AP GOV CHAPTER 3 Flashcards
What is Devolution?
A policy to remove a program from one level of government by delegating it or passing it down to a lower level of government, such as from the national government to the state and local governments.
What are Block Grants?
Federal grants-in-aid that allow states discretion in how funds are spent.
What are States’ Rights?
The principle that the states should oppose increasing authority of the national government; this principle was most popular in the period before the Civil War.
What is the ‘Necessary and Proper’ Clause?
A1, S8, of the Constitution, which provides Congress the authority to make all laws ‘necessary and proper’ to carry out expressed powers.
What is Police Power?
Powers to the state government to regulate the health, safety, and morals of its citizens.
What is the Privileges and Immunities Clause?
Provision, from A4, S2, that a state cannot discriminate against someone from another state or give its own residents special privileges.
What are Concurrent Powers?
Authority possessed by both state and national governments, such as the power to levy taxes.
What are Expressed Powers?
Powers granted by the Constitution to Congress (A1, S8) and to the President (A2).
What is Federalism?
A system of government in which power is divided, by a constitution, between a central government and regional governments.
What is a Unitary System?
A centralized government system in which lower levels of government have little power independent of the national government.
What is the Full Faith and Credit Clause?
Provision from A4 S1 that requires that states normally honor the public acts and judicial decisions that take place in another state.
What is Home Rule?
Power delegated by the state to local units of government to handle internal affairs.
What is Dual Federalism?
The system of government that prevailed in the US from 1789 to 1937 in which most fundamental government powers were shared between federal and state governments.
What is the Commerce Clause?
A1 S8 which delegates to Congress that power ‘to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States and with the Indian tribes.’ This was interpreted by the Supreme Court in favor of national power over the economy.
What are Grants-in-aid?
Programs through which Congress provides money to state and local governments on the condition that the funds be employed for purposes defined by the federal government.
What are Categorical Grants?
Congressional grants given to states and localities on the condition that expenditures be limited to a problem or group specified by law.
What is Cooperative Federalism?
A type of federalism existing since the New Deal in which grants have been used strategically to encourage states and localities (without commanding them) to pursue national defined goals; aka intergovernmental cooperation.
What is Regulated Federalism?
A form of federalism in which Congress imposes legislation on states and localities, requiring them to meet national standards.
What is Preemption?
The principle that allows the national government to override states actions in certain policy areas; in foreign policy, the willingness to strike first in order to prevent an enemy attack.
What is Diffusion?
Policy decisions in one political jurisdiction influenced by choices made in another.
What is New Federalism?
Attempts by Nixon and Reagan to return power to the states through block grants.
What is General Revenue Sharing?
The process by which one unit of government yields a portion of its tax income to another unit of government, according to an established formula; revenue sharing typically involves the national government providing money to the state.
What is an Unfunded Mandate?
A law or regulation requiring a state or local government to perform certain actions without providing funding for fulfilling the requirement.
What are Redistributive Programs?
Economic policies designed to transfer income through taxing and spending, with the goal of benefiting the poor.
What is the Supremacy Clause?
Enables the federal government to enforce treaties, create a central bank, and enact legislation without interference from the states.
What is the Reserve Clause?
10th Amendment. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
