AP Gov Week 1 Vocab

government

institution through which public policies are made for a society

collective good

goods and services, such as clean air and clean water that by their nature cannot be denied to anyone ( goods and services that cannot be denied)

policymaking system

process by which policy comes into being and evolves. People’s interest, problems, and concerns create political issues for government policymakers. These issues shape policy, which in turn impacts people, generating more interests, problems, and concerns. (how policies are made based on the people’s current interests, problems, and concerns)

federalism

way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels of government share formal authority over the same area and people (two bodies of government over the same are ex. state and federal)

unitary government

central government that holds supreme power in a nation, most nation governments today are this (one high supreme authority)

intergovernmental relations

refers to the entire set of interactions among national, state, and local governments, including regulations, the transfers of funds, and the sharing of information

supremacy clause

clause in Article VI of the Constitution that makes the Constitution, national laws, and treaties supreme over state law as long as the federal government is working within its constitutional limits (federal supersedes state as long as it is constitutional)

tenth admendment

constitutional amendment stating “The power 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.”

McCulloch v Maryland

1819 Supreme Court decision that established the supremacy of the federal government over state governments. The Court led by Chief Justice John Marshall held that Congress had certain implied powers in addition to the enumerated powers in the Constitution. (Held that Congress had implied powers and that they did have the power to set up a federal bank that couldn’t be taxed by the states)

enumerated powers

powers specifically listed in Article I of the Constitution. These included coining money and regulating its value, imposing taxes, and so forth. (powers listed in the constitution)

implied powers

powers of the federal government that go beyond those enumerated in the Constitution, in accordance with the statement in the Constitution that Congress has the power to “make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers” the powers enumerated in Article 1. (powers of government not in the constitution)

elastic clause

final paragraph of Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution which authorizes Congress to pass all laws”necessary and proper” to carry out the enumerated powers (congress can pass laws to support the ones outlined in the Constitution)

Gibbons v Ogden

1824 case in which the Supreme Courts interpreted very broadly the clause in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution and defined the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce as encompassing virtually every form of commercial activity

full faith and credit

Article IV of the Constitution requires that each state recognizes to the public acts, records, and civil judicial proceedings of every other state (records and responsibilities hold across state lines)

extradition

states are required to return a person charged with a crime in another state to that state for trial or imprisonment (no harboring criminals)

privileges and immunities

provision of the Constitution according citizens of each state the privileges of citizens of any state which they happen to be (no different privileges to out of state people)

dual federalism

system of gevernment in which the states and national government each remain supreme within their own spheres, each with different powers and policy resposibilities (distinct resposibilties for each layer of government)

cooperative federalism

system of government in which state and the national government share powers and policy assignments (indistinct layers betweent the two layers of government)

devolution

transferring responsibility for policies from the federal government to state and local government (giving policy responsibilities back to the states from the federal government)

fiscal federalism

pattern of spending, taxing, and providing grants in the federal system; it is the cornerstone of the national government’s relations with state and local governments (the spending, taxing, and providing of grants in the federal system which is also used to influence state and local governments)

categorical grants

federal grants that can be used only for specific purposes, or categories, of state and local spending. The come with strings attached, such as nondiscrimination provisions (federal grants the can only be used for specific purposes)

project grants

federal categorical grants given for specific purposes and awarded on the basis of the merits of applications (federal grants given on the basis of competitive applications

formula grants

federal categorical grants distributed according to a formula specified in legislation or in administrative regulations (federal grants that use a formula to determine how much money that state or local government receives)

block grants

federal grants given more or less automatically to states or communities to support broad programs in areas such as community development and social services (federal grants given to states or communities to support broad programs in areas)