American Government - Study Guide Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards based on American Government lecture study guide notes covering foundations, the Constitution, federalism, Congress, the presidency, bureaucracy, and civil rights/liberties.

Civil rights vs. civil liberties

Rights = equal treatment/protection from discrimination; liberties = freedom from government interference.

Expressed vs. implied powers

Expressed = written in Constitution; implied = reasonably derived from expressed powers.

Categorical vs. block grants

Categorical = narrow purpose/more conditions; block = broad purpose/more state discretion.

Delegate vs. trustee

Delegate follows constituents; trustee uses personal judgment.

Reapportionment vs. redistricting

Reapportionment reallocates House seats among states; redistricting redraws district lines.

Packing vs. cracking

Packing concentrates opponents; cracking splits them among districts.

Treaty vs. executive agreement

Treaty needs $\frac{2}{3}$ of senators present; executive agreement does not use Article II treaty ratification.

Fiscal vs. monetary policy

Fiscal = taxing/spending; monetary = money/credit/interest-rate policy led by the Fed.

Government

The institutions and officials that make and enforce collective decisions for a society.

Politics

The process through which people and groups influence government decisions and the distribution of power and resources.

Autocracy

A system in which one person holds most or all political power.

Oligarchy

A system in which a small group holds political power.

Democracy

A system in which political power ultimately comes from the people, usually through elections and representation.

Constitutional government

Government whose powers are limited by a constitution and established laws.

Authoritarian government

A government that concentrates power in a leader or small group and sharply limits political competition and participation.

Totalitarian government

An extreme authoritarian system that seeks broad control over political, social, and often private life.

Rationality principle

The idea that people generally choose actions they believe will best help them achieve their goals.

Instrumental actions

Actions taken as means to achieve a desired goal or outcome.

Institution principle

Political outcomes are shaped by the rules and organizations that structure choices and interactions.

Institutions

Formal or informal rules and organizations that structure political behavior.

Jurisdictions

The areas, issues, or people over which an institution or official has authority.

Agenda power

The ability to decide which proposals or issues receive consideration.

Veto power

The ability to block a proposal or prevent a change from occurring.

Decisiveness rules

Rules specifying how many votes or whose approval is required to make a decision.

Delegation

Giving authority to another person or institution to act on one's behalf.

Principal-agent relationship

A relationship in which a principal delegates a task to an agent, whose interests or information may differ from the principal's.

Transaction costs

The time, effort, information, and resources required to reach and carry out an agreement.

Collective action principle

People must overcome coordination and incentive problems to achieve outcomes that benefit a group.

Informal bargaining

Negotiation based on discussion, compromise, norms, or relationships rather than formal procedures.

Formal bargaining

Negotiation conducted through established rules, procedures, or institutions.

Collective dilemmas and bargaining failures

Situations in which individually rational choices or failed negotiations prevent a group from reaching a mutually beneficial result.

Collective action

Coordinated efforts by people or groups to achieve a shared goal.

Free riding

Receiving the benefits of a collective effort without contributing to its cost.

Public goods

Goods that are generally nonexcludable and nonrival, so people can benefit even if they do not help pay for them.

Tragedy of the commons

Overuse or depletion of a shared resource because individuals have incentives to use it without bearing the full collective cost.

Policy principle

Political behavior and institutions matter because they shape public policies and their consequences.

History principle

Past political choices and events shape current institutions, options, and outcomes.

Path dependency

The tendency for earlier choices to constrain or influence later choices, making established paths difficult to change.

Declaration of Independence

The 1776 document declaring independence from Britain and asserting natural rights, equality, and government by consent.

Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union

The first U.S. national governing framework, creating a weak central government and strong state governments.

Flaws of the Articles of Confederation

Congress lacked effective taxing and commerce powers, had no separate executive or national judiciary, and faced very difficult amendment and lawmaking rules.

Constitutional Convention

The 1787 meeting in Philadelphia that replaced the Articles with a new Constitution creating a stronger federal government.

Great Compromise

Created a bicameral Congress: representation by population in the House and equal state representation in the Senate.

Three-Fifths Compromise

Counted three-fifths of enslaved people for representation and direct taxation; it strengthened slaveholding states' political power.

Bicameral legislature

A legislature divided into two chambers; Congress consists of the House and Senate.

Necessary and Proper Clause

Article I provision allowing Congress to make laws needed to carry out its enumerated powers; also called the elastic clause.

Judicial review

The power of courts to determine whether laws or government actions violate the Constitution.

Supremacy Clause

Article VI rule that the Constitution, valid federal laws, and treaties are the supreme law of the land.

Separation of powers

Division of legislative, executive, and judicial powers among separate branches.

Checks and balances

Powers that allow each branch to limit or influence the actions of the other branches.

Federalists

Supporters of Constitution ratification who favored a stronger national government.

Antifederalists

Opponents or skeptics of the proposed Constitution who feared centralized power and demanded stronger protections for individual and state rights.

Federalist Papers

Essays by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay defending and explaining the proposed Constitution.

Tyranny

Oppressive or arbitrary use of political power, especially when rulers violate rights or ignore lawful limits.

Federalism

A constitutional system dividing authority between the national government and state governments.

Sovereignty

Supreme governing authority within a political jurisdiction.

Implied powers

Powers not stated word-for-word but reasonably derived from expressed powers, especially through the Necessary and Proper Clause.

Tenth Amendment / Reserved powers

Reserves powers not delegated to the United States or prohibited to the states to the states or the people.

Concurrent powers

Powers exercised by both national and state governments, such as taxing and borrowing.

States' relationship to local governments

Local governments generally derive their legal authority from state governments rather than possessing independent constitutional sovereignty.

Full Faith and Credit Clause

Requires states to give effect to other states' public acts, records, and judicial proceedings, subject to legal limits.

Comity Clause

Common course term for Article IV's Privileges and Immunities Clause, which limits states from discriminating against citizens of other states regarding fundamental rights.

Home rule

Authority granted by a state to local governments to govern local matters with reduced state interference.

Dual federalism

A model in which national and state governments operate in relatively separate spheres of authority.

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Held that Congress has implied powers to create a national bank and that states cannot tax legitimate federal institutions.

Commerce Clause

Gives Congress power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the states, and with Indian tribes.

States' rights

The view that states retain important independent powers and should be protected from excessive federal control.

New Deal

Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1930s programs responding to the Great Depression, which greatly expanded federal economic regulation and social programs.

NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel (1937)

Upheld federal regulation of labor relations when intrastate activity had a close and substantial relation to interstate commerce, supporting broader Commerce Clause power.

Cooperative federalism

A model in which national, state, and local governments share responsibilities and work together on policy.

Regulated federalism

Federal use of laws, rules, and funding conditions to require state and local governments to meet national standards.

Unfunded mandates

Federal requirements imposed on state or local governments without enough federal funding to cover the required costs.

New federalism

Efforts to return greater policy authority and discretion from the federal government to states and localities.

Block grants

Federal grants for broad policy areas that give states more discretion over spending than categorical grants.

Divided government

A situation in which different political parties control the presidency and at least one chamber of Congress.

Constituency

The people and interests represented by an elected official.

Delegate representation

A representative acts mainly according to constituents' preferences.

Trustee representation

A representative uses personal judgment about what is best, even when constituents may disagree.

Agency representation

Representation based on an implicit principal-agent relationship in which voters can reward or punish representatives for their actions.

Descriptive representation

Representation in which officials share important characteristics or experiences with the people they represent.

House vs. Senate

The House has $435$ voting members, two-year terms, and population-based districts; the Senate has two senators per state and six-year terms.

Incumbency advantage

Electoral benefits enjoyed by current officeholders, including visibility, experience, fundraising networks, and constituent services.

Pork-barrel legislation

Government spending or projects directed toward a legislator's district or state to provide local benefits.

Franking privilege

The ability of members of Congress to send official mail to constituents without paying postage personally, subject to rules.

Gerrymandering

Drawing district boundaries to advantage a party or group.

Majority-minority districts

Districts in which a racial or ethnic minority group makes up a majority of the voting-age population or electorate.

Party caucus / party conference

Meeting or organization of a party's members in a legislative chamber to choose leaders and coordinate strategy.

Speaker of the House

The House's presiding officer and top majority-party leader, with major influence over organization and legislative business.

Whips

Party leaders who count votes, communicate leadership priorities, and encourage members to support the party position.

Senate majority leader

The chief Senate leader of the majority party and a central figure in scheduling and floor strategy.

Standing committees

Permanent congressional committees specializing in particular policy areas.

Gatekeeping authority

Power to prevent a proposal from advancing to later stages of the legislative process.

Seniority

Length of continuous service in Congress, historically important for committee leadership and influence.

Median voter theorem

Under certain majority-rule conditions, the option preferred by the voter at the middle of the preference distribution tends to defeat alternatives.

Discharge petition

A House procedure that can force a bill out of committee and onto the floor if a majority of House members sign it.

Filibuster

Senate tactics or procedures used to delay or block action by extending debate or preventing a final vote.

Cloture

The Senate procedure for limiting debate; most legislation currently requires three-fifths of the full Senate, normally $60$ votes, to invoke cloture.

Conference committee

A temporary House-Senate committee used to reconcile differences between versions of a bill.

Veto override

Congress's power to enact a bill over a presidential veto with a two-thirds vote in each chamber.

Distributive tendency

The tendency of legislators to spread government benefits across districts or states while sharing costs broadly.