american government midterms

Government

Society organizes itself and allocates authority in order to accomplish collective goals

Public goods

Goods provided by the government that anyone can use and that are available to all without charge

Representative Democracy

A form of democracy in which citizens elect officials to govern on their behalf

Elite Theory

Political power that rest in the hands of a small elite group of people

Pluralist theory

Political power rest in the hands of a group of people (the people)

Articles of confederation

Created an alliance of sovereign states held together by a weak central government in 1781

Checks and balances

A system that allows one branch of government to limit the exercise power by another branch; require the different parts of government to work together

Separation of power

Sharing of power among the three separate branches of government

The three fifths compromise

Compromise between northern and southern states that called for counting of all states free population and 60% of its slave population for both federal taxation and representation in Congress

The bill of rights

Designed to protect the fundamental rights and liberties, the 1st ten amendments

Federalism

An institutional arrangement that creates two readily anonymous levels of government, each possessing the capacity to act directly on the people with authority granted by the national Constitution

Elastic clause/ Proper clause

Enables Congress to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying out its constitutional responsibilities

Unfunded mandate

Federal laws and regulations that impose obligations on state and local governments without fully compensated them for the administrative costs they infur

Civil liberties

Limitations on the power of government design to ensure personal freedoms

Establishment cause

Prohibited the government from endorsing a state, sponsored religion prevent government from favoring some religious beliefs over another

Probably cause

Legal standard for determine whether a search and seizure is constitutional or crime has been committed

Double Jeopardy

A process that subjects a suspect to prosecution twice for the same criminal act

Eminent domain

The power of the government to take or use property for a public purpose after compensating his owner

Politics

Process of gaining and exercising control within a government for the purpose of setting an achievement particular goals

Democracy

A political system in which people govern themselves with capitalism

Direct democracy

People participate directly in making government decisions

Ideology

The beliefs and ideas that help to shape, political opinion and policy

Partisanship

Strong support or even blind allegiance For particular political party

Natural rights

Life, liberty, and property

Declaration of independence

Proclaim the colonies separation from Britain

bicameral legislature

Two house legislature

The great compromise

The compromise between the Virginia plan and the New Jersey plan they created two house Congress

Reserve powers

Powers reserved to the state and denied to the federal government?

Supremacy clause

Article article 4 of the constitution that federal law is superior to laws pass by the state legislature

Full Faith and Credit clause

Article 4 require states to accept court decisions, public act and contrast of other states

Cooperative federalism

Both levels of government coordinates their actions to solve national problems

Dual federalism

States And national government exercise, exclusive authority, and distinctly delineated Spears of jurisdiction

Privileges and immunities clause

Clause prohibit states from discriminating against out of states by denying such asses to court, legal protection, property, and travel rights

Sherbert test

Deciding whether a law violates the free exercise clause

Prior restraint

Government action that stop someone from doing something before they are able to do it

Civil rights

Equal protection of the 14th amendment, gives all people or groups the right to be treated equally regardless of individual attributes in the United States

Reconstruction

1865, 1877 which the Confederate states were re-organized prior to being readmitted to the union

15th amendment

Define citizenship, guarantees equal, legal protection, and assure due process for all American

Jim Crow laws

Stay in local laws that promoted racial Segregation, undermine black voting rights in the south of reconstruction

Literacy test

Test that required the prospective voter in some states to be able to read a passage of text and ask questions about it

Brown versus Board of Education

1954 Supreme Court ruling struck down Plessy versus Ferguson and declare segregation and separate but equal to be unconstitutional in public education

Equal rights amendment

Amendment to the constitution that would have prohibited all discrimination based on sex

Trial of tears

Name given to the force migration of the Cherokee from Georgia to Oklahoma 1838 through 1839

Public opinion

A collection of opinions of an individual or group of individuals on a topic, person or event

Political socialization

The process of learning the norms and practices of a political system through others and societal institution

Random sample

Unlimited number, people from overall population selected in such a way that each has a equal chance of being chosen

Leading questions

A question worded to lead a respondent to give a desired answer

Exit poll

An election poll taken by interviewing voters as they leave a polling place

Heuristics

Shortcuts or rules of thumb for decision-making