AP U.S. Government (Chapter 3)

A way of organizing the nation so that two or more levels of government share formal authority over the same area and people.

Federalism

A central government that holds supreme power in a nation. Most national governments today are unitary governments.

Unitary Government

The entire set of interactions among national, state, and local governments- including regulations, transfer of funds, and the sharing of information- that constitute the workings of the federal systems.

Intergovernmental Relations

The clause in Article VI of the Constitution that makes the Constitution, national laws, and treaties supreme over state laws as long as the national government is acting within its constitutional limits.

Supremacy Clause

The constitutional amendment stating, “The powers 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.”

Tenth Amendment

An 1819 Supreme Court decision that established the supremacy of the national government over the state governments. The court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, held that Congress had certain implied powers in addition to the powers enumerated in the Constitution.

McCulloch v. Maryland

Powers of the federal government that are listed explicitly in the Constitution. For example, Article I, Section 8, specifically gives Congress the power to coin money and regulate its value and to impose taxes.

Enumerated 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 powers enumerated in Article I.

Implied Powers

The final paragraph of Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which authorizes Congress to pass all laws “necessary and proper” to carry out the enumerated powers.

Elastic Clause

A landmark case decided in 1824 in which the Supreme Court interpreted very broadly the clause in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution and defined the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce as encompassing virtually every form of commercial activity.

Gibbons v. Ogden