AP US Gov Unit 1 Review KBAT

Natural rights

the idea that all humans are born with rights, which include the right to life, liberty, and property

Liberty

Freedom from government control

Democracy

A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them

Opportunity

a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something

Limited government

A principle of constitutional government; a government whose powers are defined and limited by a constitution.

Social contract

A voluntary agreement among individuals to secure their rights and welfare by creating a government and abiding by its rules.

Popular sovereignty

A government in which the people rule by their own consent.

Republicanism

A philosophy of limited government with elected representatives serving at the will of the people. The government is based on the consent of the governed.

Declaration of Independence

the document recording the proclamation of the second Continental Congress (4 July 1776) asserting the independence of the colonies from Great Britain

U.S Constitution

The document written in 1787 and ratified in 1788 that sets forth the institutional structure of the U.S. government and the tasks these institutions perform. It replaced the Articles of Confederation.

Participatory democracy

a system of government where rank-and-file citizens rule themselves rather than electing representatives to govern on their behalf

Pluralist

a person who believes many groups healthily compete for access to decision-makers

Elite democracy

a theory of democracy that limits the citizens' role to choosing among competing leaders

Federalist No. 10

An essay composed by James Madison which argues that liberty is safest in a large republic because many interests (factions) exist. Such diversity makes tyranny by the majority more difficult since ruling coalitions will always be unstable.

Brutus No. 1

This work by a prominent Anti-Federalist argued that the new federal government would be too powerful. In particular, he pointed to the necessary-and-proper clause and the supremacy clause. In addition, he objected to Congress's power to tax and raise a standing army and to the vast size of the proposed republic. He felt this powerful new government would supplant the states.

Republic

A form of government in which citizens choose their leaders by voting

Articles of Confederation

1st Constitution of the U.S. 1781-1788 (weaknesses: executive, no judicial, no power to tax, no power to regulate trade)

Shays' Rebellion

Armed uprising in Western Massachusetts and Worcester in response to a debt crisis among the citizenry and in opposition to the state government's increased efforts to collect taxes on both individuals and their trades.

Debt and Economic Crisis in Post-Revolutionary America

high war debts owed to foreign powers and domestic creditors, a lack of specie (hard currency), rampant inflation from printing paper money, restricted access to key international markets, and a severe shortage of cash.

Connecticut (Great) Compromise

Compromise agreement by states at the Constitutional Convention for a bicameral legislature with a lower house in which representation would be based on population and an upper house in which each state would have two senators.

Electoral College

A group of people named by each state legislature to select the president and vice president

Three-Fifths Compromise

Agreement that each slave counted as three-fifths of a person in determining representation in the House for representation and taxation purposes (negated by the 13th amendment)

Compromise on the importation of slaves

Congress could not restrict the slave trade until 1808

Separation of powers

Constitutional division of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, with the legislative branch making law, the executive applying and enforcing the law, and the judiciary interpreting the law

Federalism

A system in which power is divided between the national and state governments

Expressed/enumerated powers

Powers specifically granted to the federal government by the Constitution.

Elastic clause

Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution allows Congress to make all laws that are "necessary and proper" to carry out the powers of the Constitution.

Implied powers

Powers not specifically mentioned in the constitution

Federalist No. 51

Argues that the separation of powers within the national government is the best way to prevent the concentration of power in the hands of one person or a single group.

Fiscal federalism

The pattern of spending, taxing, and providing grants in the federal system is the cornerstone of the national government's relations with state and local governments.

Cooperative federalism

A system of government in which powers and policy assignments are shared between states and the national government. They may also share costs, administration, and even blame for programs that work poorly.

New federalism

system in which the national government restores greater authority back to the states

Dual federalism

A system of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres, each responsible for some policies.

Creative federalism

During the Great Society, the marble cake approach of intergovernmental relations.

Grants-in-aid

money given by the national government to the states

Categorial grants

Federal grants for specific purposes, such as building an airport

Unfunded mandates

Programs that the Federal government requires States to implement without Federal funding.

Devolution

The transfer of powers and responsibilities from the federal government to the states

Revenue sharing

federal sharing of a fixed percentage of its revenue with the states

Block grant

Money given to states for general programs within a broad category

Tenth Amendment

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Fourteenth Amendment

A constitutional amendment giving full rights of citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States, except for American Indians.

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Established judicial review; "midnight judges;" John Marshall; power of the Supreme Court.

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

the Supreme Court upheld the power of the national government and denied the right of a state to tax the federal bank using the Constitution's supremacy clause. The Court's broad interpretation of the necessary and proper clause paved the way for later rulings upholding expansive federal powers

Heart of Atlanta Motel v US (1964)

Congress has the right the prohibit racial discrimination in places of public accommodation through the Commerce Clause because the interstate movement of people is "commerce." Even if the public accommodation is of a purely "local" character, Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce extends to local incidents thereof which might have a substantial and harmful effect on that commerce

United States v. Lopez (1995)

Commerce clause of Constitution does not give Congress the power to regulate guns near state-operated schools

Gonzalez v Raich (2005)

The Commerce clause of the Constitution allows Congress to ban homegrown marijuana even when for medical use and allowed by the states.

Obergefell v Hodges (2015)

Same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.

selective incorporation

The process by which provisions of the Bill of Rights are brought within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment and so applied to state and local governments.

Direct democracy

A form of government in which citizens rule directly and not through representatives

Absolute democracy

Every citizen of that country is directly involved in the government; there are no representatives. As a group, all citizens have power, and no single person has more power than the others.

Representative democracy

A system of government in which citizens elect representatives, or leaders, to make decisions about the laws for all the people.