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fed government test
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Undergraduate 1
03/06/2013

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Term
The right and power of a government or other entity to enforce its decisions and compel obedience.
Definition
Authority
Term
Popular acceptance of the right and power of a government or other entity to exercise authority.
Definition
Legitimacy
Term
A system of government in which political decisions are made by the people directly, rather than by their elected representatives; probably attained most easily in small political communities.
Definition
Direct Democracy
Term
A form of government in which representatives elected by the people make and enforce laws and policies; may retain the monarchy in a ceremonial role.
Definition
Representative
Democracy
Term
the benchmarks of representative democracy
Definition
Political liberty
Political equality
Popular sovereignty
Term
the six conditions that are necessary for popular sovereignty to exist
Definition
Government policies reflect the wishes of the people
Government leaders are selected in competitive elections
Elections are free and fair
People participate in the political process
High quality information is available
The Majority rules
Term
examples of direct democracy
Definition
Small towns
Marijuana
Gay marriages
Term
Humans possess rights that can not be legitimately given away or taken away from them.
People create governments to protect these rights.
If Government fails to protect these rights or becomes a threat, people have the right to withdraw their consent from that government and create a new one.
Definition
The three key ideas in the Declaration of independence that the founding fathers considered when drafting the constitution
Term
A voluntary agreement among individuals to secure their rights and welfare by creating a government and abiding by its
rules.
Definition
Social Contract
Term
is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or organization is governed
Definition
Constitution
Term
A political system in which states or regional governments retain ultimate authority except for those powers they expressly delegate to a central government; a voluntary association of independent states, in which the member states agree to limited restraints on their freedom of action.
Definition
Confederation
Term
Have to ask permission to raise taxes
No federal court system in place
Couldn’t form a military
Couldn’t regulate interstate commerce
Definition
The Articles of Confederation and the shortcomings that led the framers to draft the Constitution
Term
proposed a legislative branch consisting of two chambers )bicameral legislature), with the dual principles of rotation in office and recall applies to the lower house of the national legislature. Larger states supported this plan and smaller states opposed it. gave more favoritism to the larger states
Definition
The Virginia Plan
Term
The unicameral legislature with one vote per state was inherited from the article of confederation. Representation is equal
Definition
the New Jersey Plan
Term
What we have today upper house to be weighted equally between the states. Each state would have two representatives in the upper house.
Definition
Great Compromise or Connecticut compromise
Term
3/5ths of the enumerated population of slaves would be counted for representation purposes regarding both the distribution of taxes and the appointment of the members of the united states house of representatives
Definition
3/5ths compromise
Term
The principle of dividing governmental powers among different branches of government.
Definition
Separation of Powers
Term
A major principle of the American system of government whereby each branch of the government can check the actions of the others.
Definition
Checks and Balances
Term
Checks and balances
Separation of powers
The federal system
Certain powers allowed to the state, certain powers allowed to the federal government
Our system of government
Definition
What the framers created by drafting the Constitution
Term
Powers held jointly by the national and state governments.
Definition
Concurrent Powers
Term
the first ten
amendments to the Constitution.
Definition
Bill of Rights
Term
The most common way of amending the constitution is by a two-thirds vote in both chambers of congress and ratification by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states.
Proposal
RATIFICATION
Definition
formal methods of amending the Constitution
Term
CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION
PRESIDENTIAL ACTIONS
JUDICIAL REVIEW
INTERPRETATION, CUSTOM, AND USAGE
Definition
informal methods of amending the Constitution
Term
Federal System
Confederal System
Unitary System
Definition
Three different forms of government
Term
The clause in Article I, Section 8, that grants Congress the power to do whatever is necessary to execute its specifically delegated powers.
Definition
Elastic Clause, or
Necessary and
Proper Clause
Term
The authority to legislate for the protection of the health, morals, safety, and welfare of the people. In the United States, most police power is reserved to the states.
Definition
Police Power
Term
Powers held jointly by the national and state governments.
Definition
Concurrent Powers
Term
The constitutional provision that makes the Constitution and federal laws superior to all conflicting state and local laws.
Definition
Supremacy Clause
Term
to every other state’s public acts, records, and judicial proceedings
(Article IV, Section 1).
2. Extend to every other state’s citizens the privileges and immunities of its own citizens
(Article IV, Section 2).
3. Agree to return persons who are fl eeing from justice in another state back to their
home state when requested to do so (Article IV, Section 2).
Definition
full faith and credit clause
Term
An agreement between two or more states. Agreements on minor matters are made without congressional consent, but any compact that tends to increase the power of the contracting states relative to other states or relative to the national government
generally requires the consent of Congress.
Definition
Interstate Compact
Term
The section of the Constitution in which Congress is given the power to regulate trade among the states and with foreign countries.
Definition
Commerce Clause
Term
the state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the second bank of the united states by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland
Definition
McCulloch vs. Maryland
Term
Why overtime the federal government began to exert more influence than state governments
Definition
A. the Civil War Era and the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments
B. the actions of president Francklin Roosevelt to confront the economis crises of the great Depression.
C. The passage of civil rights legislation during the 1960’s
Term
A model of federalism in which the states and the national government each remain supreme within their own spheres. The doctrine looks on nation and state as co-equal sovereign powers. Neither the state government nor the national government should interfere in the other’s sphere.
Definition
Dual Federalism
Term
A model of federalism in which the states and the national government cooperate in solving problems.
Definition
Cooperative
Federalism
Term
Federal grants to states or local governments that are for specific programs or projects.
Definition
Categorical Grants
Term
Federal programs that provide funds to state and local governments for broad functional areas, such as criminal justice or
mental-health programs.
Definition
Block Grants
Term
A requirement in federal legislation that forces states and municipalities to comply with certain rules.
Definition
Federal Mandate
Term
The transfer of powers from a national or central government to a state or local government.
Definition
Devolution
Term
The view that most of the protections of the Bill of Rights apply to state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause.
Definition
Incorporation Theory
Term
The part of the First Amendment prohibiting the establishment of a church officially supported by the national government. It is applied to questions of the legality of giving state and local government aid to religious organizations and schools, allowing or requiring school prayers, and teaching evolution versus intelligent design
Definition
Establishment Clause
Term
4 the Court ruled that direct state aid could not be
used to subsidize religious instruction
Definition
Lemon v. Kurtzman
Term
The State Board of Regents of New York had suggested that a prayer be spoken aloud
in the public schools at the beginning of each day.
Definition
Engel v. Vitale
Term
The provision of the First Amendment guaranteeing the free exercise of religion. The provision constrains the national
government from prohibiting individuals from practicing the religion of their choice.
Definition
Free Exercise Clause
Term
Expression made through articles of clothing, gestures, movements, and other forms of nonverbal conduct. Symbolic speech is given substantial protection by the courts.
Definition
Symbolic Speech
Term
The test proposed by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes for determining when government may restrict free speech. Restrictions are permissible, he argued, only when speech creates a clear and present danger to the public order.
Definition
Clear and Present
Danger Test
Term
the criteria for obscenity established by chief justice Warren Burger
Definition
Material is obscene if (1) the average person
fi nds that it violates contemporary community standards; (2) the work taken as a whole
appeals to a prurient interest in sex; (3) the work shows patently offensive sexual conduct;
and (4) the work lacks serious redeeming literary, artistic, political, or scientific merit.
Term
The public uttering of a false statement that harms the good reputation of another. The statement must be made to, or within the hearing of, persons other than the defamed party.
Definition
Slander
Term
A written defamation of a person’s character, reputation, business, or property rights.
Definition
Libel
Term
Either knowledge of a defamatory statement’s falsity or a reckless disregard for the truth.
Definition
Actual Malice
Term
A public official, a public employee who exercises substantial governmental power, or any other person, such as a movie star, known to the public because of his or her position or activities.
Definition
Public Figure
Term
An order issued by a judge restricting the publication of news about a trial or a pretrial hearing to protect the accused’s right to
a fair trial.
Definition
Gag Order
Term
A judicial policy prohibiting the admission at trial of illegally seized evidence.
Definition
Exclusionary Rule
Term
argument that the laws against abortion violated “Jane Roe’s” right to privacy under the
Constitution.
Definition
Roe v. Wade.
Term
13th
Definition
Prohibition of slavery
Term
14th
Definition
Citizenship, due process, and equal protection
Term
15th
Definition
No denial of vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude
Term
Is a landmark court case decision upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of “separate but equal”
Started separate but equal
Definition
Plessy V. Ferguson
Term
The doctrine holding that separate-but-equal facilities do not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment to the U.S.
Definition
Separate-but-
Equal Doctrine
Term
A special tax that must be paid as a qualification for voting. In 1964, the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution outlawed the poll tax in national elections, and in 1966 the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in all elections.
Definition
Poll Tax
Term
A test administered as a precondition for voting, often used to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote.
Definition
Literacy Test
Term
A device used by southern states to disenfranchise African Americans. It restricted voting to those whose grandfathers had
voted before 1867.
Definition
Grandfather Clause
Term
Is a landmark court case decision in which the court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional
Ended separate but equal
Definition
Brown V. Board of Education
Term
Racial segregation that occurs because of past social and economic conditions and residential racial patterns.
Definition
De Facto Segregation
Term
Racial segregation that occurs because of laws or administrative decisions by public agencies.
Definition
De Jure Segregation
Term
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Definition
1. It outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter registration.
2. It barred discrimination in public accommodations, such as hotels and restaurants,
whose operations affect interstate commerce.
3. It authorized the federal government to bring suits to desegregate public schools and
facilities.
4. It expanded the power of the Civil Rights Commission and extended its life.
5. It provided for the withholding of federal funds from programs administered in a
discriminatory manner.
6. It established the right to equality of opportunity in employment.
Term
Is a landmark piece of national legislation in the united states that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African americans in the US
Definition
Voting Rights act of 1965
Term
The right to vote; the franchise.
Definition
Suffrage
Term
womens right to vote
Definition
1920
Term
A united states federal law amending the fair labor standards act aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex
Definition
the equal pay act of 1963
Term
A policy in educational admissions or job hiring that gives special attention or compensatory treatment to traditionally disadvantaged groups in an effort to overcome present effects of past discrimination.
Definition
Affirmative Action
Term
The process by which people acquire political beliefs and values.
Definition
Political Socialization
Term
agents of political socialization
Definition
Media culture family
Term
The aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs shared by some portion of the adult
population.
Definition
Public Opinion
Term
The three faces of a political party
Definition
Party-in-the-Electorate,

Party Organization,
Party-in-Government
Term
the functions of political parties
Definition
Recruiting candidates for public office.
Organizing and running elections.
Presenting alternative policies to the electorate
Accepting responsibility for operating the government.
Acting as the organized opposition to the party in power.
Term
A document drawn up at each national convention, outlining the policies, positions, and principles of the party.
Definition
Party Platform
Term
the role that third parties have traditionally played in elections and why it is hard for third parties to be successful
Definition
Protesting or protest party, Specific issue party, single issue party
No representation, usually gets no electoral votes, rules differ in each state
Term
A situation in which one major political party controls the presidency and the other controls the chambers of Congress, or
in which one party controls a state governorship and the other controls the state legislature.
Definition
Divided Government
Term
A number of votes cast for a candidate that is greater than the number of votes for any other candidate but not necessarily a
majority.
Definition
Plurality
Term
A group of persons, called electors, who are selected by the voters in each state. This group officially elects the president and
the vice president of the United States.
Definition
Electoral College
Term
A process in which a substantial group of voters switches party allegiance, producing a long-term change in the political landscape.
Definition
Realignment
Term
refers to the political party with which an individual identifies. Party identification is typically determined by the political party that an individual most commonly supports (by voting or other means).
Definition
Party identification
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