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-can be tested with facts and data
-what is ACTUALLY occurring rather than what should be occurring |
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-an opinion of how it SHOULD be
-usually associated with making a judgement rather than stating a fact |
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| Three Elements of Democracy |
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Definition
-Popular Sovereignty
-Political Equality
-Political Liberty |
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| the people ultimately rule |
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| People are protected from government interference in the exercise of basic freedoms such as speech, association, and conscience |
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| Each person has equal weight in the conduct of public business |
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| Reservations and Concerns about Democracy: |
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-Majority Tyranny
-People are irrational and incompetent
-Marjoritarian democracy threatens minorities |
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| Officials and institutions that have formal and legal responsibility to make public policy/not always elected officials |
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| Process by which society decides who gets benefits or privileges |
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| Ability to cause others to modify their behavior and conform to what you want |
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| a course of action by government about a problem |
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Not necessarily unfair, but predisposed to a different kind of outcome
ex: religion, money, sexuality, name recognition etc. |
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| The American People have become more or less diverse? |
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Definition
| Have become more diverse over time. |
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-Important background for understanding American politics
-Focus on values and beliefs that are shared
-Shared values have an effect on how politics operate.
-Also associated with national identity |
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| Core Values suggested by the text: |
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Definition
-Individual Liberty
-Political Equality
-Majority Rule
-Minority Rights
-Economic Rights |
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| Roots of the Constitution |
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Definition
-intellectual links to Europe
-began to challenge the monarchy way of ruling
-a constitution is like a contract among citizens (radical idea for 1600's because citizens were previously seen as "subjects" or property of the monarchs) |
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| Jefferson's aims in the Declaration of Independence |
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Definition
-send a message to Britain
-convince American people to go along with the idea
-used persuasion & justification
-sent message to those who may help (France) |
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| Significance of the word "necessary" in the Declaration of Independence |
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| Sent the message that America had no other choice but to declare their independence |
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| Significance of the words "equal station" in the Declaration of Independence |
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| Communicated that citizens should be equal to officials rather than considered property or subjects |
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| Who had the sovereignty under the Articles of Confederation? |
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Definition
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| What couldn't the national government do under the Articles of Confederation? |
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Definition
-Could not levy taxes
-Lacked a national army |
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Term
| What could the States do under the Articles of Confederation? |
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Definition
-controlled the printing of money
-regulated commerce
-could tax good brought across states lines
-each state only had 1 vote; favored small states |
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Term
| What areas of dissatisfaction with the Articles of Confederation led to the secret convention in Philadelphia in 1787? |
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Definition
Dissatisfaction with:
-maintaining order
-multiple currencies within the country
-state regulation disrupting commerce |
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Term
| The role of the constitution |
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Definition
-to distribute authority (handing out power to certain offices)
-to structure government (set up offices & bodies to take action)
-basic procedures (ex:specify how laws are to be passed, officials removed from office, election, amending the document)
-specification of rights |
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| Key figure at the convention? |
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Definition
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| Two goals of the Convention? |
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Definition
-form a national government that is supreme
-protect individual liberty |
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| Major Issues of the Convention |
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Definition
-national government v. the states
-representation
-executive |
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Term
| What was the solution to the issue of state v. national power? |
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| Federalism: power is given to both |
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Term
| What were the opposing plans in the issue of representation? |
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Definition
Virginia Plan- favored big states; called for a bicameral congress with both houses based on population and a single executive
& the New Jersey Plan- favored small states; called for a unicameral congress with each state equally represented and called for a plural or committee executive |
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Term
| What was the solution to the representation issue? |
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Definition
| The Connecticut Compromise- (what we have now, bicameral congress and single executive) Another compromise was the 3/5 compromise which allowed 3/5 of slaves to be counted for population |
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Term
| How did the constitution check the executive power? |
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Definition
-terms limited to 4 years (although terms were not initially limited)
-2/3 of congress can override a presidential veto |
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Term
| What were the fundamental outcomes in the Constitution? |
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Definition
-National Supremacy: supremacy clause
-Federalism: some power given to the states, some given to the national government and some is given to both
-Checks & Balances: Way of insuring that no branch is more powerful than another |
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| The first article outlines whose powers? |
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Definition
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| The 2nd article outlines whose powers? |
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Definition
| The executive branch and its ability to appoint supreme court justices with the approval of congress for their lifetime. |
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| How many states were needed to ratify the constitution? |
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Definition
| 9 of the 13 states were required |
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| Were federalists or anti-federalists in support of the Constitution? |
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Definition
| The Federalists supported the constitution and the anti-federalists opposed it. |
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Term
| What were two concerns about the Constitution? |
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Definition
1- concern that it gave too much power to the national government (supremacy clause, regulating money & interstate commerce)
2- Also concerned that it was not democratic enough (because judges were appointed by presidents, and the president was selected by the electoral college and senators had 6 year terms) |
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| What are three types of political systems? |
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Definition
- unitary: all power is in the hands of the national government
(ex: Britain & France)
- confederal: all power is in the hands of the states (ex: the confederacy during the civil war)
- federal: shared powers between federal government and states (ex: America, Mexico, & Canada) |
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Term
| What were the issues and results of the McCulloch v. Maryland case? |
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Definition
Maryland was favoring state banks by imposing taxes on federal banks. McCulloch refused to pay the state imposed tax in a federal bank. The issues were:
-does Congress have the power to create a bank?
-can a state tax a federal bank?
- Answer found in the enumerated powers and elastic clause, based on the interpretation of what is "necessary"
- The supremacy clause determined that a state cannot tax a federal institution |
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Term
| What were the issues and results of the Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)case? |
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Definition
| Gibbons had a federal license to transport between NJ & NY and Ogden had a state monopoly in New York waters. The case tested the federal supremacy to regulate interstate commerce. The federal license trumps the state monopoly bolstering national supremacy over state power. |
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Term
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Definition
| Theory favoring the idea that unless Congress has a power explicitly stated in the constitution then the power is retained by the state in the case of conflict; popular during 1835-1864 & 1895-1937 |
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| Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) |
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| Case legitimized "Jim Crow" racial segregation laws based on the "separate but equal" idea. |
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| Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918) |
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Definition
-dealt with child labor
-Courts tried to indirectly address child labor by regulating interstate commerce.
-Banned manufacturers using child labor from shipping good across state lines.
-However, Supreme court overturned this decision because according to the dual federalism doctrine, congress did not have the power to regulate manufacturing. |
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| Money that goes from a higher form of government to a lower form as long as certain conditions are met |
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| Grants where the national government would specify grant money for a narrow purpose, but the states and local governments would have to do certain things to receive that money |
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Term
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Definition
| Giving money for broad purposes such as the grant created by Nixon in 1974 called the Community Development block grant that took old categorical grants such as sewer and water projects, housing and more. These were rolled into one large grant, and communities were given these grants based on mathematical formula. This gave officials much more flexibility. |
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Definition
-Began under Nixon and ended under Reagan
- Money given from national to state governments with few strings attached to help fund the struggling state and local governments
- redistributed money; "free money" |
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Term
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Definition
-can be done indirectly by bribing state's to follow federal will or by threatening to remove other funds, but not always monetary
- preemption: taking over what is there and substituting something else in its place (ex: congress put regulations on water and air) National standards for pollution that allow state's to make more stringent, but never more lenient laws regarding pollution, sets a minimum standard |
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Definition
| National government turning over more policy-making authority to the states; occurred a lot during the 1980's |
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Term
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-Designating money for specified things back home to please constituents
-Controversial because states expect to get something back for all that they pay into the federal budget |
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Term
| "reserved powers" are found in the ...? |
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Definition
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| The local governments cannot do any more or any less than the state governments allow, "creatures of the state" |
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| Which amendment extended the rights of citizenship? |
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Definition
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| "Initiative" in the context of state government procedures |
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Definition
| Allows citizens to circulate petitions to propose a law to the ballot |
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| The yes or no vote the citizen would place on a law |
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| allows voters to remove elected officials from office |
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| invidious, arbitrary, irrational designation of a group for special treatment by government |
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-assumptions that actions by elected bodies or officials violate constitutional rights
- burden of proof is on the government to provide a compelling interest in order to override individual rights
- used if the case involves a suspect classification |
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Definition
-used if the case does not involve suspect classification
-requires only a rational basis for government action |
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| 13th, 14th & 15th amendments dealing largely with slavery |
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Definition
-indirectly excluded blacks from voting by saying that a grandfather must have been registered to vote in 1865
-in many states, property ownership was required to be eligible to vote |
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Term
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Definition
-Allowed only whites to vote in the primaries
-meant that candidates primarily supported by blacks would not even appear on the ballot when they could vote in November |
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Term
| Smith v. Allwright (1944) |
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Definition
-courts decided that political parties were acting like governments and preventing certain groups from voting;
-banned the white primary in Texas, but only took effect in Texas
-so minimal immediate impact |
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Term
| King v. Chapman (Georgia 1945) |
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Definition
| Overturned the white primary in Georgia |
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Term
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Definition
| Private groups sponsored agreements and contracts stating that houses in a certain neighborhood could only be sold/leased to whites |
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Term
| Shelley v. Kraemer (1948) |
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Definition
| Supreme court decided that they could not enforce racial covenants because they were private matters |
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Term
| Effects of Property requirements for voting: |
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Definition
-disenfranchised the poor, rather than just blacks
-many states required you to have property when you were voting in order to sell bonds |
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Term
| Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) |
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Definition
| Ruling declared racial segregation unconstitutional, but only took effect in Kansas and litigation had to be made from state to state |
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Definition
-this law was designated to eliminate discrimination in public places (public schools, movie houses, courthouses etc.)
-created to deal with legally enforced segregation |
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Term
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Definition
-this law aimed to provide federal election oversight; previously local governments could decide whether or not to allow citizens to vote
-major impact- huge increase in black voter registration in the south, also an increase in white voters and an increase in black office holders |
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