1st Quarter Exam Flashcards by Mason Landry

the institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies

Government

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things a govt. decides to do. Ex: taxation, defense, education, crime, health care, transportation, the environment, working conditions

Public policies

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the body of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and process of a government

Constitution

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the power to make laws and to frame public policies

Legislative power

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the power to execute, enforce, and administer law

Executive power

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the power to interpret laws, to determine their meaning, and to settle disputes that arise within society

Judicial power

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Single person

Dictator

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Small group of elite

Oligarchy

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Majority of the people

Democracy

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body of people, living in a defined territory, organized politically, and with the power to make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority

State

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What are the four characteristics of a state. Explain each

◦ Population- a state must have people, the number of which does not directly relate to its existence
◦ Territory- a state must be comprised of land- a territory with known and recognized boundaries
◦ Sovereignty- every state is sovereign. It has supreme and absolute power within its own territory and decides its own foreign and domestic policies
◦ Government- every state has a government- that is, it is politically organized

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The Social Contract Theory was developed in the 17th and 18th centuries by

Thomas Hobbes
James Harrington
John Locke
Jean Jacques Rousseau

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the opening statement of the Constitution of the US

Preamble

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exists where the will of the people is translated into law directly by the people themselves

Direct democracy

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a small group of persons, chosen by the people to act as their representatives, expresses the popular will

Indirect democracy

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exists where those who rule cannot be held responsible to the will of the people

Dictatorship

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any govt. in which a single person holds unlimited political power

Autocracy

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a Government in which the power to rule is held by a small, usually self-appointed elite

Oligarchy

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has all powers held by a single, central agency

Unitary government

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An alliance of independent states

Confederation

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one in which the powers of govt. are divided between a central govt. and several local governments

Federal government

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voters elect the legislature and the chief executive who is part of the executive branch. The legislature and executive are independent and coequal

Presidential government

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voters elect the legislature. The chief executive is drawn from legislature

Parliamentary government

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Democracy searches for a “__________” solution to public problems

Satisfactory

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The majority must always be willing to listen to a __________'s __________, to hear its objections, to bear its criticism, and to welcome its suggestion It also must recognize the right of any minority to become, by fair and lawful means, the _______

Minority's argument | Majority

Total absence of government

Anarchy

an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods; investments that are determined by predate decisions rather than by state control; and determined in a free market

Free enterprise system

Decisions in a free enterprise system are determined by the law of __________________

Supply and demand

An economy in which private enterprise exists in combination with a considerable amount of government regulation and promotion

Mixed economy

The U.S. has a ________ economy

Mixed

all data on the World Wide Web is not necessarily ______, and the long term effects of the internet on democracy has yet to be determined

True

Established the principle that the power of the monarchy was not absolute

Magna Carta

limited the king's power and challenged the idea of the Divine Right of kings.

The petition Right

Each colony was established on the basis of a ________, a written grant of authority from the king

Charter

__________colonies were ruled directly by the English monarchy

Royal

The king granted land to people in North America, who then formed __________ colonies (business, money)

Proprietary

_______ colonies were mostly self governed, and their charters were granted to the colonists

Charter

Two house

Bicameral

One house

Unicameral

Kink of England; imposed new taxes and laws on the colonists

King George III

Joining of several groups for a purpose

confederation

_________ __________ proposed the _______ _____ ___ _______ which an annual congress of delegates (representatives) from each of the 13 would be formed (first time anyone organized an annual congress)

Benjamin franklin | Albany Plan of union

In 1765, a group of colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act congress in ___ ___

New York

the refusal to buy or sell certain goods or services

Boycott

At the ______ ________ ________, the colonists sent a declaration of rights to king George III. This was done in response to new laws passed by parliament called the ____________ ____, which were meant to punish the people of Boston for the Boston Tea Party

First continental congress | Intolerable acts

At the Second Continental Congress, each of the 13 colonies sent representatives to this gathering in ____________. The Second Continental Congress served as the first _________ of the U.S. from 1776 to 1781

Philadelphia | government

On _____ __, ____, the second continental congress adopted the delcrataion of independence

July 4 1776

the principle that govt. can exist and function only with the consent of the governed. The people hold power

Popular sovereignty

government is not all-powerful. There are limits to what government can and cannot do

Limited government

sovereign people hold certain rights that the govt. must respect at all times (unalienable rights)

Civil rights and liberties

power is divided among 3 branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. Each branch has powers to check or control the actions of the other 2 branches

Separation of powers and checks and balances

The articles of confederation established "a ________________________" among the states

Firm league of friendship

Congress was given the power to __________, deal with ________ _______ issues, and settle ________ among states.

Declare war national finance Disputes

Leaders at the Philadelphia. Convention

James Madison Gouverneur Morris Alexander Hamilton George Washington

The framers of the constitution decided to count _____-_______ of the slaves as population of that state

Three-fifths

Opinions were ______. Some agreed with George Mason of Virginia who opposed the constitution until his death in 1792

Varied

Federalists thought that the Articles of Confederation were ______, and argued for the ____________ of the constitution

Weak | Ratification

Anti-Federalists objected to the constitution for many reasons, including the _______ _______ government, the lack of a _____ ___ ______ and the absence of any mention of _____

Strong central Bill of rights God

How many states did it take to ratify the constitution

Nine states ratified the constitution by June 21, 1788. Delaware (12-7-1787) was first, New Hampshire (6-21-1788) was ninth, but the new government needed the ratification of the large states of ____ _____ and ________ if the new government hoped to succeed

New York | Virginia

was a collection of 85 essays supporting the constitution

The Federalist

Though written and published in newspapers under the pen name Publius, modern scholars attribute them to

Alexander Hamilton (51), John Jay (5), and James Madison (29)

The final state to ratify the constitution was ______ _______

Rhode Island

• The new congress met for the first time on march 4,1789, in the temporary capital of ____ ____ _____

New York City.

sets out the basic principles upon which government in the United States was built

Constitution

The constitution is a_____ _____ document

Fairly brief

The constitution is organized into eight sections: the ________ and ______ ________. The original document is followed by 27 amendments

Preamble | seven articles

States the purpose of the constitution

Preamble

Legislative branch

Article I

Executive branch

Article II

Article III

Judicial branch

relations among states and with the national government

Article IV

Article V

Amending the constitution

national debts, supremacy of national law, and oaths of office

Article VI

Ratifying the constitution

Article VII

asserts that the people are the slice of any and all government power, and government can exist only with the consent of the governed

Popular sovereignty

states that government is restricted in what it may do, and each individual has rights that government cannot take away

Limited government

government must be conducted according to constitutional principles

constitutionalism

the principle in which the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government are three independent and coequal branches of government

Separation of powers

the system that allows the legislative, executive, and judicial branches to check, or restrain, the actions of one another. Examples: presidential veto, congress overriding a veto, Supreme Court declaring a law unconstitutional

Checks and balances

consists of the power of a court to determine the constitutionality of a government action.

Judicial review

system of government in which the powers of the govt. are divided between a central government and several local governments. Examples: U.S. government; State governments; country, parish or city governments

Federalism

Changing the written words of the constitution

Formal a,end,net

_______ sets out two methods for the proposal and two methods for the ratification of constitutional amendments, creating four possible methods of formal amendment

Article V

the first ten amendments are known as the_____ ___ ______.

Bill of Rights

the process by which over time many changes have been made in the constitution which have not involved any changes in its written word

Informal amendment

Informal amendments are done through the _______ _______ of the government

Daily actions

Article III, section 1 of the constitution provides for "one Supreme Court and such inferior courts as _______ may establish"

congress

The president is the _________ __ ________ of the armed forces

Commander in chief

a pact made by the president with the head of a foreign state (does not need senate approval)

Executive agreement

a formal agreement between two or more sovereign states (needs senate approval)

Treaty

The Supreme Court case of Marburg v. Madison in 1803 established the court's power of ______ _______

judicial review

the power of a court to determine the constitutionality of a government action

Judicial review

the group that makes the formal selection for the nation's president

Electoral college

Nowhere in the constitution does it say the president can have a cabinet. Yet every president since Washington has appointed the heads of the executive department as his personal ________ _________

advisory council

the senate will approve only those presidential appointees who are acceptable to the senator or senators of the president's party from the state involved

Senatorialcourtesy