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American Government > Chapter 2 > Flashcards

Chapter 2 Flashcards

1
Q

What is mercantilism?

A

An economic system that sees trade as the basis of the accumulation of wealth.

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2
Q

What is the divine right of kings?

A

The political culture that understood power to be vested in the king because he was God’s representative on earth.

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3
Q

What is a social contract?

A

The idea that power is not derived from God but instead comes from and is limited by the consent of the governed, who can revolt against the government they contract with if their rights are not protected

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4
Q

Who is John Locke?

A

The British philosopher who introduced the idea that the social contract was conditional on the government’s protection of rights and could be revoked if the government failed to protect those rights.

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5
Q

What is the Declaration of Independence?

A

The political document that dissolved the colonial ties between the United States and Britain.

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6
Q

What are Inalienable rights?

A

Rights that we are born with, that cannot be taken away from us, and that we cannot sell.

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7
Q

What is republican virtue?

A

The idea that citizens would act in the public interest without coercion by a strong government.

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8
Q

What is compromise?

A

The act of giving up something you want in order to get something else you want more; an exercise in determining and trading off priorities.

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8
Q

What are Articles of Confederation?

A

The first constitution of the United States, ratified in 1781, creating an association of states with a weak central government.

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9
Q

What is a confederation?

A

A form of government in which all the power lies with the local units; in the American case, that’s the states.

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10
Q

What is the Constitutional Convention?

A

The assembly of 55 delegates in the summer of 1787 to recast the Articles of Confederation; the result was the U.S. Constitution.

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11
Q

What are Federalists?

A

Supporters of the Constitution who favored a strong central government.

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12
Q

What are Anti-Federalists?

A

Advocated of states’ rights who oppose the Constitution.

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13
Q

What is the Virginia Plan?

A

A proposal at the Constitutional Convention that congressional representation be based on population, thus favoring larger states.

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14
Q

What is bicameral legislature?

A

A lawmaking body with 2 chambers.

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15
Q

What is the New Jersey Plan?

A

A proposal at the Constitutional Convention that congressional representation be equal, thus favoring small states.

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16
Q

What is the Great Compromise?

A

The constitutional solution to congressional representation: equal votes in the Senate, votes by population in the House.

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17
Q

What is the Three-Fifths compramise?

A

The formula for counting every enslaved person as three-fifths of a person for purposes of representation; reconciled northern and southern factions at the Constitutional Convention.

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18
Q

What is ratification?

A

The process through which a proposal (such as the Constitution) is formally approved and adopted by vote.

19
Q

What are the Federalist Papers?

A

A collection of 85 newspaper editorials written in support of the Constitution under the pseudonym Publius, whose real identity was 3 Federalists: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.

20
Q

What are factions?

A

Groups of citizens united by some common passion or interest and opposed to the rights of other citizens or to the interests of the whole community.

21
Q

Who is James Madison?

A

One of the founders whose key insight was to design a system that takes human nature as it is (self-interested, greedy, and ambitious), not as you want it to be.

22
Q

What is the separation of powers?

A

The division of the government vertically into branches:
1. Legislative
2. Executive
3. Judicial

23
Q

What are checks and balances?

A

The idea that each branch of government has just enough power over the others that their jealousy will guard against the overreach of others.

24
Q

What is federalism?

A

The horizontal division of government into layers:
1. National (also called federal)
2. State

25
Q

What is the legislative branch?

A

The lawmaking component of the federal government.

26
Q

What is the executive branch?

A

The law-enforcing component of the federal government.

27
Q

What is the judicial branch?

A

The law-interpreting component of the federal government.

28
Q

What is the parliamentary system?

A

Government in which the executive is chosen by the legislature from among its members and the two branches are merged.

29
Q

What is the presidential system?

A

Government in which the executive is chose independently of the legislature and the two branches are separate.

30
Q

What are political norms?

A

the unwritten rules and principles that underlie the Constitution and make it work when they are followed.

31
Q

What is the amendment process?

A

The process by which the Constitution may be changed.

32
Q

What are concurrent powers?

A

Powers that are shared by the federal and state governments.

33
Q

What are enumerated powers?

A

Congressional powers specifically named in the Constitution.

34
Q

What is the necessary and proper clause?

A

The constitutional authorization for Congress to make any law required to carry out its powers.

35
Q

What is the Tenth Amendment?

A

The amendment that stipulates that any powers not explicitly given to the national government are reserved to the states.

36
Q

What is the supremacy clause?

A

A constitutional clause that says the Constitution itself and national laws made under it are the law of the land.

37
Q

Who is John Marshall?

A

The third chief justice of the Supreme Court; believed in the Federalist vision of a strong national government.

38
Q

What is Marbury v. Madison?

A

The 1803 Supreme Court ruling holding that the Court had the power of judicial review.

39
Q

What is McCulloch v. Maryland?

A

The 1819 Suprem Court ruling holding that the necessary and proper clause of the Constitution could be interpreted broadly to include many powers that are not among the enumerated powers of Congress.

40
Q

What is Gibbons v. Ogden?

A

The 1824 Supreme Court decision that opened the door to federal regulation of commerce, broadly understood to mean most forms of business.

41
Q

What is judicial review?

A

The Supreme Court’s power to determine if congressional laws, state laws, or executive actions are constitutional.

42
Q

What is nullification?

A

Declaration by a state that a federal law is void within its borders.

43
Q

What are block grants?

A

Funds that come with flexibility for the states to spend the money as they wish within broad parameters.

44
Q

What are categorical grants?

A

Grants of money with specific instructions on how it is to be spent.

45
Q

What are unfunded mandates?

A

Policies requiring states to do something but without any funds provided to offset the costs of administering the policy.

46
Q
A

American Government (3 decks)

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