Federal Government Final Exam Study Guide

FOUNDATIONS (Ch. 1–2)

Autocracy
→ A system of government where power is held by one ruler or a small group.

Democracy
→ A system of government where power comes from the people.

Politics
→ The process of who gets what, when, and how in society.

Power
→ The ability to influence or control outcomes.

American political values
→ Liberty/freedom, equality, justice, fairness.

3/5 Compromise
→ Agreement counting enslaved people as 3/5 of a person for representation and taxation.

FEDERALISM (Ch. 3)

Federalism
→ A system where power is shared between national and state governments.

Expressed (Enumerated) Powers
→ Powers explicitly written in the Constitution (Article I, Section 8).

Implied Powers
→ Powers inferred from expressed powers through the Necessary and Proper Clause.

Necessary and Proper Clause
→ Allows Congress to pass laws needed to carry out its expressed powers.

Reserved Powers
→ Powers kept by the states under the 10th Amendment.

Concurrent Powers
→ Powers shared by federal and state governments.

Supremacy Clause
→ Federal law is the highest law of the land and overrides state law.

Police Power
→ State authority to regulate health, safety, morals, and general welfare.

Home Rule
→ Power of local governments to govern themselves, granted by the state.

CONSTITUTION & RIGHTS (Ch. 4)

First Amendment freedoms
→ Religion, speech, press, assembly, petition.

Establishment Clause
→ Government cannot establish an official religion.

Free Exercise Clause
→ Government cannot interfere with religious practice.

Hate speech
→ Protected under the First Amendment unless it becomes fighting words.

Fighting words
→ Speech intended to provoke immediate violence; not protected.

Second Amendment
→ Right to keep and bear arms.

Fourth Amendment
→ Protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Fifth Amendment
→ Due process, protection against self-incrimination.

15th Amendment
→ Voting rights for African-American men.

19th Amendment
→ Voting rights for women.

22nd Amendment
→ Limits the president to two terms.

Due Process
→ Legal requirement that government must respect individual rights.

VOTING & CIVIL RIGHTS (Ch. 5)

Voting Rights Act of 1965
→ Banned discriminatory voting practices.

Shelby County v. Holder
→ Weakened federal oversight of voting laws.

Automatic Voter Registration
→ Voters are registered automatically through state agencies unless they opt out.

Same-Day Registration
→ Allows voters to register and vote on the same day.

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS (Ch. 8)

Social Movement
→ Organized effort to bring social or political change.

Jim Crow Laws
→ State and local laws enforcing racial segregation.

Montgomery Bus Boycott
→ Protest against bus segregation led by Rosa Parks and MLK Jr.

Brown v. Board of Education
→ Supreme Court case ending school segregation.

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH (Ch. 12–13)

House of Representatives members
→ 435 voting members.

Senate members
→ 100 members.

Total voting members of Congress
→ 535.

Role of Congress
→ Make laws, control spending, oversight, impeachment.

Filibuster
→ Senate rule allowing unlimited debate to block a vote.

Cloture
→ Requires 60 votes to end a filibuster.

EXECUTIVE & JUDICIAL BRANCHES (Ch. 15)

Role of Executive Branch
→ Enforces laws and runs the federal bureaucracy.

Executive Order
→ Directive from the president to federal agencies.

Presidential Veto
→ President rejects a bill passed by Congress.

Commander in Chief
→ President is head of the military.

Supreme Court Justices
→ 9 justices.

How justices are selected
→ Appointed by president, confirmed by Senate.

Standing
→ Legal right to bring a case to court.

Judicial Review
→ Power of courts to declare laws unconstitutional.