VA DE Gov Unit 1

The first 10 amendments to the US Constitution, which largely guarantee specific rights and liberties

The first 10 amendments to the US Constitution, which largely guarantee specific rights and liberties

Bill of Rights

The distribution of constitutional authority between state governments and the national government, with different powers and functions exercised by both

Federalism

The powers of the national government specifically granted to Congress in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution

Enumerated Powers

The constitutionally mandated structure that gives each of the three branches of government some degree of oversight and control over the actions of the others

Checks and Balances

A check the judicial branch has on the legislative branch

Judicial Review

A check the executive branch has on the legislative branch

Veto Legislation

A check the legislative branch has on the judicial branch

Impeach federal judges

The French baron and political theorist who first articulated the concept of separation of powers with checks and balances

Montesquieu

Portion of Article VI of the Constitution mandating that national law is supreme over all other laws passed by the states or by any other subdivision of government

Supremacy Clause

Powers that belong to the president because they can be inferred from the Constitution

Inherent powers

A series of eighty-five political essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay in support of ratification of the U.S. Constitution

Federalist Papers

The first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was a diplomat and co-author of the Federalist Papers

John Jay

Those who favored a stronger national government and supported the proposed U.S. Constitution, they later became the first U.S. political party

Federalists

Those who favored strong state government; they opposed ratification of the U.S. Constitution

Anti-Federalists

A way of dividing the power of government among the legislative, executive and judicial branches

Separation of powers

An executive check on the judicial branch

Appoint federal judges

The “Father of the Constitution” and co-author of the Federalist Papers

James Madison

The proposed framework for the Constitution favoring large states. It called for a bicameral legislature which would appoint executive and judicial officers

Virginia Plan

Agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention stipulating that three-fifths of the total slave population of each state was to be for purposes of determining population for representation in the U.S. House of Representatives

Three-Fifths Compromise

The framework for the Constitution proposed by a group of small states. It called for a one-house legislature with one vote for each state, a Congress with the ability to raise revenue and a Supreme Court appointed for life

New Jersey Plan

The compact between the thirteen original colonies that created a loose league of friendship, with the national government drawing its powers from the states

Articles of Confederation

The final decision of the Constitutional Convention to create a two-house legislature, with the lower house elected by the people and powers divided between the two houses; also made national law supreme

Great Compromise

A law declaring an act illegal without a judicial trial.

Bill of Attainder

A type of government in which the national government derives its powers from the states; a league of independent states

Confederation

Powers shared by the national and state governments

Concurrent Powers

A large grant given to a state by the federal government with only general spending guidelines

Block Grant

A form of government in which the right to participate depends on the possession of wealth, social status, military position, or achievement

Oligarchy

Law that makes an act punishable as a crime, even if the action was legal at the time it was committed

Ex-post facto Law

Contracts between states that carry the force of law ; generally now used as a tool to address multistate policy concerns

Interstate Compacts

System of government in which that national government and state governments share power and derive all authority from the people

Federal System

The belief that having separate and equally powerful levels of government is the best arrangement, often referred to as layer-cake federalism

Dual Federalism

City governments created in response to the emergence of relatively densely populated areas

Municipalities

The powers of the national government derived from the enumerated powers and the necessary and proper clause

Implied Powers

The political program enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s that greatly expanded the role of the federal government in order to combat the effects of the Great Depression

New Deal

Powers provided to the states by the Tenth Amendment that lie at the foundation of a state’s right to legislate for the public health and welfare of its citizens

Reserved Powers

Supreme Court ruling that, before the Civil War, limited the applicability of the Bill of Rights to the federal government and not to the states

Barron v. Baltimore (1833)

Federal-state relationship proposed by the Reagan administration during the 1980s; hallmark is returning administrative powers to the state governments

New Federalism

The Supreme Court upheld broad congressional power to regulate interstate commerce. The Court’s broad interpretation of the Constitution’s commerce clause paved the way for later rulings upholding expansive federal powers

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

Reform program begun in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson that was a broad attempt to combat poverty and discrimination through the urban renewal, education reform, and unemployment relief

Great Society

A Supreme Court decision that ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional and denied citizenship rights to enslaved African Americans. This decision heightened tensions between the pro-slavery South and the abolitionist North in the run up to the Civil War

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

The Supreme Court upheld the power of the national government and denied the right of the state to tax the federal bank, using the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. The Court’s broad interpretation of the necessary and proper clause paved the way for later ruling upholding expansive federal powers

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

A unilateral assertion of independence by a geographic region within a country. The eleven Southern states making up the Confederacy during the Civil War claimed to do this from the United States

Secession

The intertwined relationship between national, state, and local governments that began with the New Deal; often referred to as marble-cake federalism

Cooperative Federalism

A pragmatic approach to federalism that views relations between national and state governments as both coercive and cooperative

Progressive Federalism

A form of government in which power is vested in hereditary kings and queens who govern the entire society

Monarchy

A premise articulated by in 1868 that states that local governments don’t have any inherent sovereignty and instead must be authorized by state governments that can create or abolish them

Dillon's Rule

Grants that appropriate federal funds to states for a specific purpose

Categorical Grant

System of government in which the local and regional governments derive all authority from a strong national government

Unitary System

The belief in the right of a state to declare a federal law null and void

Nullification

Presidential Emoluments Clause - The President cannot be compensated for his or her position while in office outside of his or her fixed salary

Article II, Section 1, Clause 7

Supremacy Clause - Establishes the U.S. Constitution as the supreme law of the land with all federal, state, and local laws subordinate to it

Article VI, Clause 2

Necessary and Proper Clause - The Congress may make laws that the Constitution does not explicitly state, but that may be necessary to carry out the enumerated powers

Article I, Section 8, Clause 18

Establishment Clause - Congress cannot make a law which would endorse or show favoritism toward any religion

1st Amendment

Free Exercise Clause - Congress cannot make a law that restricts a person’s right to practice the religion of their choosing

1st Amendment

Origination Clause - All bills for raising revenue (taxes) must begin in the House of Representatives

Article I, Section 7, Clause 1

Commerce Clause - Congress has the authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and between the states

Article I, Section 8, Clause 3

Commander-in-Chief Clause - The President shall be in charge of the army and the navy

Article II, Section 2, Clause 1

Privileges and Immunities Clause (also known as Comity Clause) - States may not treat residents of other states in a discriminatory manner

Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1

Reserved Powers Clause - Any power not given to the national government or explicitly prohibited to the states is reserved to the states or to the people

10th Amendment

Equal Protection Clause- All people should be treated equally under the law

14th Amendment, Section 1

War Powers Clause - Congress has the power to declare war

Article I, Section 8, Clause 11

Titles of Nobility Clause (also called Foreign Emoluments Clause)- Prohibits the federal government from granting titles of nobility and restricts members of the federal government from receiving gifts or titles from foreign states without Congress’s approval

Article I, Section 9, Clause 8

Ineligibility Clause- Prohibits members of Congress from holding an office in the executive or judicial branches

Article I, Section 6, Clause 2

Advice and Consent Clause - The President may appoint ambassadors, public officials, and Judges of the Supreme Court with the simple majority approval of the Senate and may make treaties with 2/3 majority approval of the Senate

Article II, Section 2, Clause 2