributed to state and local governments based on a statistical formula taking population into account, requiring no matching funds and granting broad spending freedom.

Law Enforcement Assistance Act

A federal legislative program cited as an example of a block grant.

Medicaid

The federal-state healthcare program that accounts for the largest percentage of federal grant money going to state and local governments as of 2006.

Distributional Formulas (Census)

The population count that has taken on monumental importance because it determines the basis for distributing federal formula grant money.

Mandates

Federal rules that states and localities must comply with; most concern civil rights and environmental protection, and they are used heavily in areas where the federal government spends less money.

Unfunded Mandates

Federal regulations imposed on state and local governments without providing the funding to implement them, found in the highest number within environmental policy as of a 2006 study.

Conditions of Aid

Federal restrictions and rules attached to grants, constituting the most important restriction on state action because the typical state depends on federal grants for a quarter or more of its budget.

Welfare

The first key issue tackled in the effort to shift important governmental functions back to the states when the 1994 election produced Republican majorities in the House and Senate.