AP Government Unit 1

Pluralism Theory

Politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies. Because many groups compete, there is not one group that dominates.

Elitism

An upper-class of elites hold the power and makes policy, regardless of the formal governmental organization.

Hyperpluralism

Groups are so strong that government, which gives in to the many different groups, is thereby weakened. Government becomes ineffective due to the power of competing interest groups.

Articles of Confederation

1st Constitution of the U.S. 1781-1788. Each state retained sovereignty, the ability to act independently of the Confederation. Each state had equal representation in a unicameral legislature.

Shays's rebellion

Rebellion led by farmers in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787, protesting mortgage foreclosures. It highlighted the need for a strong national government just as the call for the Constitutional Convention went out.

Checks and Balances

A system that provides each branch of government with powers to check the other branches and prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful.

Separation of Powers

A way of dividing the power of government among the legislative, executive, and judicial branch to prevent tyranny.

Popular Sovereignty

A doctrine in political theory that government is created by and subject to the will of the people. The people are entitled to a say in their government.

Bicameral

A legislature consisting of two parts, or houses, with separate rules.

Federalists

Those who favored a stronger national government and weaker state governments. Supported the ratification of the Constitution.

Anti-Federalist

Those who favored strong state governments and a weaker national government. Advocated for a bill of rights to formally address individual and state rights. Concerned about the concentration of power in a central government under the Constitution.

Federalism

A system of government with separate and overlapping powers and responsibilities that are divided and shared between two levels of government (federal and state).

Supremacy Clause

Article VI of the Constitution, establishes that the federal constitution, and federal law generally, take precedence over state laws, and even state constitutions. It prohibits states from interfering with the federal government's exercise of its constitutional powers, and from assuming any functions that are exclusively entrusted to the federal government.

Virginia Plan

The proposal at the Constitutional Convention that called for representation of each state in Congress to be proportional to its population.

New Jersey Plan

The proposal at the Constitutional Convention that called for equal representation of each state in Congress regardless of the size of the state's population.

Connecticut Compromise/ Great Compromise

Agreement made by states at the Constitutional Convention that established a bicameral legislature: the House of Representatives, in which representation is based on a state's population; and the Senate, in which each state has two representatives.

Democratic Republic

A form of government in which the people select representatives to govern them and make laws.

Three-fifths clause

Agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention: three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for determining direct taxation and representation in the House of Representatives (seen in Article I, Sec. 2).

Federalist Papers

A collection of 85 essays that advocate ratification of the Constitution and provide insightful commentary on the nature of the new system of government.

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the US Constitution, drafted in response to some of the Anti-Federalists' concerns.

Necessary and Proper Clause/Elastic Clause

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which allows Congress to make all laws that are "necessary and proper" to carry out the powers of the Constitution.

Commerce Clause

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations.

Concurrent Powers

Powers which are shared by both the federal government and state governments.

Cooperative Federalism

A system of government in which powers and policy assignments are shared/overlap across multiple levels of government (local, state, and the federal government).

Dual Federalism

A system of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres, each with different powers and policy responsibilities.

Enumerated (Expressed) Powers

Powers explicitly granted to the Federal government in the Constitution, and specifically Congress, which are mostly listed in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.

Implied Powers

Powers not specifically mentioned in the Constitution; assumed to exist due to their being necessary to implement the expressed powers that are named in Article I. Constitutional basis in Necessary and Proper/Elastic Clause.

Inherent Powers

Powers that exist for the national government because the government is sovereign.

Reserved Powers

Powers belonging to the states and the people; Powers not specifically granted to the federal government or denied to the states. Granted by the 10th Amendment.

Unitary Government

A sovereign state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority.

Block Grants

Federal money given to the states with limited spending guidelines. Allows the states power to decide how to spend funds within relatively loose guidelines.

Categorical Grants

Federal money given to the states with specific spending guidelines. Gives the federal government the power to decide how funds are spent within the state. They come with strings attached.

Formula Grants

Categorical grants distributed according to a formula specified in legislation.

Project Grant

A type of categorical grant given for specific purposes and awarded on the basis of the merits of applications.

Devolution

Transferring responsibility for policies from the federal government to state and local governments.

Federal Mandate

An order given by the federal government that states must follow and pay for themselves.

Intrastate Commerce

Commerce within a state, commercial activity regulated at the state level.

Interstate Commerce

Commerce between different states, can be regulated by Congress.

Full Faith and Credit Clause

Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, addresses the duties that states within the United States have to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state."

Writ of Habeas Corpus

A court order requiring authorities to explain to a judge what lawful reason they have for holding a person in custody.

Bill of Attainder

An act of a legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without a trial.

Ex Post Facto Law

A law that punishes people people for acts that were not illegal when they were done or retroactively increases the penalties for illegal acts.

Fiscal Federalism

The pattern of spending, taxing, and providing grants in the federal system.

Eminent Domain

The right of a government or its agent to take private property for public use, with payment of compensation.

Exclusive Powers

Powers reserved to only the federal government or the states

Privileges and Immunities Clause

Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution, protects fundamental rights of individual citizens and restrains state efforts to discriminate against out-of-state citizens.

Declaration of Independence

Philosophical and political objections to the British crown, based on John Locke's works.

The United States Constitution

The Supreme Law of the Land, replaced the Articles of Confederation, established a limited government based on powers being shared between the state and national governments

Natural Rights

Rights inherent in human beings, not dependant on governments.

Limited Government

government's power and authority should be restricted by a defined set of laws to ensure that it cannot infringe upon individual rights and freedoms

Factions

Groups such as interest groups that share a common political purpose. They arise due to the unequal distribution of wealth.

Political Participation

All the activities by which citizens attempt to influence the selection of political leaders and the policies they pursue.

Participatory Democracy

A form of government in which citizens participate individually and directly in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, rather than through elected representatives.

Policymaking System

The process by which policy comes into being and evolves.

Linkage Institutions

The political channels through which people's concerns become political issues on the policy agenda. Political Parties, Campaigns + Elections, Interest Groups, and the Media.

Policy Agenda

The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people involved in policies at a point in time.

Policymaking Institutions

The branches of government charged with taking action on political issues.

Public Policy

A choice that government makes in response to a political issue. A course of action taken with regard to some problem.

Policy Impacts

The effects a policy has on people and problems. Analyzed to see how well a policy has met its goal and at what cost.

Democracy

A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections

Majority Rule

The principle that the greater number should exercise greater power.

Minority Rights

Theory that guarantees rights to those who do not belong to the majority.

Representation

Describes the relationship between the few leaders and the many followers.

Policy Gridlock

A condition that occurs when interests conflict and no coalition is strong enough to form a majority and establish policy.

Autocracy

A system of government by one person with absolute power.

Judicial Review

The courts are vested with the authority to determine the legitimacy of the acts of the executive and the legislative branches of government. Established in Marbury v. Madison (1803).

Preemption

The right of a federal law or regulation to preclude enforcement of a state or local law or regulation. Based on the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, federal law overrides state law, even when the laws conflict.

State of Nature

The basis of natural rights philosophy; a condition of people living in a situation without man-made government, rules, or laws.

Social Contract

An implicit agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits, for example by sacrificing some individual freedom for state protection.