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Definition
| the current effort to scale back the size and activities of the national government and to shift responsibility for a wide range of domestic programs from Washington to the states. In recent years these areas have included welfare, health care, and job training. |
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| grants of money from the federal government to states for programs in certain general areas rather than for specific kinds of programs |
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| a political system in which ulitmate authority is shared between a central government and state or regional governments |
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| supreme or ulitmate political authority; a sovereign government is one that is legally and politically independent of any other government |
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| a system in which sovereignty is wholly in the hands of the national government so that subnational political units are dependent on its will |
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| a political system in which states or regional governments retain ultimate authority except for those powers that are expressly delegated to a central government. The US was this from 1776 to 1787 under the A of C. |
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Definition
| a system in which sovereignty is shared so that on some matters the national government is supreme and on others the state, regional, or provincial governments are supreme |
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Definition
| a political system in which local unites of government have a specially protected existence and can make final decisions over some governmental activites |
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Term
| "necessary and proper" clause |
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Definition
| the final paragraph of Article I, Section 8, of the constitution, which authorizes Congress to pass all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out the enumerated powers. Sometimes called the "elastic clause" because of the flexibility that it provides to Congress |
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Definition
| a theory first advanced by Madison and Jefferson that the states had the right to "nullify"(declare null and void) a federal law that, in the states' opinion, violated the Constitution. The theory was revived by Calhoun of SC in opposition to federal efforts to restrict slavery. The North's victory in the Civil War determined once and for all that the federal Union is indissoluble and that states cannot delare acts of Congress unconstitutional, a view later confirmed by the Supreme Court. |
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Definition
| a constitutional theory that the national government and the state government each have defined areas of authority, especially over commerce |
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| a muncipal corporation or minicipality that has been chartered by a state to exercise certain defined powers and provide certain specific services |
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Term
| muncipal corporation/municipality |
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Definition
| a legal term for a city. It is chartered by the state to exercise certain powers and provide certain services |
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Term
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Definition
| a charter that denies the powers of a certain named city and lists what the city can and cannot do |
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Term
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Definition
| a charter that applies to a number of cities that fall within a certain classification, usually based on city population. Thus in some states, all cities with populations over 100,000 are governed on the basis of one charter, while all cities with populations between 50,000 and 99,999 are governed by a different one |
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Term
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Definition
| a legal principle that holds that the terms of city charters are to be interpreted narrowly. Under this rule, a municpal corporation can exercise only those powers expressly given it or those powers necessarily implied by, or essential to the accomplishment of, these stated powers |
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Definition
| a charter that allows the city government to do anything that is not prohibited by the charter or by state law |
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Definition
| a law passed and enforced by a city government |
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Term
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Definition
| the largest territorial unit between a city and a town |
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Term
| special-district governments/authorities |
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Definition
| a local or regional government with responsibility for some single function such as administering schools, handling sewage, or managing airports |
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Definition
| a special-district government responsible for administering public schools |
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Term
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Definition
| the power of a state to promote health, safety, and morals |
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Definition
| a procedure allowing voters to submit a proposed law to a popular vote by obtaining a required number of signatures |
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Term
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Definition
| the practice of submitting a law to a popular vote at election time. The law may be proposed by a voter's initiative or by the legislature |
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Definition
| a procedure, in effect in over 20 states, whereby the voters can vote to remove an elected official from office |
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Term
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Definition
| federal funds provided to states or localities. Grants-in-aid are typically provided for airports, highways, education, and welfare services |
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Term
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Definition
| federal grants for specific purposes defined by federal law: to build an airport, for example, or to make welfare payments to low-income mothers. Such grants usually rquire that the state or locality put up money to "match" some part of the federal grants, though the amount of matching funds can be quite small. |
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Term
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Definition
| a law providing for the distribution of a fixed amount or share of federal tax revenues to the states for spending on almost any government purpose. distribution was intended to send more money to poorer, heavily taxed states and less to richer, lightly taxed ones. Ended in 1986. |
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Definition
| federal rules attached to the grants that states receive. States must agree to abide by these rules in order to receive the grants. |
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| rules imposed by the federal government on the states as conditions for obtaining federal grants or requirements that the states pay the costs of certain nationally defined programs |
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| the flow of power and responsibility from states to local governments |
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Definition
| the use of nongovernmental organizations to implement public policy |
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