A.P Gov unit 1.(only the hard/ important stuff) (copy)

Politics

Politics is the set of activities involved in making decisions, gaining power, and settling issues within a group, a community, or a country

Democracy

a system of government where power belongs to the people, who exercise it either directly or through elected representatives

Natural Rights

Rights that cannot be taken(life, liberty, property)

Social Contract

an implicit agreement where individuals give up certain personal freedoms in exchange for state protection and social order

John Locke

English philosopher who believed in individual rights, content of governed, and that the government must protect and serve its people.

Thomas Hobbes

philosopher who believed that the state of nature will be bad without government, and the people will give power to one government to restore balance.

Baron de Montesquieu

Believed in separation of powers, and that a government should be separated to prevent abuse of power

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Known for his idea of social contract

American political culture

American political culture is the set of widely shared beliefs, values, traditions, and norms that define the relationship between the American people and their government

constitutional republic

A constitutional republic is a form of government where the people elect representatives to make laws, and everyone—including the leaders—must follow a supreme constitution

Inalienable rights

Rights that cannot be taken away

Unicameral

One house legislature

Bicameral

Two house legislature

Writ of Habeas Corpus

a court order that commands a person or government agency holding someone in custody to bring the prisoner before a judge and prove that the detention is lawful

Virginia plan

-powerful central gov

-bicameral legislature: one house directly elected others from, those nominated by state

-proportional representation (based on population)

New Jersey Plan

-strengthens the articles but doesn’t replace

-unicameral: representatives chosen by state legislature

-one vote for each equal representation

Great compromise (Connecticut Compromise)

-Bicameral legislature

-HOR based on population

-Senate: each state should have an equal vote and representatives selected by sate legislative

-3/5 compromise

-Slave trade compromise

-4 year term

Electoral college compromise

Enumerated powers

the specific, explicit powers granted to the federal government—and primarily to Congress—by the U.S. Constitution

Implied powers

political and legal authority granted to a government—specifically Congress—that are not explicitly written down in the constitution but are assumed necessary to carry out the government's

Concurrent powers

political and legal authorities shared by both the federal government and state governments(Tax, dedine crimes, take property for public use)

Supremacy clause

establishes that the U.S. Constitution, federal laws, and treaties are the "supreme law of the land" and override any conflicting state laws

Unitary system

a form of government where power is concentrated in a single, central national authority rather than divided among regional states

Confederal system

a political union of independent states where regional governments hold most of the power and the central government has very limited authority

Federal system

system of government where power is divided between a central national government and individual state or regional governments

(Delegated powers) National govs enumerated, exclusive, and implied powers

Coin money, raise army, regulate trade, tax, declare war

Build dams and highways/roads, and determine crimes

Immigration laws, boarders, and protect country

(Reserved Powers) state govs powers

10th amendment: choose legal marriage and drinking age, and rules for license

police powers: health, morals, safety, welfare

Dual federalism

(Layered cake) federal handled enumerated duties and states retained authority over local welfare

Cooperative federalism

(Marble cake) central gov expanded powers through grans while sates acted as partners

Coercive Federalism

Federal control expands by controlling conditional funding, mandates and preemption

necessary and proper clause

a section of the United States Constitution that gives Congress the power to pass any laws needed to protect its people

faith and full credit cluase

requires every state to respect the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state

privilages and immuites clause

stops a state from treating citizens from other states differently than its own citizens

the new deal in federalism

New Deal federalism marked a fundamental shift from dual federalism ("layer cake") to cooperative federalism ("marble cake"), where national and state powers overlapped to fight the Great Depression

grants in aid

an amount of money given by a central or state government to a lower-level government, organization, or institution to fund specific projects or public services

Categorical grants

Categorical grants are federal funds given to state and local governments with strict rules that limit spending to narrowly defined, specific purposes

Block grants

a fixed sum of money given by the federal government to state and local governments for broadly defined purposes like community development or social services

Fiscal federalism

an economic framework that studies how spending and taxing powers are divided among different levels of government