American Democracy and Political Participation

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing key concepts from lecture notes.

Natural Rights

Rights that all human beings are endowed with by their creator.

Social Contract

The idea that the government exists by the consent of the governed.

Popular Sovereignty

The concept that the people are the ones who hold the power in the US government.

Republicanism

A blueprint for a government characterized by separation of powers and elected representatives.

Participatory Democracy

A model of democracy that emphasizes broad participation in the political process.

Elite Democracy

A model of democracy that favors limited participation in the political process by a few elite individuals.

Pluralist Democracy

A model of democracy where groups associated with interest groups compete to influence public policy.

Federalists

Favored a strong central government and argued for the ratification of the Constitution.

Antifederalists

Wanted a weaker central government and strong state governments.

Articles of Confederation (AOC)

The first constitution of the United States, which had a weak central government and strong state governments.

Shay’s Rebellion

An uprising that convinced many that the Articles of Confederation were insufficient due to the lack of a federal army to quell the rebellion.

The Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise)

Agreement during the Constitutional Convention that created a bicameral legislature with representation in the House based on population and equal representation in the Senate.

Electoral College

Mechanism established to elect the president, with each state receiving electors equal to its congressional representatives.

3/5th Compromise

Compromise that determined how enslaved people would be counted for representation, with each slave counting as ⅗ of a person.

Federalism

Allocation of powers between the federal and state governments, defined by exclusive, reserved, and concurrent powers.

Exclusive Powers

Powers delegated by the Constitution to the federal government.

Reserved Powers

Powers that belong only to the states and not the federal government, as per the Tenth Amendment.

Concurrent Powers

Powers that are shared by both the federal and state governments.

Categorical Grants

Grants given to states with specific requirements or strings attached.

Block Grants

Money given to the states for a relatively broad purpose, to be used as the state sees fit.

Mandates

Laws that require states to follow federal directives, often with federal funding provided for compliance.

10th Amendment

States that any power not explicitly given to the federal government in the Constitution is reserved for the states.

14th Amendment

Applies the Bill of Rights to the states, ensuring states guarantee the same protections and immunities as the federal government.

Commerce Clause

Allows Congress to regulate commerce among the states.

Necessary and Proper Clause (Elastic Clause)

Grants Congress the power to make any law necessary and proper to uphold its enumerated powers.

McCulloch v. Maryland

Implies certain powers even if they aren’t explicitly stated in the Constitution and that federal law trumps state law.

United States v. Lopez

That carrying guns to school is in no way under the region of managing commerce between states and deemed guns at school unconstitutional

Enumerated Powers

Powers explicitly granted to Congress in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.

Power of the Purse

The power of Congress to control federal money, raise revenue, and pass the federal budget.

Implied Powers

Implied powers of congress through the necessary and proper clause

Bicameral

A legislative body with two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Speaker of the House

The highest-ranking member of the House of Representatives, chosen by the majority party in the House.

Majority and Minority Leaders

Under the speaker of the house who direct debate and guide their group members in policy making decisions, etc.

The Whip

Renders party discipline.

Senate Majority Leader

Sets the legislative agenda and controls which bills enter the floor for debate in the Senate.

Committee System

Standing, joint, select, conference

Standing Committee

Committees that are always there for problems and issues that are always there and need to be addressed

Joint Committee

Groups that involved both house and senate members

Select Committee

Temporary and are created for a specific reason and are dissolved once that issue is resolved

Conference Committee

Formed to address whatever difference is in the house version of approved bill and the senate version of approved bill

Riders

Addition of rider bills are to help a members own agenda / sometimes pork barrel spending is added and those are funds that are earmarked for specific projects in a member’s district

Pork Barrel Spending

Funds that are earmarked for specific projects in a member’s district

Log Rolling

Legislators helping each other out in getting a portion of the bill approved

Mandatory Spending

Money that is required by some law that you allocate money for

Discretionary Spending

All the money that's left over after the mandatory spending is over

Trustee Model

Believes that they have been elected by the public to vote according to their conscience and judgements

Delegate Model

Believes that they must vote for the people that elected them even if it goes against their own personal ideas/ own judgement

Politico Model

Blend of the other two delegate and trustee. Depends on the situation and votes in the way that works best for that situation

Redistricting

Redrawing congressional districts by population.

Gerrymandering

Redistricting in favor of one group so that group has more political power over the other group

Baker v. Carr

Redistricting needs to represent people equally and so that's the one person one vote idea

Shaw v. Reno

You cannot use race as a a means for redistricting because it violated the 14th amendment ideology of equal protection

Presidential Powers (Formal)

Formal powers given to the president by Article 2 of the Constitution, such as the veto power and commander-in-chief status.

Presidential Powers (Informal)

Informal powers of the president, including persuasion, bargaining, and the ability to use the bully pulpit to influence public opinion.

Executive Orders

Directive orders issued by the president that hold the force of federal law but are not actually signed laws.

Presidential Appointments

The President appoints someone for the supreme court, they have have live time appointment which means they have the power to implement a president’s power and policies well after that president’s term is over

Advice and Consent

The Senate has powers of advice and consent - They have the power to approve or deny cabinet appointments

Federalist 70

Detailed how a single executive would have more energy and would be more decisive and this would let us hold one person accountable instead of passing the blame around to multiple different people

Federalist 78

Hamilton argues that the independence of the judicial branch protects them

Judicial Branch

Lifetime appointments protect from being too heavily influenced r pressured into making choices for one political party at the fear of removal, but they can operate constitutionally and without bias and fear

Judicial Review

When the supreme court looks at laws passed by congress and deems them constitutional or not

Marbury v. Madison

Established the Supreme Court's power of judicial review.

Structure of the Federal Court System

US district courts -> US circuit court of appeals -> US supreme court

Precedents

All the court cases that that have ever been decided

Judicial Activism

The court acts to establish policy basically considering the broad affects on a society

Judicial Restraint

Judges think through the idea that judges aren’t there to make laws so the only time a law is struck down is if it violates the actual written word of the constitution

The Bureaucracy

The sort of fourth branch of government because it has so much authority

Commissions

Regulatory independent groups which are kind of independent of the president but still operate under the authority of the executive branch

Government Corporations

Hybrid of business and government agency

Delegated Discretionary Authority

Power given to the bureaucracy by Congress to use at their discretion to carry out laws and rules.

Congressional Oversight

Congress gives progress reports through hearings

Bill of Rights

The US constitution has the bill of rights to protect individual liberties and rights

Engel v. Vitale

Mandatory public school prayer violated the establishment clause and the court agreed

Wisconsin v. Yoder

The government couldn’t enforce that amish kids were sent to regular schools after 8th grade when the parents didn’t want to do so and the court agreed and ruled in favor of the amish

Tinker v. Des Moines

School admins suspended students for wearing protesting black armbands to school but the court said they’re allowed to do that because its symbolic speech and they're allowed to do so because it wasn’t disruptive speech

Time, Place, and Manner Regulations

You can restrict the time, place and manner but not the content

Schneck v. United States

A man tried to send out flyers that encouraged dodging the draft and that created a clear and present danger because the US was in the middle of a war

Prior Restraint

The government has the right to restrict the content of the printed works before they are printed

District of Columbia v. Heller

A security guard wanted to carry his revolver home but DC law made that kind of impossible. But the supreme court upheld his right to own a gun and it was the first time that the second amendment had an official interpretation

Patriot Act

Program that allowed the government to collect metadata from everyone’s cell phone conversations

Due Process Clause 14th Amendment

No state shall abridge the rights of citizens (now the bill of rights protected citizens from states as well. This happens through the process of selective incorporation)

McDonald v. Chicago

The Heller decision only applied to federal law and the argument in mcdonald argued that the right of the second amendment should be expanded to the states as well through the 14th amendment. The court said yeah sure and applied the second amendment

Procedural Due Process

Federal agents have to follow a prescribed style of action that's predictable when dealing with citizens in situations that may violate their rights

Miranda v. Arizona

Established the Miranda Rule and tries to uphold the fifth amendment which protects you from having to testify against yourself in trial

Roe v. Wade

A woman under texas law wanted an abortion but couldn’t get one and argued that this was a violation of her privacy as implicitly stated in the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 19th amendments

Dobbs v. Jackson

Gave back to the states the right to chose allowing abortion care or not

Substantive Due Process

Whether the laws themselves are just

Civil Liberties

Freedoms guaranteed by the constitution (no government involvement)

Civil Rights

The process by which all citizens are equally protected by those liberties (government involvement)

Brown v. Board of Education

Desegregated schools across the nation

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Made voting discrimination illegal

Title 9

Upheld the rights of women

Individualism

Conservatives think about self centered individualism (rights of individuals is more important than the group) liberals think about enlightened individualism (group is more important than individual)

Opinion Polls

Used to gauge the public’s opinion about a certain candidates, policies, etc

Benchmark Polls

Taken at the beginning of a candidates race and can be used to compare at the end of the campaign as a benchmark

Tracking Polls

Taken over time and usually with the same group of people; gives information about how a certain group of people feels about policies or candidates over a period of time and if their opinions change or not

Entrance Polls

Conducted before people vote

Exit Polls

Conducted after people vote

Liberal Ideology

More open to allowing the government to expand and provide services to the public

Conservative Ideology

Emphasizing tradition and establishment