Government semester exam review

State

Dominant political party unit in the world today

Limited government

Government must operate within certain bounds set by the people

Manga Carta

Reflected this basic concept of limited government

Unitary form of government

All political powers in a state are concentrated at the central level

Does the US have a unitary form of government? Why or why not?

No; the states have powers reserved to them in the constitution

Basic characteristic of a state, lacked by individual 50 states

Sovereignty

According to the social contract theory…

The contract is a constitution

Power is divided between central government and local government

Federal government

A system of government in which a written constitution divides power between a central or national government and several regional governments

Federalism

Most governmental matters were handled by the colonists

Charter colonies

Declaration of Independence

\*First time Americans formally expressed the idea that people have the right to abolish an abusive and unresponsive government

What did the Declaration of Independence consist of

Complaints of the wrongs done to the colonies (27 grievances)

What ideas did the Declaration of Independence include

**People have certain natural rights**, government can exist only with the people’s permission, **people may change or abolish the government**, did not support king’s idea that God gives certain people the right to govern

After the revolutionary war…

**The new national government was too weak to deal with growing economic and political problems**

Delegates met at mount vernon and Annapolis to recommend a federal plan for regulating commerce

After the revolutionary war a major objective of both the Annapolis convention and Philadelphia convention was to…

Recommend a federal plan for regulating interstate trade

After the revolutionary war, government set up by the…

Articles of confederation

Had only a legislative branch, consisting of a unicameral congress

Articles of confederation

Similar to the 1st in the composition of its members

Second continental congress

What was an achievement of the second continental congress

Raising an American army

At the Philadelphia conventional….

The delegates agreed to draft a new constitution

Much of the work of the framers centered around the proposals that had been set out in the

Virginia plan

Outlines the purposes of government

Preamble of the constitution

What were the purposes of the government that were outlined in the preamble

**Defending the nation against foreign enemies**

Insuring order and domestic tranquility

\*promoting the general welfare of the citizens

The constitution establishes its authority on the basis of popular sovereignty with…

The words “we the people”

Constitution requires the national government to guarantee

States a republican (representative) form of government

The first ten amendments to the constitution are called

The bill of rights

What did the bill of rights arise from?

The controversy over ratification of the constitution

Bill of rights were…

Not ratified at the same time as the constitution

Where was the 1st place basic constitutional rights of the people set out

Bill of rights

What basic rights did the bill of rights guarantee

**Freedom of expression**

Fair and equal treatment before the law

__**Freedom of belief**__

Did NOT guarantee women the right to vote (came much later)

Example of concept equality of opportunity

Public schools may not exclude students because of their sex or race

What was a constitutional change as a result of party practices

Use of the electoral college as a “rubber stamp” for the popular vote

What was an example of the Judiciary Act of. 1789

Congressional change to the constitution

President’s cabinet is an example of what

Constitutional change by unwritten custom

Power is distributed among 3 independent branches of government

Separation of powers

Example of checks and balances

Presidents power to veto an act of congress

Checks and balances is

Used to keep the government from getting too powerful in one branch

Checks and balances

Legislative branch can check judicial branch by its power to remove judges through impeachment

Power of the national government to coin money

Example of expressed power

Those that are exercised simultaneously by national and state governments

Concurrent powers

Directs any area desiring statehood to prepare a constitution (enables them to write a state constitution so they can eventually become a state)

Enabling act

Says that states must honor the legality of one another’s civil laws

Full faith & credit clause

Derive their power from state constitution and state laws

Local governments

Process where citizens who commit a crime in one state and flee to another state to escape prosecution are returned to the original state

Extradition

Agreements states enter into with both foreign nations and other states with the consent of congress

Interstate compacts

The Supreme Court ruling based upon supremacy clause

McCulloch v. Maryland

Funds given to a state by the national government with special conditions

Categorical grants

States get needed resources while the national government gains influence over state and local affairs

Grants-in-aid

The two party system developed in the United States mainly because

Conflicts about the constitution created opposing viewpoints

Try to appeal to as many voters as possible

Both major parties

Is a sign of weakened political parties

Split-ticket voting

Contributed most to US politics by causing major parties to adopt their ideas

Minor parties

Delegated powers

Powers granted to the National Government in the Constitution

Reserved powers

Powers denied to the national government, but not denied to the states