3: The Federal System Flashcards
Which of the following is the system of government adopted under the Constitution?
federal
Which of the following is a document used to establish a local government?
charter
If you were living in a country with a unitary system of government, which government(s) would be strongest?
the national government
Which of the following was the first system of government of the United States?
confederation
Which form of government is best defined as a few people ruling in their own interest over constituents?
Oligarchy
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to “punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas.” What sort of power is the authority to punish pirates?
enumerated
Why is it that the states establish criminal laws?
These powers are reserved to the states.
Which is an example of a concurrent power?
taxing
Which of the following is the clause of the Constitution that requires states to honor contracts from another state?
full faith and credit
In the United States, which form of government is the most numerous?
special district
Which case addressed the issue of whether the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment applied to actions of the states?
Barron v. Baltimore
In McCulloch v. Maryland, the Marshall Court decided that the federal government could create a national bank based on the Constitution’s _______________ clause.
supremacy
Which of the following was the first major Supreme Court decision to define the relationship between national and state governments?
McCulloch v. Maryland
Which of the following is defined by separate and equally powerful state and national governments?
dual federalism
One of the effects of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments was _______________.
the expansion of the power of the federal government
Which do state governments tend to prefer?
block grants
One of the goals of President Ronald Reagan’s New Federalism was to _____.
return power to the states
A federal grant that would give states money for a new housing project, but that would require the states to make at least 50 percent of the housing available to low- income families, would be considered a(n) _____.
categorical grant
Which political institution acts as the umpire of the federal system?
the Supreme Court
Which of the following best describes the Rehnquist Court’s decisions on federalism?
The Court largely favored state power.
Which of the following is one of Congress’s implied powers?
conducting foreign relations
*creating a national bank*
coining money
regulating interstate commerce
Which of the following is an example of a power reserved to the national government?
creating a bank
creating public safety regulations
*coining money*
taxing
Hypothetically, if Congress passed and the president signed a new law making the actions of Hillary Clinton, in regard to her home email server, illegal, such a law would be unconstitutional because _________
it was an ex post facto law.
Which term describes the process that occurs when a state declares a federal law void?
*nullification*
interstate compact
dual federalism
necessary and proper clause
Which of the following enhances the power of the states?
Barron v. Baltimore
The New Deal marked the end of _____ and the beginning of _____.
dual federalism; cooperative federalism
South Carolina’s decision in the 1830s that a federal tariff would not apply in its state exemplifies _____.
the doctrine of nullification
Out-of-state residents have equal access to police protection as do in-state residents under the _____ clause.
privileges and immunities
According to Dillon’s Rule, your local municipal government must be authorized by which of the following?
the state government
Which of the following was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s program of relief, recovery, and reform during the Great Depression?
New Deal
In his Court-packing plan, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed to __________.
expand the number of Supreme Court justices by adding justices who would be friendly toward his policies
What best describes the difference between dual federalism and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal government?
The national government had more power under the New Deal than under dual federalism.
Which of the following is true of the Roberts Court?
It avoids deciding cases involving health care.
It has recently tended to decide cases in favor of the states.
*It was initially reluctant to address high-profile federalism issues.*
It avoids deciding cases involving immigration.
What type of federalism views the relationship between federal and state governments as one that is both coercive and cooperative?
new federalism
*progressive federalism*
dual federalism
marble- cake federalism
During Barack Obama’s first term, he subscribed to a system in which policy matters are decided at the federal level when a consensus on federal standards can be reached, but are otherwise deferred to _____.
the states
A form of government in which power is vested in hereditary kings and queens who govern the entire society.
monarchy
The period from 1865-1877 after the Civil War, in which the U.S. militarily occupied and dominated the eleven former states of the Confederacy.
Reconstruction
The period from 1865-1877 after the Civil War, in which the U.S. militarily occupied and dominated the eleven former states of the Confederacy.
Reconstruction
A Supreme Court decision that ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional and denied citizenship rights to enslaved African Americans. Dred Scottheightened tensions between the pro-slavery South and the abolitionist North in the run up to the Civil War.
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
The powers of the national government specifically granted to Congress in Article I, section 8 of the Constitution.
enumerated powers
The military conflict from 1861 to 1865 in the United States between the Northern forces of the Union and the Southern forces of the Confederacy. Over 600,000 Americans lost their lives during this war.
Civil War
A pragmatic approach to federalism that views relations between national and state governments as both coercive and cooperative.
progressive federalism
System of government in which the local and regional governments derive all authority from a strong national government.
unitary system
A local government that is restricted to a particular function.
special district
Sixteenth president of the United States, the first elected Republican president, who served from 1861- 1865. Lincoln, who led the Union during the Civil War, was assassinated in 1865 by a Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth.
Abraham Lincoln
Part of Article IV of the Constitution guaranteeing that the citizens of each state are afforded the same rights as citizens of all other states.
privileges and immunities clause
Type of government in which the national government derives its powers from the states; a league of independent states.
confederation
A document that, like a constitution, specifies the basic policies, procedures, and institutions of local government. Charters for local governments must be approved by state legislatures.
charter
System of government in which the national government and state governments share power and derive all authority from the people.
federal system
The Supreme Court upheld the power of the national government and denied the right of a state to tax the federal bank, using the Constitution’s supremacy clause. The Court’s broad interpretation of the necessary and proper clause paved the way for later rulings upholding expansive federal powers.
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Contracts between states that carry the force of law; generally now used as a tool to address multistate policy concerns.
interstate compacts
The period from 1865-1877 after the Civil War, in which the U.S. militarily occupied and dominated the eleven former states of the Confederacy.
Reconstruction
Seventeenth president of the United States, a Republican, who served from 1865 to 1869. Johnson had served as Abraham Lincoln’s vice president and became president after Lincoln’s assassination.
Andrew Johnson
The political system created by the eleven states that seceded from the Union during the Civil War, which ceased to exist upon the Union victory.
Confederate States of America
The political program enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s that greatly expanded the role of the federal government in order to combat the effects of the Great Depression.
New Deal
Thirty-second president, a Democrat, who served from 1933 to 1945. FDR’s leadership took the United States through the Great Depression and World War II.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)
Contracts between states that carry the force of law; generally now used as a tool to address multistate policy concerns.
interstate compacts
Thirtieth president of the United States, a Republican, who served from 1923 to 1929.
Calvin Coolidge
The military conflict from 1861 to 1865 in the United States between the Northern forces of the Union and the Southern forces of the Confederacy. Over 600,000 Americans lost their lives during this war.
Civil War
Section of Article IV of the Constitution that ensures judicial decrees and contracts made in one state will be binding and enforceable in any other state.
full faith and credit clause
Part of Article IV of the Constitution guaranteeing that the citizens of each state are afforded the same rights as citizens of all other states.
privileges and immunities clause
System of government in which the national government and state governments share power and derive all authority from the people.
federal system
A document that, like a constitution, specifies the basic policies, procedures, and institutions of local government. Charters for local governments must be approved by state legislatures.
charter
Type of government in which the national government derives its powers from the states; a league of independent states.
confederation
A system of government that gives power to the people, whether directly or through elected representatives.
democracy
The powers of the national government specifically granted to Congress in Article I, section 8 of the Constitution.
enumerated powers
Seventeenth president of the United States, a Republican, who served from 1865 to 1869. Johnson had served as Abraham Lincoln’s vice president and became president after Lincoln’s assassination.
Andrew Johnson
The period from 1865-1877 after the Civil War, in which the U.S. militarily occupied and dominated the eleven former states of the Confederacy.
Reconstruction
A form of government in which power is vested in hereditary kings and queens who govern the entire society.
monarchy
Reform program begun in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson that was a broad attempt to combat poverty and discrimination through urban renewal, education reform, and unemployment relief.
Great Society
The Supreme Court upheld broad congressional power to regulate interstate commerce. The Court’s broad interpretation of the Constitution’s commerce clause paved the way for later rulings upholding expansive federal powers.
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
Federal–state relationship proposed by Reagan administration during the 1980s; hallmark is returning administrative powers to the state governments.
New Federalism
The powers of the national government derived from the enumerated powers and the necessary and proper clause.
implied powers
Powers shared by the national and state governments.
concurrent powers
Fortieth president of the United States, a Republican, who served from 1981 to 1989. Reagan led the nation through the end of the Cold War and his leadership led to a national shift towards political conservatism.
Ronald Reagan
Fortieth president of the United States, a Republican, who served from 1981 to 1989. Reagan led the nation through the end of the Cold War and his leadership led to a national shift towards political conservatism.
Ronald Reagan
Supreme Court ruling that, before the Civil War, limited the applicability of the Bill of Rights to the federal government and not to the states.
Barron v. Baltimore (1833)
The basic administrative units of local government.
counties
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that authorized Congress to enact a national income tax.
Sixteenth Amendment
Thirty-sixth president of the United States, a Democrat, who served from 1964 to 1969. LBJ led the nation during the Civil Rights era and the Vietnam War.
Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ)
A pragmatic approach to federalism that views relations between national and state governments as both coercive and cooperative.
progressive federalism
Sixteenth president of the United States, the first elected Republican president, who served from 1861- 1865. Lincoln, who led the Union during the Civil War, was assassinated in 1865 by a Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth.
Abraham Lincoln
The intertwined relationship between national, state, and local governments that began with the New Deal; often referred to as marble-cake federalism.
cooperative federalism
Law that makes an act punishable as a crime, even if the action was legal at the time it was committed.
ex post facto law
Powers reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment that lie at the foundation of a state’s right to legislate for the public health and welfare of its citizens.
reserved powers
The belief that having separate and equally powerful levels of government is the best arrangement, often referred to as layer-cake federalism.
dual federalism
Federal funds designated for special projects within a state or congressional district. Also referred to as earmarks.
programmatic requests
A politician and political theorist from South Carolina who supported slavery and states’ rights in the pre-Civil War era and served as vice president from 1825 to 1832.
John C. Calhoun
Thirty-first president of the United States, a Republican, who served from 1929 to 1933 during the start of the Great Depression.
Herbert Hoover
The first African American president of the United States, a Democrat, who served as forty-fourth president from 2009 to 2017. Senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008; member of the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004
Barack Obama
The belief in the right of a state to declare void a federal law.
nullification
Chief Justice of the United States who led the Supreme Court from 1835 -1864. Taney supported slavery and states’ rights in the pre-Civil War era.
Roger B. Taney
A large grant given to a state by the federal government with only general spending guidelines.
block grant
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that made senators directly elected by the people, removing their selection by state legislatures.
Seventeenth Amendment
A unilateral assertion of independence by a geographic region within a country. The eleven Southern states making up the Confederacy during the Civil War seceded from the United States.
secession
A law declaring an act illegal without a judicial trial.
bill of attainder
The political system created by the eleven states that seceded from the Union during the Civil War, which ceased to exist upon the Union victory.
Confederate States of America
Grants that appropriate federal funds to states for a specific purpose.
categorical grants
The longest-serving Supreme Court chief justice, Marshall served from 1801 to 1835. Marshall’s decision in Marbury v. Madison (1803) established the principle of judicial review in the United States.
John Marshall
City governments created in response to the emergence of relatively densely populated areas.
municipalities
Part of Article IV of the Constitution that requires states to extradite, or return, criminals to states where they have been convicted or are to stand trial.
extradition clause
A political alliance of American Indian tribes established in the seventeenth century that featured aspects of the federal system of government adapted by the Framers.
Iroquois Confederacy
System of government in which the local and regional governments derive all authority from a strong national government.
unitary system
A form of government in which the right to participate depends on the possession of wealth, social status, military position, or achievement.
oligarchy
A Supreme Court decision that ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional and denied citizenship rights to enslaved African Americans. Dred Scottheightened tensions between the pro-slavery South and the abolitionist North in the run up to the Civil War.
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
A local government that is restricted to a particular function.
special district
A premise articulated by Judge John F. Dillon in 1868 which states that local governments do not have any inherent sovereignty and instead must be authorized by state governments that can create or abolish them.
Dillon’s Rule
The final part of the Bill of Rights that defines the basic principle of American federalism in stating that the powers not delegated to the national government are reserved to the states or to the people.
Tenth Amendment
The Supreme Court upheld the power of the national government and denied the right of a state to tax the federal bank, using the Constitution’s supremacy clause. The Court’s broad interpretation of the necessary and proper clause paved the way for later rulings upholding expansive federal powers.
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
A form of government in which power resides in leaders who rule by force in their own self-interest and without regard to rights and liberties.
totalitarianism
