Unit 1: Foundations of American democracy

Flashcards on American Democracy

Declaration of Independence

A document issued by the Second Continental Congress in 1776, stating grievances with the British monarchy and declaring the creation of a separate government.

Limited government

The belief that the government should have certain restrictions in order to protect the individual rights and civil liberties of citizens.

Natural rights

Rights that all people are born with and can never give up, which the government is responsible for maintaining.

Social contract

An agreement between American society and the federal government in which the public relinquishes some freedoms for the government to protect natural rights.

Popular sovereignty

The idea that the government’s power comes from the “consent of the governed.

Republicanism

A system of government in which elected leaders represent the interests of the people.

The Constitution of the United States

Replaced the Articles of the Confederation and seeks to balance individual liberty with public order.

Articles of Confederation

A weak system of government that placed power in the hands of state governments, which the Constitution replaced.

The Federalist Papers

A series of essays written to help the process of ratification of the Constitution.

Bill of Rights

First ten amendments to the Constitution, important to convince Anti-Federalist states in adopting the Constitution because change was possible.

Democracy

A system of government in which the power of the government is vested in the people, who rule directly or through elected representatives.

Participatory democracy

A model of democracy in which citizens have the power to decide directly on policy and politicians are responsible for implementing those policy decisions.

Pluralist democracy

A model of democracy in which no one group dominates politics and organized groups compete with each other to influence policy.

Interest groups

Groups of people who attempt to influence policymakers to support their position on a particular common interest or concern.

Elite democracy

A model of democracy in which a small number of people, usually those who are wealthy and well-educated, influence political decision making.

Electoral College

An example of elite democracy because it places a small group in charge of making major political decisions, even if those decisions contradict the popular will.

Shays’s Rebellion

An uprising of Revolutionary War veterans in Massachusetts that illustrated the need to create a stronger governing system.

Federalist 10

Essay arguing that liberty would be safest in a large republic because factions and diversity would avoid tyranny.

Brutus 1

Essay arguing that states should not ratify the Constitution because condensing 13 into one republic would give the federal government “absolute and uncontrollable power”.

The Virginia Plan

Suggested a bicameral legislature with representation determined by population, benefitting larger states.

The New Jersey Plan

Proposed a unicameral legislature that gave one vote to each of the states, benefitting smaller states.

The Great Compromise

Compromised between the Virginia and New Jersey Plans, proposing a bicameral legislative branch.

The Three-Fifths Compromise

Counts each enslaved person as three-fifths of a white person for purposes of representation in the House of Representatives.

Bill of Attainder Clause

Congress cannot pass a law that singles out a person for punishment without trial.

Commerce clause

Congress can regulate trade between nations, between states, and among Indian tribes.

Contracts clause

No state can interfere with the execution of contracts.

Ex Post Facto Clause

Congress cannot pass a law that punishes a person retroactively.

Necessary and Proper Clause aka Elastic Clause

Congress can exercise powers not specifically stated in the Constitution if those powers are 'necessary and proper' for carrying out its expressed powers.

Article V of the Constitution

Describes the process for amending the Constitution; the federal government could add amendments which had to be ratified by three-fourths of states.

Supremacy Clause

Establishes the Constitution as the Supreme Law of the Land.

Separation of Powers

Ensures that the three branches - legislative, executive, and judicial - have separate powers and must both cooperate and compete to enact policy.

Checks and balances

Each of the branches has the power to check the other two, which ensures that no one branch can become too powerful and that government as a whole is constrained.

Federalist 51

Defends system of checks and balances in the Constitution and advocates for separation of powers.

Stakeholder

A person with an interest or a concern in a political issue.

Federalism

Describes the system of shared governance between national and state governments.

Layer or Dual Federalism

Views the Constitution as giving a limited list of powers to the national government, leaving the rest to the sovereign states.

Marble or Cooperative Federalism

Developed during the New Deal and characterized by the federal government becoming more intrusive in what was traditionally states' powers.

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.

New Federalism or Devolution

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

Full faith and credit clause

States must honor each other’s decisions and legal judgments.

Privileges and immunities clause

States can’t treat newcomers worse than their own citizens.

Exclusive powers

Powers reserved to the federal government or the states

Delegated powers

Powers of the federal government

Reserved powers

Powers for the states and people

Concurrent powers

Powers shared by the federal government and the states.

Categorical grants

Can only be used for specific purposes, and frequently include nondiscrimination provisions.

Mandates

Unfunded federal requirements that states or local governments meet a specific condition in order to receive federal aid.

Block grants

Federal grants given to states or localities for broad purposes.

Federal revenue sharing

The practice of sharing federal income tax revenue with state and local governments.

Commerce clause

Gives Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce.

Necessary and proper clause

Gives Congress the power to create laws that they find “necessary and proper” for performing their constitutional responsibilities.

Enumerated powers

Powers of the federal government that are explicitly named in the Constitution.

Implied powers

Powers of the federal government that are not explicitly named in the Constitution but are implied so that the federal government can carry out its enumerated powers.

9th Amendment

Rights not enumerated in the Constitution belong to the people.

10th Amendment

All powers not delegated to the federal government or prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or the people.

14th Amendment

Grants citizenship, equal protection, and due process under the law to all people born in the United States.

Due Process Clause

“nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” is applicable to STATES

Equal Protection Clause

“not shall any state … deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Confirmed the supremacy of the national government over the state government.

US v. Lopez (1995)

Limited national power in favor of state power; Congress may not use the commerce clause to make possession of a gun in a school zone a federal crime.

Agenda setting

Identifying Issues