Government Test 1

Describe the relationship between the American colonies and Great Britain

colonies were under auth​ori​ty of Britain (King George III)
distance made governing difficult
colonies were an important source of revenue and raw materials

What were the principals contained in Common Sense?

argued against British rule of colonies
called for immediate action to secure independence for the colonies
British government was: tyrannical, unwieldly, inefficient, unfair

What were John Locke's "natural rights?"

life, liberty, and property
government was formed from a social contract between citizens and government

What was the Sugar Act & when was it implemented?

parliament introduced this in 1764; increased the duties on many goods from abroad

What was the Stamp Act & when was it implemented?

parliament introduced this in 1765; taxed the sale of printed paper goods

What happened in response to the Sugar and Stamp Act (colonists reactions)?

Massachusetts created "Committee of Correspondence" to coordinate responses to the Sugar Act
Virginia House of Burgesses passed the Virginia Resolves ("No Taxation without representation"

What were some key parts of the Articles of Confederation?

created by the Continental Congress
created a "league of friendship" between the states
unicameral legislature
no executive OR judicial
government couldn't tax, borrow/spend, regulate interstate commerce
each state operated as a sovereign nation

What were the Constitutional plans?

The Virginia Plan
The New Jersey Plan
The Great Compromise
The Three-Fifths Compromise

What were some key parts of the Virginia Plan? What states would it benefit?

written by James Madison
bicameral legislative branch
benefit larger states; population based

What were some key parts of the The New Jersey Plan? What states would it benefit?

written by William Paterson
unicameral legislative body
represented smaller states; each state had one vote

What were some key parts of The Great Compromise?

written by Roger Sherman
designed to balance concerns of all involved
upper house - two people from each State
lower house - based on population

What was the Three-Fifths Compromise?

for every 5 slaves in the population, 3 counted as people

What did the founding fathers hope to avoid when creating three branches of government?

protect from one branch becoming too powerful
stop government overreach
no branch can act unilaterally
Federalist Paper No. 51 addresses this

What is the Elastic Clause? What Supreme Court case addressed this?

Supreme Court ruled that Congress had implied powers under the necessary and proper clause (Article 1, Section 8); McCulloch v. Maryland

What were the Federalist Papers? Who wrote them?

series of essays in support of the Constitution; Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison

What was addressed in Federalist Paper No. 10?

factions and political conflicts

What was addressed in Federalist Paper No. 46?

state/federal government are separate, but they work together

What was addressed in Federalist Paper No. 51?

reasoning behind separation of powers, checks and balances

What was addressed in Federalist Paper No. 84

address the lack of Bill of Rights in the Constitution

What were the Civil War Amendments? What did each one do?

13th Amendment - barred slavery (1865)
14th Amendment - equal protection and due process of law for all (1868)
15th Amendment - right to vote, regardless of race (1870)

What is a strict constructionist?

someone that believes that the Constitution is NOT open to judicial interpretation; should be strictly followed how it is written

What did the Marbury v. Madison case deal with?

judicial review
Supreme Court has the right to review acts of Congress for constitutionality

What is federalism?

power is divided between national and state government

What is the Unitary System of government? What are advantages and disadvantages to this system?

power rests entirely with the national government
Advantage: centralize power and allow for organized rule
Disadvantage: place limits on local authorities

What are reserved powers? What are some examples of this?

powers granted by the Constitution to the states as opposed to the federal government.
examples: family law, administration of elections

What are concurrent powers? What are some examples?

powers shared by both the states and the federal government.
examples: power to tax, police power

What is the purpose of the Supremacy Clause? What is it?

determined the Constitution to be the supreme law of the land

What is the importance of the 14th amendment? What did it introduce into the Constitution

guaranteed equal protection and due process for all
enhanced the supremacy of the national government over the states
introduced incorporation

What is incorporation?

the doctrine that states cannot infringe on the rights of citizenship

What is the Full Faith and Credit clause? What part of the Constitution does it come from?

states must recognize each other's contracts and public records.
comes from Article IV, Section 1

What federal policies began to shape cooperative federalism into what it is today? What did these policies do in relation to national supremacy?

Roosevelt's "New Deal" policies enacted in the 1930s.
they were an expansion of federal power into areas such as education, health, and welfare

Why was the National Labor Relations Board v. Jones and Laughlin Steel Supreme Court case a turning point in Roosevelt's approach to federalism?

the Court began to allow the expansion of federal power under the New Deal programs

What is "New Federalism?" Who introduced it? What process was involved in making it possible?

policy of returning power to the states, accompanied by cuts in federal funding
introduced by Reagan
through a process of devolution

What is devolution?

the transfer of power back to the states

What did the Court decide in Gibbons v. Ogden and why is it important?

The Supreme Court established the federal government's ability to regulate interstate commerce
a landmark 1824 Supreme Court case, decided under the Marshall Supreme Court

What is the Affordable Care Act

law that regulates health insurance companies and expands Medicaid to increase the number of Americans with health insurance.

Why was there a desire of Americans to protect individual liberties?

American's experience under the monarchy led to a resentment of distant and intrusive government and a desire to protect individual rights

What did the Federalists think of the Bill of Rights? Why was this their argument?

they were opposed to the Bill of Rights
believed that the separation of power/checks and balances would ensure that the government couldn't interfere with individual rights

what did Anti-Federalists think of the Bill of Rights? Why was this their argument?

Anti-federalists were in support of the Bill of Rights
believed that if the rights of the people weren't specifically expressed at the national level, then there was a likelihood that such rights would be taken away

What was the original understanding of the Bill of Rights?

that is was to apply solely to the federal government

The First Amendment freedoms confront the Supreme Court with balancing individual liberty with what?

national security and public order

what speech does the First Amendment not protect against? What are some examples of these as listed in the Constitution?

doesn't protect speech that fails to contribute to the exchange of ideas and has legitimate potential harm to others without redeeming value
Libel
Slander

What is libel?

defamation is damaging because it lowers a person's reputation in the eyes of his/her community

What is slander?

making a false verbal statement that damages a person's reputation

What is the Establishment clause? What are two court cases that are related to this clause?

limits government's support of religious-based activities
Engle v. Vitale
Lemon v. Kurtzman

What was decided in Engle v. Vitale?

ending prayer in schools

What was decided in Lemon v. Kurtzman? What did it create?

restricted state aid to religious institutions
created the "Lemon Test"

What is the "Lemon Test?" What are the three requirements?

three-pronged test that details the requirements for legislation concerning religion
(1) must have a secular legislative purpose
(2) must not have the primary effect of advancing/inhibiting religion
(3)must not result in excessive government entanglement with religion

What is the "free exercise" clause?

addressed the public policies that appear to burden religion.
defines the relationships between church and state

What is the Fourth Amendment?

prohibits the government from performing searches and seizures

What rule was applied during Mapp v. Ohio? And what was the importance of this case?

applied the exclusionary rule
evidence that is found in an illegal search cannot be admitted in a criminal proceeding
beginning of the Court's authority to create standards for day-to-day police activities

What is the Fifth Amendment? What is a common phrase associated with this amendment?

individuals may not be required to incriminate themselves
also includes the Double Jeopardy Clause
"pleads the Fifth" - refusing to speak without a lawyer present

A trial may be close to the public if:

the penalty is imprisonment of fewer than six months
trials for minors are generally not held in front of juries

What did the Roe v. Wade case deal with?

abortion rights

What is the Second Amendment?

"a well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

What were Anti-Federalists?

group that opposed ratification of the new Constitution

Articles of Confederation

the first government structure of the United States. it created a "league of friendship" between the new states and featured a very weak central government

Checks and Balances

a component of government structure in which each branch of the government is able to check the others by preventing policies from being enacted

Common Sense

A pamphlet published by Thomas Paine arguing for independence from Great Britain. It was inspired by John Locke and widely read throughout the colonies

Federalists

the group that supported ratification of the new Constitution

intolerable (Coercive) Acts

laws passed to punish colonists after the Boston Tea Party; the laws closed Boston Harbor and changed the government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, as well as requiring peacetime accommodation of soldiers in civilian homes

Loose construction

an approach to constitutional interpretation that sees a large scope of government responsibility; it generally involves a broad interpretation of the necessary and proper clause

Natural Rights

rights that cannot be abridged by the government, including life, liberty, and property. This was a key component of John Locke's political philosophy.

Separation of powers

a component of government structure by which responsibilities for various governmental capabilities are divided among different parts of the government

stamp Act

law passed by the British in 1765 to raise revenue through a tax on printed paper; paper items needed to be embossed with a special government stamp in order to be legally purchased

Strict Construction

an approach to constitutional interpretation that focuses on the enumerated powers of the government; it generally involves a narrow interpretation of the necessary and proper clause

Sugar Act

law passed by the British in 1764 that increased import taxes in the colonies on many consumer goods, including sugar, molasses, and coffee

Bill of attainder

a law passed by a legislature that states that a person is liable to a punishment

Block grants

grants designed to assist states with greater efficiency by making federal funding available for different types of projects and allowing states to choose to spend money on those projects as needed, rather than allocating funding to specific programs or projects

Confederal System

a system of government in which the power of the national government is derived from the state or regional powers that created it. In a confederal system such as the Articles of Confederation, the national government is granted only powers that are allowed by the states

Cooperative federalism

a form of federalism in which the states and the national government work side by side to solve national problems and the federal government can get involved in issues that pertain to states. it is also referred to as marble cake federalism

Dual federalism

a type of federalism in which the states and the federal government have separate grants of power, act within their separate spheres, and interact rarely. it is also referred to as layer cake federalism

ex post facto law

a law that forbids an act after the act has been committed and allows the enforcement of the law against persons who committed the act before the law was passed

extradition

the legal process of returning a person accused of a crime to the area where the crime was committed

fiscal federalism

a twentieth-century form of federalism involving the provision of revenue from the federal government to the states to achieve national policy goals

Formula grants

funding from the federal government to the states in which the amount of money states are to receive is determined by a preset formula established by the federal government that takes multiple factors into account

Grants-in-aid

financial assistance provided by the federal government in the form of money for specific projects, such as maintaining highways

Great Society

a program initiated by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the 1960s that was designed to eradicate poverty and racism; it included Medicare and Medicaid, along with civil rights legislation

Medicaid

a federal and state entitlement program, enacted in 1965, that pays for medical assistance for certain individuals and families with low incomes and resources

Policy experiment

the creation of a policy by a state to try to develop within its own sphere an innovative way for handling a national problem

Privileges and Immunities Clause

Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution, which says that states must treat their citizens with equality and that they must treat the citizens of other states similarly

Real ID Act

a 2005 law, administered by the Department of Homeland Security, that requires the standardization of driver's licenses and collection of data for security purposes

Sovereignty

the authority and power to govern within the territory of a nation

State-centered federalism

a type of federalism based on the 10th amendment and on the idea that states predated the creation of the Constitution, had rights, and therefore could make laws within their borders that contradicted national policy

10th Amendment

an amendment to the Constitution, passed by Congress on September 25, 1789 and ratified on December 15, 1791, that grants states reserved powers and preserves the power of the states

civil liberties

the fundamental individual rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom of religion; due process of law; and other limitations on the power of the government to restrain or dictate the actions of inidividuals

defamation

the declaration of false statements, either orally or in written form, that injures a person's reputation in the eyes of the communities

Exclusionary rule

an element of judicial procedure under which evidence that is found during an illegal search cannot be admitted in a criminal proceeding

an element of judicial procedure under which evidence that is found during an illegal search cannot be admitted in a criminal proceedin

the belief that truth and quality public policy come from the competition of diverse ideas freely shared freely through public discourse

prior restraint

the action by a government that censors or restricts the expression of ideas by preventing the media from publishing a news item

symbolic speech

nonverbal actions or gestures that are intended to communicate an idea or message