Chapter 3 Flashcards
Federal system
System of government in which the national and the state government share power and derive all authority from the people.
Confederation
Type of government in which the national government derives its power from the states; a league of independent states.
Unitary System
System of government in which the local and regional governments derive all authority from a strong national government.
Enumerated Powers
The powers of the national government specifically granted to Congress in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.
Implied Powers
The powers of the national government derived from the enumerated powers and the necessary and proper clause.
Concurrent powers
Powers shared by the national and state governments.
Bill of attainder
A law declaring an act illegal without a judicial trial
ex posto facto law
Law that makes an act punishable as a crime even if the action was legal at the time it was committed.
Dillon’s Rule
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.
Charter
a document that, like a constitution, specifies the basic policies, procedures, and institutions of local government. Charters for local government must be approved by state legislatures.
County
The basic administrative unit of local government.
Municipality
City governments created in response to the emergence of relatively densely populated areas.
Special district
A local government that is restricted to a particular function
Barron vs Baltimore (1833)
The Supreme court ruled that the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment did not apply to the actions of the States. This decision limited the Bill of Rights to the actions of Congress Alone.
Dual federalism
The belief that having separate and equally powerful levels of government is the best arrangement, often referred to as layer-cake federalism.
Nullification
The right of a state to declare void of a federal law.
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
The Supreme Court concluded that the Us Congress lacked the constitutional authority to bar slavery in the territories. This decision narrowed the scope of national power, while it enhanced that of the states.
Sixteenth Amendment
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that authorized Congress to enact a national income tax.
Cooperative federalism
The intertwined relationship between the national, state and local governments that began with the New Deal, often referred to as marble -cake federalism.
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
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.
Gibbons v Ogden (1824)
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.
New Deal
The name given to the program of “Relief, Recovery, Reform” begun by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 to bring the United States out of the Great Depression.
Categorical grant
Grants that appropriates federal funds to states for a specific purpose.
New federalism
Federal-state relationship proposed by Reagan administration during the 1980’s; hallmark is returning administrative powers to the state governments.
Block Grant
A large grant given to a state by the federal government with only general spending guidelines.
programmatic request
Federal funds for special projects within a state or congressional district.
Preemption
A concept that allows the national government to override state or local actions in certain policy areas.
Progressive federalism
A pragmatic approach to a federalism that views relations between national and state government as both coercive and cooperative
Tenth Amendment
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.
reserved powers
Powers reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment that lie at the foundation or a state’s rights to legislate for the public health and welfare of its citizens.
full faith and credit clause
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.
privileges and immunities 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.
Extradition Clause
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.
Interstate compacts
Contracts between states that carry the force of law; generally now used as a tool to address multi state policy concerns.
Seventeenth Amendment
Amendment to the U.S. constitution that made senators directly elected by the people, removing their selection from state legislatures.
