EXAM 2 - Review

Question 1

Traditional political participation

Answer 1

Activities designed to influence government – including voting, campaign contributions, and face-to-face activities such as volunteering for a campaign or working on behalf of a candidate or political organization

Question 2

Digital political participation

Answer 2

Activities designed to influence politics using the internet – including visiting a candidate’s website, organizing, events online, and signing an online petition

Question 3

Suffrage

Answer 3

The right to vote; also called franchise

Question 4

Fifteenth amendment

Answer 4

Guaranteed voting rights for African American men

Question 5

Nineteenth amendment

Answer 5

Gave woman the right to vote

Question 6

Twenty-fourth amendment

Answer 6

• Forbids the use of poll taxes in federal elections
• Another element of Jim Crow was poll tax, which stipulated that in order to vote, citizens had to pay a tax. This tax was often enforced sporadically, meaning that people had to pay the tax for every previous election in which they had not voted. Because African Americans had not been able to vote in many previous elections, they were confronted with large cumulated poll taxes that they could not pay

Question 7

Political parties

Answer 7

Organized groups that attempt to influence the government by electing their members to important government offices

Question 8

Majority party

Answer 8

The party that holds the majority of legislative seats in either the House or the senate

Question 9

Minority party

Answer 9

The party that holds the minority of legislative seats in either the House or the senate

Question 10

Party identification

Answer 10

An individual voter’s psychological ties to one party or another

Question 11

Third parties

Answer 11

Parties that organize to compete against the two major American political parties

Question 12

Midterm elections

Answer 12

Congressional elections that do not coincide with a presidential election; also called off-year elections

Question 13

Primary election

Answer 13

Elections held to select a party’s candidate for the general election

Question 14

General election

Answer 14

A regularly scheduled election involving most districts in the nation or state, in which voters select officeholders; in the United states, general elections for national office and most state and local offices are held on the the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even numbered years (every four years for presidential elections)

Question 15

Closed Primary

Answer 15

A primary election in which voters can participate in the nomination of candidates but only of the party in which they are enrolled for a period of time prior to the primary day

Question 16

Open primary

Answer 16

A primary election in which the voter can wait until the day of the primary to choose which party to enroll in to select candidates for the general election

Question 17

Majority system

Answer 17

A type of electoral system in which, to win a seat in the parliament or other representative body, a candidate must receive a majority of all of the votes cast in the relevant district

Question 18

Runoff election

Answer 18

A “second-round” election in which voters choose between the top two candidates from the first round

Question 19

Plurality system

Answer 19

A type of electoral system in which, to win a sear in the parliament or other representative body, a candidate need only to receive the most votes in the election, not necessarily a majority of the votes cast

Question 20

Proportional representation

Answer 20

A multiple-member district system that allows each political party representation in proportion to its percentage of the total vote

Question 21

Electoral college

Answer 21

The presidential electors from each state who meet after the general election to cast ballots for president and vice president

Question 22

Referendum

Answer 22

The practice of referring a proposed law passed by a legislature to the vote of the electorate for approval or rejection

Question 23

Recall

Answer 23

The procedure to allow voters to remove state officials from office before their terms expire by circulating petitions to call a vote

Question 24

Political action committee (PAC)

Answer 24

A private group that raises and distributes funds for use in election campaigns

Question 25

Faithless elector

Answer 25

Is a member of theUnited States Electoral College who does not vote for the presidential or vice-presidentialcandidate for whom they hadpledged to vote

Question 26

Reapportionment

Answer 26

Is the process by which seats in the House of Representatives are resigned among the states to reflect population changes following the Census every 10 years

Question 27

Pluralism

Answer 27

The theory that all interests are and should be free to compete for influence in the government; the outcome of this competition is compromise and moderation.

Question 28

Lobbying

Answer 28

• A strategy by which organized interests seek to influence the passage of legislation by exerting direct pressure on government officials

Question 29

Bicameral legislature

Answer 29

Having a legislative assembly composed of two chambers or houses, distinguished from unicameral (House of Representatives and the Senate)

Question 30

Pork barrel (or pork) legislation/Earmark

Answer 30

Appropriations made by legislative bodies for local projects that are often not needed but that are created so that local representatives can win reelection in their home districts

Question 31

Gerrymandering

Answer 31

The apportionment of voters in districts in such a way as to give unfair advantage to one racial or ethnic group or political party

Question 32

Franking privilege

Answer 32

Free postage for official business (a way to keep citizens informed)

Question 33

Whip

Answer 33

A party member in the House or Senate responsible for coordinating the party’s legislative strategy, building support for key issues, and counting votes

Question 34

Standing committee

Answer 34

A permanent committee with the power to propose and write legislation that covers a a particular subject, such as finance or agriculture

Question 35

Select committee

Answer 35

(Usually) temporary legislative committees set up to highlight or investigate a particular issue or address an issue not within the jurisdiction of existing committees

Question 36

Joint committees

Answer 36

Legislative committees formed of members of both the House and the Senate

Question 37

Conference committees

Answer 37

Joint committees created to work out a compromise on House and Senate versions of a piece of legislation

Question 38

Filibuster

Answer 38

A tactic used by the members of the Senate to prevent action on legislation the oppose by continuously holding the floor and speaking until the majority backs down; once given the floor, senators have unlimited time to speak, and it requires a vote of three-fifths of the Senate to end a filibuster

Question 39

Expressed powers

Answer 39

Specific powers granted by the Constitution to Congress (Article I, Section 8) and to the president (Article II)

Question 40

Judicial review

Answer 40

The power of the courts to review actions of the legislative and executive branches and, if necessary, declare them invalid or unconstitutional; the Supreme Court asserted this power in Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Question 41

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Answer 41

• This case arose after President Thomas Jefferson replaced John Adams in the White House. Jefferson’s secretary of state, James Madison refused to deliver an official commission to William Marbury who had been appointed to a minor office by President Adams just before he left the presidency.
• Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court to order Madison to deliver the commission but Jefferson and his followers did not believe that the Court had the power to undertake such an action and might have resisted the order.
• Chief Justice John Marshall was determined to assert the power of the judiciary but knew he must avoid a direct confrontation with the president. Accordingly, Marshall turned down Marbury’s petition but gave as his reason the unconstitutionality of the legislation upon which Marbury had based his claim.
• Thus, Marshall asserted the power of judicial review but did so in a way that would not provoke a battle with President Thomas Jefferson

Question 42

Briefs

Answer 42

Written documents in which attorneys explain, using case precedents, why the the court should find in favor of their client

Question 43

Senatorial courtesy

Answer 43

• Supreme Court justices, court of appeals judges, and district court judges (trial courts) are nominated by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate, as stated in the Constitution
• Before the president can make a formal nomination, the senators from the candidates own state must indicate that they support the nominee. This is an informal but seldom violated practice called senatorial courtesy

Question 44

National Voter Registration Act (NVRA)

Answer 44

Required most states to provide citizens with an opportunity to register to votes when applying for or renewing a driver’s license at the department of motor vehicles (DMV) or other designated state agency

Question 45

22nd Amendment

Answer 45

• Limited presidential term
• The Twenty-Second Amendment – ratified in 1951, it limits the president to two terms in office (totaling 8 years in office).