Term
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Definition
| Those at the constitutional Convention who favored strong state government over a strong national government. |
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Term
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| Part of Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution that gives Congress “the power to regulate Commerce… among the several States.” The Supreme Court’s interpretation of this clause has varied, but today it serves as the basis for much of Congress’s legislation. |
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Definition
| Part of Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution that grants Congress the power to pass any law that is related to one of its expressed powers. |
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Term
| Enumerated powers (p. 54): |
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Definition
| Powers explicitly granted to Congress, the president, or the Supreme Court in the first three articles of the Constitution. Examples include Congress’s power to “raise and support armies” and the president’s power as commander in chief. |
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Term
| Executive powers clause (p. 54): |
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Definition
| Part of Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution that states, “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” This broad statement has been used to justify many assertions of presidential power. |
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Term
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Definition
| Groups of like-minded people who try to influence the government. American government is set up to avoid domination by any one of these groups. |
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Term
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Definition
| Those at the Constitutional Convention who favored a strong national government over strong state government. |
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Term
| Great Compromise (p. 38): |
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Definition
| A compromise between the large and small states, proposed by Connecticut, in which Congress would have two houses: a Senate with two legislators per state and a House of Representatives in which each state’s representation would be based on population. |
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Definition
| Powers supported by the Constitution that are not expressly stated in it. |
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Definition
| The Supreme Court’s power to strike down a law of executive branch action that it finds unconstitutional. |
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Term
| Limited government (p. 30 |
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Definition
| A system in which the powers of the government are restricted to protect against tyranny. |
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Term
| National supremacy clause (p. 42): |
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Definition
| Part of Article VI, Section 2, of the Constitution stating that the Constitution is the “supreme Law of the Land,” meaning national laws take precedent over state laws if the two conflict. |
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Term
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Definition
| In response to the Virginia Plan, smaller states at the Constitutional Conventions offered this plan in which each state would receive equal representation in the national legislature, regardless of size. |
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Term
| Power of the purse (p. 50): |
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Definition
| The constitutional power of Congress to raise and spend money. Congress can use this as a negative or checking power over the other branches by freezing or cutting their funding to punish executive agencies. |
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Term
| Three- fifths Compromise (p. 43): |
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Definition
| The state’s decision during the Constitutional Convention to count each slave as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of determining the number of House districts per state based on population. |
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Term
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Definition
| A plan proposed by the larger states during the Constitutional Convention in which representation in the national legislature was based on population. The plan also included a variety of other proposals to strengthen the national government. |
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Term
| Coercive federalism (p. 83): |
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Definition
| A form of federalism in which the federal government pressures the states to change their policies by using regulations, mandates, and conditions ( often involving threats to withdraw federal funding). |
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Term
| Commerce clause powers (p. 75): |
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Definition
| The powers of Congress to regulate the economy granted in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution. |
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Term
| Doctrine of interposition (p. 72): |
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Definition
| The idea that if the national government passes an unconstitutional law, the people of the states (through their state legislatures) can declare the law void. This provided the basis for southern secession and the civil war. |
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Term
| Federal preemptions (p. 83): |
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Definition
| Impositions of national priorities on the states through national legislation that is based on the Constitution’s supremacy clause. |
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Term
| Fiscal federalism (p. 78): |
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Definition
| A form of federalism in which federal funds are allocated to the lower levels of government through transfer payments or grants. |
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Term
| Full faith and credit clause (p. 70): |
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Definition
| Part of Article IV of the Constitution requiring that each state’s laws be honored by the other states. For example, a legal marriage in one state must be recognized across state lines. |
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Term
| Privileges and immunities clause (p. 70): |
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Definition
| Part of Article IV of the Constitution requiring that states must treat non-state residents within their borders as they would treat their own residents. This was meant to promote commerce and travel between states. |
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Term
| States’ sovereign immunity (p. 87): |
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Definition
| Described in the 11th Amendment, this means that state governments cannot be sued in federal court. |
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Term
| Unfunded mandates (p. 80): |
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Definition
| Federal laws that require the states to do certain things but do not provide state governments with funding to implement these policies. |
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Term
| Unitary government (p. 67): |
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Definition
| A system in which the national, centralized government holds ultimate authority. It is the most common form of government in the world. |
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Term
| Civil liberties (p. 100): |
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Definition
| Basic political freedoms that protect citizens from governmental abuses of power. |
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Term
| Clear and present danger test (p. 112): |
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Definition
| Established in Schenk v. United States, this test allows the government to restrict certain types of speech deemed dangerous. |
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Term
| Commercial speech (p. 118): |
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Definition
| Public expression with the aim of making a profit. It has received greater protection under the 1st Amendment in recent years but remains less protected than political speech. |
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Term
| Direct incitement test (p. 113): |
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Definition
| Established in Brandenberg v. Ohio, this test protects threatening speech under the 1st Amendment unless that speech aims to and is likely to cause imminent “lawless action”. |
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Term
| Due process clause (p. 107): |
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Definition
| Part of the 14th Amendment that forbids states from denying “life, liberty, or property” to any person without the due process of law. (A nearly identical clause in the 5th Amendment applies only to the national government). |
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Term
| Due process rights (p. 126): |
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Definition
| The idea that laws and legal proceedings must be fair. The Constitution guarantees that the government cannot take away a person’s “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” Other specific due process rights are found in the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments, such as protection from self-incrimination and freedom from illegal searches. |
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Term
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Definition
| Forms of expression that “by their utterance” can incite violence. These can be regulated by the government but are often difficult to define. |
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Term
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Definition
| Established in Lemon v. Kurtzman, the Supreme Court uses this test to determine whether a practice violates the 1st Amendment establishment clause. |
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Term
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Definition
| Established in Miller v. California, the Supreme Court uses this three-part test to determine whether speech meets the criteria for obscenity. If so, it can be restricted by the government. |
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Term
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Definition
| The list of civil liberties described in the 5th Amendment that must be read to a suspect before anything the suspect says can be useful in trial. |
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Term
| Prior restraint (p. 116): |
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Definition
| A limit on freedom of the press that allows the government to prohibit the media from publishing certain materials. |
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Term
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Definition
| Liberties protected by several amendments in the Bill of Rights that shield certain personal aspects of citizens’ lives from governmental interference, such as the 4th Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. |
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Term
| Selective incorporation (p. 109): |
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Definition
| The process through which the civil liberties granted in the Bill of Rights were applied to the states on a case-by-case basis through the 14th Amendment. |
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Term
| Symbolic speech (p. 113): |
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Definition
| Nonverbal expression, such as the use of signs or symbols. It benefits from many of the same constitutional protection of verbal speech. |
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