Unit 1 Exam Vocabulary

10th Amendment

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

American Dream

The widespread belief that the United States is a land of opportunity and that individual initiative and hard work can bring economic success.

Annapolis Convention

A convention held in September 1786 to consider problems of trade and navigation, attended by five states and important because it issued the call to Congress and the states for what became the Constitutional Convention.

Anti-Federalists

Opposed ratification of the Constitution without the Bill of Rights. This group wanted strong state governments and feared a strong Executive Branch

Antifederalists

Opponents of ratification of the Constitution and of a strong central government, generally.

Antitrust legislation

Federal laws (starting with the Sherman Act of 1890) that tried to prevent a monopoly from dominating an industry and restraining trade.

Articles of Confederation

The first governing document of the confederated states drafted in 1777, ratified in 1781, and replaced by the present Constitution in 1789. The first form of government was filled with weaknesses corrected by the Constitution...for example, no Executive Branch was included.

Bicameralism

The principle of a two-house legislature.

Bill of Rights

First 10 Amendments to the Constitution ensuring fundamental freedoms from the government - took effect 1791

Block grants

These are broad state grants to states for prescribed activities—welfare, child care, education, social services, preventive health care, and health services—with only a few strings attached. States have greater flexibility in deciding how to spend block grant dollars, but when the federal funds for any fiscal year are gone, there are no more matching federal dollars.

Bureaucratic Theory

standardized procedures of modern governments; day to day workings of the government to hold power of public policy

Capitalism

An economic system characterized by private property, competitive markets, economic incentives, and limited government involvement in the production, distribution, and pricing of goods and services.

Categorical formula grants

Congress appropriates funds for a specific purpose, such as school lunches or for building airports and highways. These funds are allocated by formula and are subject to detailed federal conditions, often on a matching basis; that is, the local government receiving the federal funds must put up some of its own dollars. Categorical grants, in addition, provide federal supervision to ensure that the federal dollars are spent as Congress wants.

Centralists

People who favor national action over action at the state and local levels.

Checks and balances

Constitutional grant of powers that enables each of the three branches of government to check some acts of the others and therefore ensure that no branch can dominate.

Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise

During the Constitutional Convention, Congress agreed to not tax exports and to delay banning the slave trade for 20 years.

Commerce clause

The clause in the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations.

Competitive federalism

Views the national government, 50 states, and thousands of local governments as competing with each other over ways to put together packages of services and taxes. Applies the analogy of the marketplace: we have some choice about which state and city we want to "use", just as we have choices about what kind of telephone service we use.

Concurrent powers

Powers that the Constitution gives to both the national and state governments, such as the power to levy taxes.

Confederation

Constitutional arrangement in which sovereign nations or states, by compact, create a central government but carefully limit its power and do not give it direct authority over individuals.

Connecticut 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.

Consent of the Governed

all powers is derived from the permission of the people; in other words, the people give permission for government to exist (e.g., voting). This is best exemplified by the words "We the People" in the Constitution Preamble.

Conservatism

A belief that limited government insures order competitive markets and personal opportunity.

Constitutional Convention

The convention in Philadelphia, May 25 to September 17, 1787, that debated and agreed upon the Constitution of the United States.

Constitutionalism

The set of arrangements, including checks and balances, federalism, separation of powers, rule of law, due process, and a bill of rights, that requires our leaders to listen, think, bargain, and explain before they act or make laws. We then hold them politically and legally accountable for how they exercise their powers.

Constitution

provides the basic framework of government. It is the supreme law of the land.

Cooperative federalism/ Intergovernmental Relations

Stresses federalism as a system of intergovernmental relations in delivering governmental goods and services to the people and calls for cooperation among various levels of government.

Creative federalism

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

Cross-cutting requirements

A technique of Congress to establish federal regulations. Federal grants may establish certain conditions that extend to all activities supported by federal funds, regardless of their source. The first and most famous of these is Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which holds that in the use of federal funds, no person may be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, or national origin. More than 60 cross-cutting requirements concern such matters as the environment, historic preservation, contract wage rates, access to government information, the care of experimental animals, and the treatment of human subjects in research projects.

Crossover sanctions

A technique of Congress to establish federal regulations. These sanctions permit the use of federal money in one program to influence state and local policy in another. For example, a 1984 act reduced federal highway aid by up to 15 percent for any state that failed to adopt a minimum drinking age of 21. Page 81

Decentralists

People who favor state or local action rather than national action.

Declaration of Independence

written with three parts: theory of government based on social contract (natural rights), grievances against the King (George), and statement of separation from Great Britain

Delegated Powers

expressed or enumerated powers; given to the national government; listed in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution.

Democracy

a system of government where the people rule

Democratic consensus

Widespread agreement on fundamental principles of democratic governance and the values that undergird them.

Devolution revolution

The effort to slow the growth of the federal government by returning many functions to the states.

Direct Democracy

all people directly participate in government

Direct orders

A technique of Congress to establish federal regulations. Direct orders must be complied with under threat of criminal or civil sanction. An example is the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, barring job discrimination by state and local governments on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

Direct primary

Election in which voters choose party nominees.

Divided government

Governance divided between the parties, especially when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.

Dual federalism (layer cake federalism)

Views the Constitution as giving a limited list of powers—primarily foreign policy and national defense—to the national government, leaving the rest to the sovereign states. Each level of government is dominant within its own sphere. The Supreme Court serves as the umpire between the national government and the states in disputes over which level of government has responsibility for a particular activity.

Elite Theory

a small number of powerful elites (corporate, military, government) from the upper class who rule with self-interests

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

proposed amendment that failed. First introduced in 1921, the ERA stated "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex." This amendment was sent to the states in 1972 for ratification and failed to receive approval from 3/4 of the states.

Executive order

Directive issued by a president or governor that has the force of law.

Executive privilege

The power to keep executive communications confidential, especially if they relate to national security.

Express powers

Powers the Constitution specifically grants to one of the branches of the national government.

Extradition

Legal process whereby an alleged criminal offender is surrendered by the officials of one states to officials of the state in which the crime is alleged to have been committed.

Factions

often called interest groups or parties these groups needed to check one another so that no one faction would have too much power.

Federal mandate

A requirement the federal government imposes as a condition for receiving federal funds.

Federal System

division of power between national and state

Federalism

Constitutional arrangement in which power is distributed between a central government and sub divisional governments, called states in the United States. The national and the sub divisional governments both exercise direct authority over individuals.

Federalist Papers

written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. 85 essays written to defend the new government under the Constitution and provide insight to framers intent.

Federalists

Supporters of ratification of the Constitution and of a strong central government.

Fiscal federalism

Through different grant programs, slices up the marble cake into many different pieces, making it even more difficult to differentiate the functions of the levels of government.

Fiscal Policy

policy of using money to influence states through granting or withholding money to pay for programs (e.g., education or highways)

Full faith and credit clause

Clause in the Constitution (Article 4, Section 1) requiring each state to recognize the civil judgments rendered by the courts of the other states and to accept their public records and acts as valid.

Gibbons v. Ogden

Supreme Court ruling that defined; regulate commerce to include all commercial activity. This decision, along with McCulloch v. Maryland which upheld implied powers, drastically expanded the power of the federal government.

Government

composed of formal and informal institutions created to conduct public policy (exercise of government power to control society)

Grants-in-Aid

money or aid by the national government granted to state/ local governments for projects, such as building roads, canals, colleges, etc.

Hyper pluralism

democracy is a system of many groups having so much strength that government is often pulled in numerous directions at the same time, causing gridlock and ineffectiveness

Impeachment

Formal accusation by the lower house of the legislature against a public official, the first step in removal from office.

Implied powers

Powers inferred from the express powers that allow Congress to carry out its functions included under the Necessary and Proper Clause or Elastic Clause (stretch power). For example, the national government created the Air Force.

Impoundment

Presidential refusal to allow an agency to spend funds that Congress authorized and appropriated.

Individualism

the idea that people should get ahead on their own

Inherent powers

The powers of the national government in foreign affairs that the Supreme Court has declared do not depend on constitutional grants but rather grow out of the very existence of the national government. Said differently, powers for the national government because the government is sovereign.

Initiative

Procedure whereby a certain number of voters may, by petition, propose a law or constitutional amendment and have it submitted to the voters.

Interstate compact

An agreement among two or more states. Congress must approve most such agreements.

Judicial review

The power of a court to refuse to enforce a law or a government regulation that in the opinion of the judges conflicts with the U.S. Constitution or, in a state court, the state constitution.

Liberalism

A belief that government can and should achieve justice and equality of opportunity.

Libertarianism

An ideology that cherishes individual liberty and insists on minimal government, promoting a free market economy, a noninterventionist foreign policy, and an absence of regulation in moral, economic, and social life.

Limited Government

Government is not all powerful; government only has the power given to it; derived from the doctrine of natural rights, it was adopted by Jefferson and restricts the power of government especially in the area of protecting the rights of the people.

Majority

The candidate or party that wins more than half the votes cast in an election.

Majority rule

Governance according to the expressed preferences of the majority.

Mandates

requirements that are imposed on state/ local government by the federal government. For example, Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) requires wheelchair access.

Marble cake federalism

Conceives of federalism as a marble cake in which all levels of government are involved in a variety of issues and programs, rather than a layer cake, or dual federalism, with fixed divisions between layers or levels of government.

McCulloch v. Maryland

Enforced authority of the national government to exercise elastic clause or necessary and proper (Article I Section 8). For example, creating a national bank.

Minority Rights

regardless of the majority will, there are certain rights which cannot be violated for the minority groups

Monopoly

Domination of an industry by a single company that fixes prices and discourages competition; also, the company that dominates the industry by these means.

National supremacy

Constitutional doctrine that whenever conflict occurs between the constitutionally authorized actions of the national government and those of a state or local government, the actions of the federal government will prevail.

Natural law

God's or nature's law that defines right from wrong and is higher than human law.

Natural rights

The rights of all people to dignity and worth; also called human rights.

Necessary and proper clause

Clause in the Constitution that states that "Congress should have the power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers. . . ." This clause is also known as the elastic clause as is a major and significant power of Congress, granting Congress the ability to interpret its law making ability in a broad manner.

New Jersey Plan

Proposal at the Constitutional Convention made by William Paterson of New Jersey for a central government with a single-house legislature in which each state would be represented equally.

Our federalism

Championed by Ronald Reagan, presumes that the power of the federal government is limited in favor of the broad powers reserved to the states.

Permissive federalism

Implies that although federalism provides "a sharing of power and authority between the national and state governments, the state's share rests upon the permission and permissiveness of the national government."

Photo ops

Photo opportunities set up by the candidates. The media have been accused of simplifying complicated political issues by relying on photo ops to explain them to the public.

Pluralist Theory

interest group activity brings interest to all by competing and counterbalancing each other

Elite Theory

few groups (wealthy) have the power

Hyper pluralist Theory

too many groups fighting for direction and thus government lacks direction

Plurality

Candidate or party with the most votes cast in an election, not necessarily more than half.

Popular consent

The idea that a just government must derive its powers from the consent of the people it governs.

Popular sovereignty

A belief that ultimate power resides in the people.

Preemption

The right of a federal law or a regulation to preclude enforcement of a state or local law or regulation.

Privileges and Immunities Clause

states are prohibited from unreasonably discriminating against residents of other states. Non-residents may travel, buy and, hold property, and enter into contracts with residents of other states.

Project grants

Congress appropriates a certain sum, which is allocated to state and local units and sometimes to nongovernmental agencies, based on applications from those who wish to participate. Examples are grants by the National Science Foundation to universities and research institutes to support the work of scientists or grants to states and localities to support training and employment programs.

Public Goods

goods and services which individuals could not provide on their own (in most cases) and are shared by everyone and cannot be denied to anyone

Public Policy

exercise of government power in doing things necessary to maintain legitimate authority and control over society

Ratification

to pass or approve

Recall

Procedure for submitting to popular vote the removal of officials from office before the end of their term.

Referendum

Procedure for submitting to popular vote measures passed by the legislature or proposed amendments to a state constitution.