American Government and Politics Exam Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions, theories, constitutional concepts, federalism principles, civil liberties, and civil rights from Chapters 1 through 5.

Politics

The process of deciding who gets what, when, and how.

Government

The institution that makes and enforces collective decisions for a society.

Public Goods

Goods that are nonexcludable and nonrivalrous, meaning everyone can use them and one person's use does not reduce another's availability (e.g., national defense, clean air).

Common Goods

Goods that are nonexcludable and rivalrous, meaning everyone can access them but one person's use leaves less for others (e.g., fish, timber, clean drinking water).

Tragedy of the Commons

A situation where people overuse and deplete a common resource because nobody can easily be excluded from accessing it.

Private Goods

Goods that are excludable and rivalrous, meaning individuals can be prevented from using them and one person's consumption reduces what is available to others (e.g., food, clothing, parking spaces).

Toll Goods (Club Goods)

Goods that are excludable but nonrivalrous, meaning people must pay to use them, but one person's use does not prevent others from using them (e.g., toll roads, subscription services).

Democracy

A political system where power is controlled by the people, typically exercised through voting and elections.

Direct Democracy

A form of democracy in which citizens directly vote on policies and laws themselves rather than electing representatives.

Representative Democracy

A system of democracy where citizens elect representatives to make policy and legislative decisions on their behalf.

Majority Rule

A decision-making principle where policies are determined according to the preference of more than half of the participants (50% + 1).

Minority Rights

Guarantees ensuring that majority rule cannot deprive a minority group of fundamental rights.

Monarchy

A system of government ruled by a single person, usually a hereditary king or queen.

Oligarchy

A system of government controlled by a small group of political or economic elites.

Totalitarianism

A form of government where one ruler or small group exercises complete control over political power and major aspects of citizens' personal lives.

Elite Theory

A theoretical perspective asserting that a small group of wealthy and powerful individuals holds most political influence.

Pluralist Theory

A theoretical perspective asserting that political power is distributed among competing interest groups that influence policy.

Partisanship

Strong identification with and dedicated support for a particular political party.

Social Capital

The value, resources, and networks derived from social connections.

Federalists

Supporters of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution who favored a stronger national government.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the U.S. Constitution who feared a strong national government and advocated for explicit protections of individual rights.

Federalist Papers

A series of persuasive essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay urging Americans to ratify the Constitution.

Articles of Confederation

The first U.S. governing document in effect from 1777 to 1787, which established a weak national government incapable of taxing directly or raising an army.

Bicameral Legislature

A legislative body consisting of two separate houses or chambers, such as the U.S. Congress.

Unicameral Legislature

A legislative body consisting of a single house or chamber.

Virginia Plan

A proposal for a bicameral legislature with state representation based on population, favoring larger states.

New Jersey Plan

A proposal for a unicameral legislature with equal representation for each state, favoring smaller states.

Great Compromise

An agreement establishing a bicameral legislature with representation based on population in the House of Representatives and equal representation (2 senators per state) in the Senate.

Three-Fifths Compromise

An agreement counting enslaved individuals as three-fifths of a person for legislative representation and taxation purposes, without granting them voting rights.

Confederation

A political union where independent states retain ultimate authority and join together primarily for shared purposes.

Republic

A government system in which citizens elect representatives to govern according to constitutional law.

Natural Rights

Fundamental rights individuals are born with that governments cannot take away; defined by John Locke as life, liberty, and property.

Social Contract

An implicit agreement in which citizens surrender certain freedoms to a government in exchange for the protection of their fundamental rights.

Enumerated Powers

Powers explicitly listed and granted to the federal government in the U.S. Constitution, such as declaring war and coining money.

Reserved Powers

Powers not explicitly granted to the federal government, reserved for state authority under the 10th Amendment.

Federal System

A system of government where authority is constitutionally divided between national and state governments.

Checks and Balances

A constitutional design that grants each branch of government mechanisms to limit or veto the actions of other branches.

Separation of Powers

The division of government power among three distinct branches: legislative (makes laws), executive (enforces laws), and judicial (interprets laws).

Supremacy Clause

A constitutional provision establishing that federal law and the U.S. Constitution take precedence over conflicting state laws when constitutional authority exists.

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantee individual liberties and legal protections.

Unitary System

A political framework where subnational or local governments derive all power from a centralized national government.

Concurrent Powers

Powers shared and exercised simultaneously by both national and state governments, such as taxing and borrowing money.

Elastic Clause

Also known as the Necessary and Proper Clause, it allows Congress to pass laws necessary to execute its enumerated powers.

Block Grant

Federal funding allocated to state or local governments with broad discretion and minimal restrictions on implementation.

Categorical Grant

Federal funding allocated for specific, narrow purposes accompanied by administrative requirements and restrictions.

Creeping Categorization

The gradual addition of federal rules and conditions to block grants, turning them into categorical grants.

Unfunded Mandate

A federal law or directive requiring state or local implementation without providing sufficient federal funding to cover costs.

Dual Federalism

A governance model where state and national governments operate strictly within independent, clearly defined spheres of authority (layer cake federalism).

Cooperative Federalism

A governance model where state, national, and local jurisdictions collaborate jointly to address public policy issues (marble cake federalism).

New Federalism

A political philosophy aimed at decentralizing power by returning decision-making authority and funding control to state governments.

Ex Post Facto Law

A law that criminalizes an act or increases penalties retroactively after the act was committed.

Full Faith and Credit Clause

A constitutional mandate requiring states to recognize and enforce the public acts, records, and legal judgments of other states.

Privileges and Immunities Clause

A constitutional provision prohibiting states from discriminating against out-of-state residents regarding basic rights.

Nullification

The doctrine that an individual state retains the legal right to void any federal law it deems unconstitutional.

Race to the Bottom

A situation where states compete for corporate investment by continually deregulating and lowering corporate taxes, reducing services or social protections.

Venue Shopping

The practice of selecting a specific level or branch of government where an interest group believes it has the highest chance of policy success.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

A legal procedure requiring the government to present a detained individual before a judge and state valid legal reasons for imprisonment.

Civil Liberties

Constitutional protections that secure personal freedoms against improper government interference.

Civil Rights

Guarantees of equal treatment and protection against discrimination by government bodies or private actors.

First Amendment

Guarantees freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition (RAPPS).

Blue Law

A statute restricting certain business activities or retail sales, traditionally enforced on Sundays.

Establishment Clause

A First Amendment provision prohibiting the federal government from establishing or officially endorsing a national religion.

Free Exercise Clause

A First Amendment provision guarding citizens' rights to practice their religion without arbitrary governmental interference.

Symbolic Speech

Nonverbal forms of expression—such as wearing symbols or armbands—that are protected under the First Amendment.

Prior Restraint

Government action that censors or prevents publication or speech before it actually occurs.

Probable Cause

A reasonable legal standard based on facts and circumstances demonstrating that a crime has occurred or evidence will be discovered.

Exclusionary Rule

A legal doctrine prohibiting law enforcement from using evidence in court that was obtained through unconstitutional searches and seizures.

Double Jeopardy

A 5th Amendment constitutional protection preventing a defendant from being tried twice for the exact same offense following an acquittal.

Self-Incrimination

The constitutional right protected under the 5th Amendment that prevents individuals from being forced to give evidence or testimony against themselves.

Miranda Warning

The requirement that officers inform suspect individuals in custody of their constitutional rights, including the right to remain silent and to counsel.

Eminent Domain

The constitutional power of government under the 5th Amendment to confiscate private property for public purpose provided just monetary compensation is paid.

Selective Incorporation

The legal process by which the Supreme Court applied individual guarantees of the Bill of Rights to state governments via the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause.

Equal Protection Clause

A 14th Amendment provision mandating that state governments treat all similarly situated individuals equally under the law.

Rational Basis Test

The standard of judicial scrutiny requiring the government to show that a legal classification is reasonably related to a legitimate state objective.

Intermediate Scrutiny

The standard of judicial scrutiny applied primarily to gender classifications, requiring government to demonstrate that the policy is substantially related to an important state goal.

Strict Scrutiny

The highest standard of judicial review, applied to racial classifications and fundamental rights, requiring government to show a compelling state interest achieved through narrowly tailored means.

Affirmative Action

Targeted programs and policies aimed at remedying past institutional discrimination and expanding access for historically underrepresented groups.

Black Codes

Discriminatory laws enacted by Southern states following the Civil War to severely limit the economic autonomy, freedom, and civil rights of Black Americans.

Reconstruction

The historical era from 1865 to 1877 during which former Confederate states were reorganized and federal civil rights for newly freed Black individuals were established.

Jim Crow Laws

State and municipal statutes across the American South that institutionalized racial segregation and political disenfranchisement.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 Supreme Court ruling that upheld state-mandated racial segregation under the doctrine of 'separate but equal'.

Brown v. Board of Education

A landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision that invalidated state-enforced racial segregation in public schools under the Equal Protection Clause.

De Jure Segregation

Racial segregation mandated and enforced directly by legal statutes.

De Facto Segregation

Racial segregation that occurs as a practical matter or through economic patterns rather than explicit legislative authority.

Disenfranchisement

The systematic removal or restrictions placed on an individual's or group's constitutional right to vote.

Grandfather Clause

A legal exemption permitting illiterate white voters to bypass voting restrictions if their direct ancestors had voter eligibility prior to the Civil War.

White Primary

Primary elections restricted strictly to white voters, later declared unconstitutional in Smith v. Allwright (1944).

Civil Disobedience

The intentional, peaceful, and public violation of an unjust law undertaken as a moral protest.

Direct Action

Public action strategies—such as strikes, marches, and boycotts—used to confront inequality directly without waiting on political representatives.

Coverture

A traditional common-law doctrine in which a woman's legal identity and economic rights were subordinated entirely to her husband upon marriage.

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

A proposed constitutional amendment asserting that rights cannot be denied or abridged on account of sex.

Glass Ceiling

An unseen barrier that prevents qualified women and minorities from rising to top executive positions within organizations.

Title IX

A federal law passed in 1972 banning sex discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving federal financial support.

Trail of Tears

The forced 1830s eviction and relocation of Southeastern Native American nations west of the Mississippi River by federal authority.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

A Native American activist organization founded in the 1960s to campaign for Indigenous sovereignty and civil rights.