AP Gov All Unit Review

First Amendment

5 freedoms: speech, press, religion, assembly, petition

Second Amendment

Right to bear arms (to protect the people against a government that becomes too powerful)

Third Amendment

No quartering of soldiers

Fourth Amendment

No unreasonable searches and seizures without a warrant; right to privacy

Fifth Amendment

Due process, eminent domain, no double jeopardy, right to remain silent (you can't be forced to testify against yourself) and the right to be tried by a grand jury for a capital offense

Sixth Amendment

Right to a speedy trial

Seventh Amendment

Right to a trial by a jury of your peers; no lawsuits under $20

Eighth Amendment

No cruel and unusual punishment

Ninth Amendment

Any rights not explicitly listed are automatically given to the people. (Meant to appease the Anti-Federalists)

Tenth Amendment

Any powers not explicitly listed are automatically given to the states.

Eleventh Amendment

When states sue other states, it automatically goes before the Supreme Court. Residents of one state cannot sue another state. Another country can't sue the US and vice verse.

Twelfth Amendment

Creates a ticket for the presidency where the president and VP are elected together.

Thirteenth Amendment

Abolishes slavery and gives congress the power to enforce abolition through legislation.

Fourteenth Amendment

Defines citizens as people born in the US and prohibits the states from denying due process and equal protection under the law. Also states that the value of the debt must always be paid and honored, and cannot be questioned. Also excludes women from voting.

Fifteenth Amendment

Voting rights will not be based on race.

Sixteenth Amendment

Establishes an income tax

Seventeenth Amendment

Direct election of senators

Eighteenth Amendment

Prohibition

Nineteenth Amendment

Women's suffrage

Twentieth Amendment

Shortens the lame duck period by moving the presidential inauguration from March to January.

Twenty-First Amendment

Ends prohibition by repealing the 18th amendment

Twenty-Second Amendment

Limits the president to two terms in office

Twenty-Third Amendment

Washington DC is not a state, but gets 3 electoral votes.

Twenty-Fourth Amendment

Outlaws poll taxes

Twenty-Fifth Amendment

Outlines the direct line of succession for the presidency

Twenty-Sixth Amendment

Lowers the voting age to 18

Twenty-Seventh Amendment

Congress can't give itself a pay raise.

High-tech politics

A politics in which the behavior of citizens and policymakers and the political agenda itself are increasingly shaped by technology

Mass media

Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and other means of popular communication that reach and profoundly influence the masses

Media events

Events that are purposely staged for the media and that are significant just because the media are there

Press conferences

Meetings of public officials with reporters

Investigative Journalism

The use of in-depth reporting to unearth scandals, scams, and schemes, at times putting reporters in adversarial relationships with political leaders

Print media

Newspapers and magazines, as compared with electronic media

Electronic media

Television, radio, and the Internet, as compared with print media

Narrowcasting

Media programming on cable TV or the Internet that is focused on a particular interest and is aimed at a particular audience

Selective Exposure

The process through which people consciously choose to get the news from information sources that have viewpoints compatible with their own

Chains

Groups of newspapers published by media conglomerates and today accounting for over four-fifths of the nation's daily newspapers circulation

Beats

Specific locations from which news frequently emanates. Most top reporters work in a particular beat.

Trial balloons

Intentional news leaks for the purpose of assessing the political reaction

Sound bites

Short video clips of about ten seconds. Typically they are all that is shown from a politician's speech on the nightly TV news

Talking head

A shot of a person's face talking directly to the camera

Policy agenda

The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actively involved in politics at the time

Policy entrepreneurs

People who invest their political "capital" in an issue

Interest group

An organization of people with shared policy goals entering the policy process at several points to try to achieve those goals

Pluralism

The theory of government and politics emphasizing that many groups, each pressing for its preferred policies, competes and counterbalances one another in the political marketplace

Elitism

A theory of government and politics contending that an upper-class elite with hold most of the power and thus run the government

Hyperpluralism

A theory government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government, seeking to please them all, is thereby weakened

Interest Group Liberalism

A situation in which government is excessively deferential to groups, with virtually all pressure group demands seen as legitimate and the job of the government to advance them all

Potential group

All the people who might be interest group members because they share some common interest

Actual group

The people in the potential group who actually join

Collective good

Something of value that cannot be withheld from a potential group member

Free-rider problem

For a group, the problem of people not joining because they can benefit from the group's activities without joining

Selective benefits

Goods that a group can restrict to those who actually join

Single-issue groups

Groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics

Lobbying

A communication, by someone other than a citizen acting on his or her own behalf, directed to a governmental decision maker with the hope of influencing his or her decision

Electioneering

Direct group involvement in the electoral process

Union shop

A provision found in some collective bargaining agreements requiring all employees of a business to join a union within a short period, and to remain members as a condition of employment

Right-to-work laws

State laws forbidding requirements that workers must join a union to hold their jobs

Brown v. Board of Education

A Supreme Court case that declared segregated schools unconstitutional

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

An amendment never passed that would guarantee equality of women

Public interest lobbies

Organizations that seek a collective good, the achievement of which will not selectively and materially benefit the membership or activists of the organization

Political Participation

The ways in which people get involved in politics

Ex: Voting

Single-Issue Groups

Groups so concerned with one issue that members often cast their votes on the basis of that issue only and ignore a politician's stand on everything else

Ex: Groups dedicated to outlawing/preserving abortion

Policymaking System

In this system, people shape policies and are then affected by them; political issues get on the policy agenda → policymakers make policies → policies affect people

Connection: Congress, the president, and the courts are at the head of policymaking

Policy Agenda

Issues that attract the attention of public officials and others involved in politics

Linkage Institutions

Political channels through which people's concerns become political issues on the policy agenda

Connection: Includes elections, parties, interest groups, and the media

Policymaking Institutions

The branches of government which take action on political issues

Connection: Includes Congress, the President, and the Courts

Public Policy

Every decision the government makes

Connection: Includes statutes, presidential actions, court decisions, budgetary choices, and regulation

Majority Rule

Policies made should reflect the will of over half the voters

Ex: This is used in the Supreme Court

Minority Rights

Guarantees rights to those who do not belong to the majority

Ex: Freedom of speech

Pluralism

A theory of American democracy which states that groups with shared interests influence public policy by pressing their concerns through organized efforts

Ex: NRA, NOW, ACE - interest groups

Elitism

A theory that contends that our society is divided along class lines and that an upper class elite will rule regardless of formal niceties of government organization

Hyperpluralism

A theory where competing groups are so strong that the government is weakened, and the influence of so many groups cripples the government's ability to make policy - pluralism "gone bad"

Ex: Ecologists using legal procedures to delay construction projects they feel will damage the environment

Policy Gridlock

This happens when no coalition is strong enough to form a majority and establish policy, so nothing gets done

Ex: Debt ceiling issue today

Natural Rights

Rights inherent to human beings

Connection: Locke's idea of these rights included life, liberty, and property

Limited Government

There should be clear restrictions on what rulers can do, therefore the government should be a ________ government.

Ex: The government cannot take a man's property without his consent and governments must provide standing laws.

Articles of Confederation

Our first constitution which outlined a weak federal government and a stronger state government

Shays' Rebellion

A series of armed attacks on courthouses to prevent judges from foreclosing on farms

Connection: This helped people realize that a stronger central government was needed to support their nation

Factions

Parties/interest groups

Ex: The Republic Party

New Jersey Plan

A plan when creating Congress that called for equal representation regardless of differences in population between States

Virginia Plan

A plan when creating Congress that called for representation based on populations of states

Connecticut Compromise (Great Compromise)

A plan when creating Congress that called for a combination of the New Jersey and Virginia Plan to create a bicameral legislature

Ex Post Facto Laws

Laws that punish people or increase the penalties for acts that were not illegal or not as punishable when the act was committed

Separation of Powers

Each branch of the government is relatively independent of the others so that no single branch can overpower the others

Ex: Congress controlling "the purse" while the President controls the army

Checks and Balances

A system in government where all three branches limit each other

Ex: Congress can override vetoes, courts have judicial review, and the President can veto

Republic

A system based on the consent of the governed where representatives of the public exercise power

Ex: The U.S. is this

Federalists

People who supported the Constitution

Ex: Madison, Hamilton, John Jay

Anti-Federalists

People who did not support the Constitution

Ex: Jefferson

Federalist Papers

Articles that praised the Constitution to persuade the public

KNOW ARTICLES 5, 10, 51, and 78

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution which restrain the national government from limiting personal freedoms

Equal Rights Amendment

An amendment that was NOT ratified which stated that equality of rights under the law can't be denied or abridged by the U.S. or the states based on sex

Connection: It was not passed largely because of conservative Phyllis Schlafly's persuasive arguments, especially regarding equality in military drafting

Marbury v. Madison

A court case that established judicial review

Judicial Review

A power given to the courts saying that they have the right to decide whether the actions of the legislative/executive branches and the national government are in line with the Constitution

Federalism

A system of shared power between units of government (national, state, and local governments)

Unitary Governments

Governments where all of the power resides in the central government

Confederation

A system where the federal government is weak and most or all of the power resides with the country's components

Ex: The Articles of Confederation was this

Supremacy Clause

The second paragraph of Article VI of the Constitution that states that the following 3 items are the supreme law of the land: the Constitution, laws of the national government, and treaties

Tenth Amendment

This amendment states that powers not given to the the federal government are reserved to the states or the people

McCulloch v. Maryland

A court case that established the supremacy of the national government over the states, and that the national government has certain implied powers that go beyond enumerated powers

Eleventh Amendment

The amendment prohibits federal courts, state courts, or federal administrative agencies from hearing cases in which a private party names a state as a defendant or seeks monetary relief from a state officers in his/her official capacity unless the state gives its consent