Unit 1 AP GOV

Natural rights

Fundamental liberties inherent to all humans (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness) that cannot be taken away by government.

Popular sovereignty

The principle that a government’s power and legitimacy come strictly from the consent of the governed.

Social Contract

An implicit agreement where individuals give up some freedom to a government in exchange for the protection of their natural rights

Limited Governments

A political system where legalized force is restricted through delegated and enumerated powers

Gettysburg Address

defines freedom as an unalienable natural right tied directly to human equality and popular sovereignty, framing it as the essential moral purpose of the American democratic experiment

Articles of Confederation

A loose alliance of independent, sovereign states with a weak central government. States held most power

Shay’s Rebellion

A 1786 uprising of Massachusetts farmers that exposed the structural weaknesses of the national government under the Articles (lack of executive branch, inability to tax, inability to draft an army).

Article I: Legislative Branch

• Creates a bicameral Congress made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

• Lists the enumerated powers of Congress (e.g., taxing, coining money, declaring war, regulating commerce) in Section 8.

• Contains the Necessary and Proper Clause (Elastic Clause), granting Congress implied powers.

Article II: Executive Branch

• Establishes the roles, qualifications, and selection process (via the Electoral College) for the President and Vice President.

• Outlines executive powers, including serving as Commander-in-Chief, making treaties, and enforcing federal laws.

Article III: Judicial Branch

• Creates the Supreme Court and permits Congress to establish lower federal courts.

• Grants federal judges life tenure to insulate them from political pressure.

• Defines the scope of federal jurisdiction and the crime of treason.

Article IV: Relations among states

• Full Faith and Credit Clause: Requires states to respect and recognize the public acts, records, and judicial decisions of other states.

• Privileges and Immunities Clause: Prevents states from discriminating against citizens of other states.

• Outlines the process for admitting new states and guarantees every state a republican form of government.

Article V: Amendment process

• Establishes the two-stage formal mechanism to alter the Constitution.

• Proposal Stage: Requires a 2/3 vote in both houses of Congress (or a convention called by 2/3 of states).

• Ratification Stage: Requires approval from 3/4 of state legislatures (or state conventions), reflecting the principle of federalism.

Article VI: National Supremacy

• Supremacy Clause: Establishes that the U.S. Constitution, federal laws, and treaties are the supreme law of the land.

• Declares that federal law overrides state law when a conflict arises.

• Bans any religious test as a qualification for holding public office.

Article VII: Ratification

• Stipulated that the Constitution would go into effect once approved by 9 of the 13 states at state ratifying conventions.

Checks and Balances

A system that gives each branch constitutional mechanisms to block or limit the power of the other branches.

3/5 compromise

Settled the debate over how enslaved populations would count toward congressional seat apportionment and taxation.

10th Amendment

Declares that powers not delegated to the federal government belong exclusively to the states or the people

Federalist No. 10 (James Madison)

• A large, extended republic is the absolute best way to control the dangers of factions (political parties/interest groups)

Federalist No. 51 (James Madison)

• The structural layout of the new government naturally prevents any single branch from becoming tyrannical.

• Separation of Powers & Checks and Balances and Bicameralism

Federalist No. 39 (James Madison)

defines the concept of a republican form of government and argues that the U.S. Constitution creates a hybrid system that is partly national and partly federal.

Brutus No. 1 (Anti-Federalist perspective)

• A large republic will destroy personal liberty and erase state power.

• Argued that the Necessary and Proper Clause and the Supremacy Clause give the federal government absolute, uncontrollable power over the states.

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

• Implied Powers: Congressional powers not explicitly named in the Constitution but inferred as necessary to execute enumerated duties.

• Necessary and Proper (Elastic) Clause: Article I, Section 8 clause giving Congress the power to make all laws "necessary and proper" for executing its powers.

• Supremacy Clause: Article VI clause establishing that federal law and the Constitution take precedence over state laws.

United States v. Lopez (1995)

• Devolution: The modern movement to return regulatory and governing power back to the state governments from the federal government.

• Commerce Clause: Article I, Section 8 clause empowering Congress to regulate trade between states. This case drew a strict boundary, ruling that carrying a gun in a school zone is not an economic activity.

Devolution

The political movement to scale back federal authority by transferring policy responsibilities back to the state governments

Fiscal Federalism

• The pattern of spending, taxing, and providing financial aid in the federal system that allows the national government to influence state policies.

Categorical Grants

• Federal money granted to states for highly specific purposes that comes with tight federal regulations and guidelines.

Block grants

• Broad federal grants given to states for general policy areas (like healthcare or community development) that offer states maximum flexibility in spending.

Federal Mandate

An official federal order requiring states to comply with specific rules or national standards, often tied to receiving federal funds.

Unfunded Mandate

• A federal requirement that forces state or local governments to perform certain actions but provides zero federal funding to cover the costs.

Interstate Commerce

Economic activity and trade that crosses state lines, giving Congress the constitutional authority to regulate it.

slowly expands throughout history

Laboratory of Democracy

The concept that federalism allows individual states to experiment with innovative policies (like legalized marijuana or unique voting laws) before they are adopted nationally