Chapter 3 Flashcards
A centralized government system in which lower levels of government have little power independent of the national government.
Unitary System
A system of government in which the national government shares power with lower levels of government such as states.
Federal System
Specific powers granted by the Constitution of Congress and to the president.
Expressed Powers
Powers that are not specifically expressed in the Constitution but are seen as necessary to allow presidents to exercise their expressed powers.
Implied Powers
Provision from Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution providing Congress with the authority to make all laws necessary and proper to carry out its expressed powers.
Necessary and Proper Clause
Powers, derived from the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, that are not specifically delegated to the national government or denied by the states.
Reserved Powers
A state’s authority to regulate the health, safety, and morals of its citizens.
Police Power
Provision from Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution requiring that the states normally honor the public acts and judicial decisions that take place in another state.
Full Faith and Credit Clause
Provision, from Article IV, Section 2, of the Constitution, that a state cannot discriminate against someone from another state or give its own residents special privileges.
Privileges and Immunities Clause
Power delegated by the state to a local unit of government to manage its own affairs.
Home Rule
The system of government that prevailed I the United States from 1789 to 1937 in which most fundamental governmental powers were shared between the federal and state governments.
Dual Federalism
Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which delegates to Congress the power “to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, among the several States ad with the Indian Tribes”; this clause was interpreted by the Supreme Court in favor of national power over the economy.
Commerce Clause
The principle that the states should oppose the increasing authority of the national government; this principle was most popular in the period before the Civil War.
States Rights
Programs through which Congress provides money to state and local governments on the condition that the funds be employed for purposes defined by federal government.
Grants-In-Aid
Congressional grants given to states and localities on the condition that expenditures be limited to a problem or group specified by law.
Categorical Grants
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.
Devolution
A type of federalism existing since the New Deal era in which grants-in-aid have been used strategically to encourage states and localities (without commanding them) to pursue nationally defined goals; also known as intergovernmental cooperation.
Cooperative Federalism
The principle that allows the national government to override state and local actions in certain policy areas; in foreign policy, the willingness to strike first in order to prevent an enemy attack.
Preemption
Regulations or conditions for receiving grants that impose cost on state and local governments for which the are not reimbursed by the federal government.
Unfunded Mandates
Federal grants-in-aid that allow states considerable discretion in how the funds are spent.
Block Grants
The process by which one unit of government yields a portion if its tax income to another unit of government, according to an established formula; revenue sharing typically involves the national government providing money to state government.
General Revenue Sharing
Attempts by presidents Nixon and Reagan to return power to the states through block grants police power, power reserved to the state government to regulate the health, safety, and morals of its citizens.
New Federalism
