American Government and Civil Engagement Flashcards

Flashcards for key vocabulary terms from the lecture notes on American Government and Civil Engagement.

Civic Engagement

Ensures representative democracy flourishes and citizens influence government.

Government

The means by which a society organizes itself and allocates authority to achieve collective goals and provide benefits.

Politics

The process of gaining and exercising control with a government for setting and achieving particular goals.

Natural Rights (John Locke)

Rights to life, liberty, and property.

Individualism

Promoted by democratic government and capitalism, emphasizing freedom of choice.

Socialism

System where the government owns the means of generating wealth and redistributes it to citizens.

Oligarchy

Government where only members of a certain political party or ruling elite can participate.

Private Goods

Goods and services provided by private businesses for profit.

Public Goods

Goods provided by the government, such as education.

Toll Goods

Goods available to many people if they can pay the price (e.g., private schooling).

Common Goods

Goods that all people may use free of charge but are of limited supply (e.g., fish in the sea).

Republic

The US government is categorized as this.

Representative Democracy

Citizens elect representatives to make decisions and pass laws.

Majority Rule

Opinions of the majority have more influence.

Minority Rights

Protected in representative governments, ensuring people are not deprived of certain rights.

Direct Democracy

People participate directly in making government decisions.

Monarchy

Government in which one ruler holds political power, usually hereditary.

Totalitarianism

Government controls every aspect of citizens’ lives (e.g., North Korea).

Elite Theory

Belief that a set of elite citizens is really in charge of government.

Pluralist Theory

Belief that political power rests with competing interest groups who share influence.

Social Capital

Collective value of all social networks and inclinations to do things for each other.

Committed Partisanship

Tendency to identify with and support a particular party.

Ideology

Established beliefs and ideals that help shape political policy.

Latent Preferences

Beliefs that are not deeply held and do not remain the same over time.

Intense Preferences

Beliefs based on strong feelings regarding an issue that someone adheres to over time.

Constitution

Culmination of American and British political thought designed out of necessity.

Social Contract

People created government, giving up freedom for protection of rights.

Seven Years War

War between Great Britain and France that changed the relationship between Britain and the American colonies.

Stamp Act of 1765

Tax that angered colonists, requiring revenue stamps on paper goods.

Townshend Acts

Taxes imposed on everyday objects like glass, tea, and paint.

Coercive Acts

Acts intended to punish Boston and Massachusetts for their defiance.

Articles of Confederation

Formed the basis of a new national government ratified in 1781.

Confederation

Entity in which independent states form a union for acting together in areas such as defense.

Shays' Rebellion

Exposed the issues of national defense under the Articles of Confederation.

Constitutional Convention (1787)

Called to find resolutions to the problems of the Articles of Confederation.

Virginia Plan

Called for bicameral legislature in which representation in both chambers was based on population.

New Jersey Plan

Called for unicameral legislature in which each state would have one vote.

Great Compromise

Combined Virginia and New Jersey Plans- bicameral legislature with representation based on population in the House and equal representation in the Senate.

Three-Fifths Compromise

Allowed slave states to count their entire free population and sixty percent of their state's enslaved population for apportionment purposes.

Separation of Powers

Divided the power of the national government into three branches.

Checks and Balances

Ability of government branches to restrict the power and actions of other branches.

Enumerated Powers

Powers specifically written in the US Constitution and given to Congress.

Supremacy Clause

Federal law is the supreme law of the land when federal and state law conflict.

Federalists

Supported ratification of the Constitution.

Anti-Federalists

Opposed ratification of the Constitution because they distrusted elites and a strong national government.

The Federalist Papers

Essays written by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton to persuade New York to ratify the Constitution.

Bill of Rights

First ten amendments to the US Constitution.

Federalism

System that divides power between two levels of government (states and federal government)

Unitary System

System where subnational governments are dependent on the national government.

Devolution

Decentralizing the power of a centralized government.

Enumerated Powers

Powers in Article I, Section 8, defining the boundaries of federal government authority.

Elastic Clause

Enables Congress to make all laws necessary and proper to carry out its enumerated powers.

Tenth Amendment

Affirms the reserved powers of the states.

Concurrent Powers

Shared and overlapping powers between the federal government and states.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

Enables someone in custody to petition a judge to determine if their detention is legal.

Bill of Attainder

Legislative action declaring someone guilty without a trial.

Ex Post Facto Law

Law that criminalizes an act retroactively.

Full Faith and Credit Clause

Requires states to accept court decisions, public acts, and contracts of other states.

Privileges and Immunities Clause

Prohibits states from discriminating against out-of-staters.

Sixteenth Amendment

Authorized Congress to impose income taxes.

Federal Grants

Transfer money to state and local governments to pursue federal policy objectives.

Implied Powers

Powers of Congress established in McCulloch v. Maryland

Nullification

Idea states had the right to reject national laws.

Dual Federalism

National government and states have exclusive authority in distinct spheres of jurisdiction (layer cake).

Cooperative Federalism

Programs and authority are mixed among national, state, and local governments (marble cake).

New Federalism

Decentralization of policies to enhance efficiency and improve policy outcomes.

Categorical Grants

Federal transfers that limit recipients’ discretion in the use of funds.

Block Grants

Grants providing recipients more flexibility over how to spend grant funds.

Unfunded Mandates

Federal laws and regulations imposing obligations on state and local governments without full compensation.

Immigration Federalism

Gradual movement of states into the immigration policy domain.

Venue Shopping

Strategy in which interest groups select the level and branch of government they calculate will be most advantageous for them.

Liberty

Became an important concept about people consenting to be governed.

Adam Smith

Argued that all people should be free to acquire property.

Magna Carta

Recognized the British government's duty to protect the lives, liberties, and property of English citizens.

English Bill of Rights

Heavily influenced John Locke's ideas and the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Republicanism

A regime in which the people, not a monarch, held power and elected representatives to govern according to the rule of law.

Federalism

Safeguards state interests while also creating a strong union with a capable central government.

Full faith and credit clause

Requires the states to accept court decisions, public acts, and contracts of other states.

Federal Grants

They do not have to be repaid and encourage state and local governments to pursue federal policy objectives they may not adopt, otherwise.

McCulloch v. Maryland

Supreme Court argued that Congress could create a national bank and that Maryland could not tax it.

Gibbons v. Ogden

Supreme Court ruled that Congress could regulate navigation and that federal law superseded state law.

General revenue sharing programs

These programs distributed funds to the state and local governments with minimal restrictions on how the money was spent.

American Revolution

American colonists were proud to be British citizens and proclaimed their loyalty to the king.

Second Continental Congress

Delegates met again in 1775 at the Second Continental Congress. However, the war between the colonies and Great Britain had already started with the battles of Lexington and Concord.

July 2, 1776

The Continental Congress declared independence from Great Britain.

Dual Federalism

The national government and states have exclusive authority in distinct and delineated spheres of jurisdiction.

First Continental Congress

Delegates developed a declaration of rights and grievances.

American system

has, multiple levels and branches giving people and groups several places where they can engage with government.

C. Wright Mills

Argued that government was controlled by business, military, and political elites.

Checks and balances

has blocked federal responses to important national issues.

Failure at one level of government

can be offset by success at another level of government.

Politics

is the process by which choices are made regarding how resources will be allocated and which economic and social policies government will pursue; who gets what and how.

Government makes laws

to maintain order and ensure the efficient functioning of society.

The delegates met again in 1775 at the Second Continental Congress

However, the war between the colonies and Great Britain had already started with the battles of Lexington and Concord.

Constitution

does not guarantee protection of individual liberties.

The lack of a Bill of Rights

was especially problematic in Virginia.

Elite rule of government

is easier if ordinary people make no effort to participate in public life.

Representative democracy

cannot function effectively without informed citizens.

In the US, the capitalist system

provides many goods and services.

US system

has, multiple levels and branches. This gives people and groups several places where they can engage with government.