American National Government

Ch 1 - 5

Antitrust Laws

Laws that encourage market competition by limiting the ability of firms to achieve and exploit market power.  

Bill or Rights

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Amendments I to VIII protect individual rights and liberties against majority rule, while Amendments IX to X reinforce the scheme of a central government with limited powers. 

Enumerated powers

Powers of the national government explicitly set forth in the U.S. Constitution. Most of these powers are listed in Article I, section 8. 

Federalism

system of government where certain powers are reserved for the national government, other powers are reserved for the subnational governments (states), and other powers are held concurrently.

The Federalist Papers

A series of newspaper opinion essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay that advocated for ratification of the U.S. Constitution. 

Great Depression

A period of extreme economic difficulty with high unemployment and many bankruptcies lasting from the stock market crash of 1929 until the start of World War II in 1941.

Jim Crow laws

Laws adopted by many former Confederate states that were neutral on their face but discriminated against Black people in practice.

Market Power

Market power exists when a single seller or buyer has the ability to manipulate market prices to their advantage.

Negative externality

A situation where producing a good or service imposes costs on people other than the buyer and seller.

Public good

A good or service that is nonexcludable, meaning that it is technically very difficult to exclude someone from consuming it, and nonrivalrous, meaning that one person can consume the good or service without diminishing the supply available to others. There are very few "pure" public goods but many things provided by government have these characteristics to a degree.

Separation of Powers

A system of government consisting of three separate branches performing separate functions and having the ability to check each other: legislative, executive, and judicial.

Social Security

A program adopted in 1935, funded by payroll taxes, that makes payments to people who are permanently disabled, those who are at least 62 years old and have paid payroll taxes, and surviving spouses of those who have paid payroll taxes.

Voter turnout rate

The percentage of people eligible to vote in an election who actually vote.

Anti-fedralists

A group that opposed ratification of the new constitution because of concern it would centralize power; it was ultimately responsible for the getting the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution.

Appoint and remove

Power given to the president to appoint executive agents and to remove them at will. 

Articles of Confederation

Original governing document of the United States, put into effect in 1781; it gave considerable power to the states and little to the central government.

Article I

Part of the Constitution dealing with the legislature; longest part of the Constitution.

Article II

Part of the Constitution dealing with the executive branch; heavily focused on the selection of the President.

Article III

Part of the Constitution dealing with the judiciary; it only specifies the existence of the Supreme Court.

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Amendments I to VIII protect individual rights and liberties against majority rule, while Amendments IX and X reinforce the scheme of a central government with limited powers.

Commander-in-Chief Clause

Part of Article II that appoints the president the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States; thought by many to give the President special latitude in handling foreign affairs.

Commerce Clause

The power to regulate commerce between states is given to Congress in Article I, section 8; this authority forms the backbone of the modern expansion of federal power.

Counter-majoritarian difficulty

The idea that the Supreme Court does not have a strong connection to the electorate (as its members are not selected via election) and therefore that it has little democratic legitimacy for overturning the laws created by legislatures.

Electoral College

Method for electing the president; 538 electors selected by each state cast votes for president; electoral college votes for each state are equal to the number of Representatives plus the number of Senators.

Enumerated powers

Powers of the national government explicitly set forth in the U.S. Constitution. Most of these powers are listed in Article I, section 8. 

Executive privilege

Claim by presidents that they have the right to withhold certain confidential information from Congress.

Federalism

A system of government where certain powers are reserved for the national government, other powers are reserved for the subnational governments (states), and other powers are held concurrently. 

Federalist Papers

A series of newspaper opinion essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay that advocated for ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Federalists

The name of the early political party that favored more power for the federal government.

Impeachment

The method of removing federal officials from office. This is a political, not a criminal, process that is initiated in the House of Representatives. To ultimately be removed, the Senate must vote to do so with a two-thirds majority.

Judicial review

The power of a court to declare a law unconstitutional; claimed by the Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison.

Marbury v. Madison

Early Supreme Court case in which the Court invalidated a part of congressional legislation, establishing that it had the power to hold laws unconstitutional (the power of judicial review). 

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Supreme Court case in which the Court held that Congress has the power to create a national bank by interpreting the Necessary and Proper Clause broadly. 

Necessary and Proper Clause

Clause in Article I, section 8, which has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to give the federal government a great deal of latitude in carrying out its enumerated powers. 

New Jersey Plan

A plan that builds on the Virginia Plan by proposing proportional representation in the House and equal state representation in the Senate. 

NFIB v. Sebelius

Supreme Court case that held the penalty on individuals without health insurance under the Affordable Care Act as a congruent with the power to tax.

Police Powers

A common term for the powers held by the states; often referred to as the power to regulate for the health, safety, welfare, and morals of citizens. A general power to govern.

Power to declare war

The power to declare war is given to Congress in Article I, section 8. 

Power to tax and spend

The power to raise revenue through taxation and to spend it for the "general welfare" is given to Congress in Article I, section 8. 

Presidential immunity

Claim by presidents that they cannot be sued while they serve as president; this claim has generally been rejected by the Supreme Court.

Ratification

The process by which the states, and the people in them, gave their consent to be governed by the new constitution.

Separation of Powers

A system of government consisting of three separate branches performing separate functions and having the ability to check each other: legislative, executive, and judicial. 

Shays’s Rebellion

An uprising by farmers angered by debt collection practices; helped catalyze movement for a new constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation.

Supremacy Clause

Clause in Article VI, which states that if federal and state law conflict, then federal law prevails.

Take Care Clause

Part of Article II that holds the president must take care that the laws be executed correctly; held by some to give the president certain implied powers. 

U.S. v. Lopez

Supreme Court case that held that regulation of handguns in schools by the federal government was not justified under the Commerce Clause power.

Virginia Plan

A plan to divide the government into three branches and have two houses of Congress; representation in each house would be proportional to population. 

Vesting Clause

Part of Article II, which says that the executive power is vested in the president; held by some to give the president certain implied powers. 

Wickard v. Filburn

Supreme Court case in which a regulation prevented farmers from growing wheat for home consumption as a constitutional use of the Commerce Clause power.

Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer

Supreme Court case holding that presidential authority can be placed into three categories depending on the constitutional basis for the action and congressional action, taken primarily from the concurrence of Justice Jackson.

Arizona v. U.S. (2012)

Supreme Court case which held unconstitutional a set of Arizona immigration laws that attempted "attrition through enforcement"; this case affirms that virtually all authority to regulate immigration lies with the federal government.

Block grant

A federal grant of money that bypasses a state and goes directly to a city or county.

Devolution

The shifting of power from a higher level of government (here, the federal government) to a lower level of government (here, the state governments).

Dual federalism

The belief that each unit of government is separate from the other and that each maintains its own sphere of sovereignty; in the U.S. context, the notion that there are certain areas of policy where only the states should make rules.

Federalism

A system of government where certain powers are reserved for the national government, other powers are reserved for the subnational governments (states), and other powers are held concurrently.

14th Amendment

One of the three Civil War Amendments; with respect to federalism it is important because it gives Congress the power to enforce the equal protection clause within states. It helps to shift power from the states to the federal government. Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.

Horizontal federalism

The relationship between units of government at the same level; in the U.S. context, the relationship between the state governments.

Matching grant

A federal grant of money that matches spending by the states on a particular program with spending by the federal government. 

Neoliberalism

A philosophy of government that stresses the power of free markets and that holds that government intervention in the economy is often unnecessary or inefficient.

New Deal

A series of policies, some passed and others rejected, put forward by Franklin Roosevelt to fix the economic depression of the 1930s.

Prisoner’s dilemma

A game used to illustrate that cooperation between two (or more) participants for an optimal outcome is unlikely given the individual incentives of each. 

Race to the bottom

An outgrowth of the logic of the prisoner’s dilemma, which holds that in some instances entities—here states—may get stuck with suboptimal policy outcomes as a result of competition with other entities.

17th Amendment

Abolished state legislative selection of U.S. Senators in favor of popular elections. Direct election of U.S. senators by the voters of each state. 

Shared federalism

The belief that each unit of government shares with the other units the responsibility of governing and that separate spheres of sovereignty do not exist; in the U.S. context, this is the idea that the federal government and the states should cooperate to solve problems without respect to notions of sovereignty.

10th Amendment

Part of the Bill of Rights that says that powers not given to the federal government specifically are reserved to the states, or to the people.

Unitary system

A system of government in which there is one central government; all subunits exist solely at the discretion of the central government.

Vertical federalism

The relationship between the subordinate and superior government; in the U.S. context, the relationship between the state and federal government. 

Bicameral legislature

A legislative body with two separate chambers. When a legislature has a single chamber, it is called unicameral.

Cloture (Rule 22)

The ability to stop debate in the Senate and force a vote. This is how a filibuster is stopped. Invoking cloture requires a three-fifths vote.

Committee of the Whole

A committee of every member of the House of Representatives. It is used to expedite business on the floor of the House.

Conference committees

When the House and the Senate pass two different versions of a bill, they must reconcile those differences. Conference committees are often used to do this. It is a temporary committee of supporters of the bill from both chambers who meet to negotiate a compromise bill.

Decennial census

As required by the U.S. Constitution, every 10 years the Census Bureau conducts a headcount of the entire country. These data are used for reapportionment and redistricting.

Delegate model of representation

A theoretical notion in which the representative is always voting in a way that they believe their voters prefer. They are not using their own judgement or relying on some other cue—simply voting the way a majority of their district prefers.

Descriptive representation

The notion that representatives shares characteristics (gender, race, ethnicity, etc.) similar to their constituents.

Filibuster

When a senator or group of senators control the floor of the chamber, refusing to allow a vote on a bill to happen. Instead they just give lengthy speeches, often on unrelated topics, to fill time. 

Franking privilege

Every member of Congress can send mail to their constituents paid for by the government. This includes newsletters highlighting the activities of the Representative, which can increase the chances of reelection. 

Partisan gerrymandering

When one party controls the redistricting process in a state, they may draw electoral boundaries in such a way that candidates from their party are able to win more seats compared to a map that is more neutral.

Partisan polarization

The dynamic of partisans in the country becoming ideologically different from one another—Democrats more liberal and Republicans more conservative.

Politico model of representation

A mix of the delegate and trustee model of representation. 

Qualification Clause

The section in the Constitution that spells out the requirements needed to be a member of Congress.

Reapportionment

After each census, the number of seats in the House of Representatives is adjusted to account for changes in population across the country. 

Redistricting

After reapportionment, each state must redraw the electoral boundaries for electing representatives to account for changes in population density.

Single member district

An electoral system that divides a state or country into districts, each of which elects a single representative. This is the system used for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Standing committees

Permanent committees in Congress that do most of the legislative work—writing and amending bills.

Substative representation

When a representative votes and acts on substantive matters the way a voter prefers. If the voter wants lower taxes and the representative votes for lower taxes, the voter has substantive representation.  

Term limits

A limit to the number of terms that someone may serve in office. Members of Congress are do not have term limits. The president is limited to two terms. 

Trustee model of representation

A theoretical notion that after a representative is elected they choose to vote and act on behalf of the constituents without necessarily following public opinion.   

Unanimous consent agreements

Special orders of the Senate that all members agree to.  

Veto

The ability for the President to reject a piece of legislation passed by both the House and the Senate. Congress can override a veto with two-thirds majorities in both houses.

Agenda setting

Determining what policy questions are discussed and considered for change.

Ambassador

A person sent abroad to communicate and represent the interests of one state to another.

Cabinet

The set of key officials who work for the president as heads of the most important departments and agencies.

Chief of Staff

An official, the head of the Executive Office of the President, who manages the administration of the White House and the president’s office, determining what receives the president’s time and attention. 

Commute

Shorten or eliminate a criminal sentence, while keeping the conviction in place. 

Divided government

When no party controls the House, Senate, and presidency.

Electoral College

Method for electing the president; 538 electors selected by each state cast votes for president; Electoral College votes for each state are equal to the number of representatives plus the number of senators.

Executive agreement

International agreements between two or more heads of government that do not require the advice and consent of the Senate. 

Executive order

A directive from the president to the executive branch departments and agencies specifying how they should perform their tasks and exercise their power. 

Expressed powers

Powers explicitly written in the text of the Constitution. 

Head of Government

The person running the executive branch of government, setting policies, making key decisions about government goals, and so on. Examples include the President of the United States or the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.