Political Culture and Diversity, Federalism, and the Texas Constitution

Question 1

The powers clearly granted to the national government in the United States Constitution. Enumerated, Implied, or inherent.

Answer 1

delegated powers

Question 2

A strategy for drawing political districts intended to establish an unfair political advantage for a particular racial or political group.

Answer 2

gerrymandering

Question 3

The name given to the series of programs passed during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt which expanded national power into areas previously restricted to the states. They provided support for farmers, the unemployed, youth and the elderly, and led to the rise of cooperative federalism.

Answer 3

The New Deal

Question 4

Population characteristics, such as age, gender, ethnicity, employment, and income, that social scientists use to describe groups in society.

Answer 4

demographics

Question 5

A mode of government that divides power and authority into different levels. In the United States these are the national, state, and local levels.

Answer 5

federal system

Question 6

powers directly stated in the constitution

Answer 6

expressed powers (enumerated powers)

Question 7

Powers inferred from the express powers that allow Congress to carry out its functions. The powers in the United States Constitution that are based on loose reading of the elastic clause or “necessary and proper clause”

Answer 7

implied powers

Question 8

Powers the Constitution is presumed to have delegated to the National Government because it is the government of a sovereign state within the world community

Answer 8

inherent powers

Question 9

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. The powers clarified in the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution as belonging to the states. These are open-ended and are focused on the health, welfare, safety, and morals of the community.

Answer 9

reserved powers

Question 10

Powers held jointly by the national and state governments.

Answer 10

concurrent powers

Question 11

A clause in Article 4 of the U.S. Constitution which states that the Constitution, federal laws made pursuant to it, and treaties made under its authority, constitute the “supreme Law of the Land”, and thus take priority over any conflicting state laws

Answer 11

Supremacy Clause

Question 12

One of the powers delegated to Congress in the United States Constitution. It has been used to imply that the national government has broad powers related to trade, including laws related to labor, wages, and criminal activity.

Answer 12

Commerce Clause

Question 13

It allows Congress to pass laws needed to effectively implement the delegated powers. Examples include laws related to the draft, which may be necessary in order to raise armies.

Answer 13

Necessary and Proper Clause

Question 14

A system of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres, each responsible for some policies.

Answer 14

Dual Federalism (Layer Cake)

Question 15

a relationship between the federal and state governments, begun in the 1930s, in which both cooperate on certain defined issues and programs.

Answer 15

Cooperative Federalism (Marble Cake)

Question 16

A sum of money made available to state and local governments to help fund narrowly defined programs or projects, with restrictions placed on how they are to be spent.

Answer 16

categorical grants

Question 17

A sum of money made available to state and local governments to help fund broadly defined programs or projects, with few strings attached.

Answer 17

block grants

Question 18

Transferring responsibility for policies from the federal government to state and local governments.

Answer 18

devolution

Question 19

A relationship between the national and state governments in which the former pressures the states to comply with national policies by using regulations, mandates, and threats to withdraw federal funding.

Answer 19

coercive federalism

Question 20

a law that requires a state or local government to perform certain duties, but provides no funding for their fulfillment.

Answer 20

unfunded mandates

Question 21

An expansion of Medicaid, most of employers must provide health insurance, have insurance or face surtax, prevents rejection based on pre-existing condition. Also referred to as “Obamacare”, signed into law in 2010. Features federal mandates and block grants.

Answer 21

Affordable Care Act of 2010

Question 22

Each branch of government has the power to check, or limit, the actions of the other two

Answer 22

checks and balances

Question 23

the division of power among the legislative (makes laws), executive (enforces laws), and judicial branches (interprets laws) of government.

Answer 23

Separation of Powers

Question 24

In Texas, regular legislative sessions are scheduled by the constitution. They are held once every two years (every other year) and, hence, are referred to as biennial regular sessions.

Answer 24

biennial regular sessions

Question 25

an executive branch with power divided among several independent officers and a weak chief executive (the governor)

Answer 25

plural executive

Question 26

The power to recommend to the legislature how much it should appropriate for various executive agencies.

Answer 26

budgetary power

Question 27

General elections where the candidates are nominated by the political parties and their respective party labels appear on the ballot.

Answer 27

partisan election

Question 28

A special election to remove an official before the end of his or her term, initiated by citizen petition (permitted in some Texas cities but not in state government).

Answer 28

popular recall

Question 29

a process that empowers citizens to place a proposal on the ballot for voter approval (permitted in some Texas cities, but not at the state level).

Answer 29

initiative

Question 30

an election that permits voters to determine if an ordinance or statute will go into effect (permitted in some Texas cities, but not at the state level).

Answer 30

referendum

Question 31

In Texas, the proposal of a constitutional amendment must be supported by two-thirds of the total membership of each house of the legislature—at least 21 senators and 100 representatives.

Answer 31

proposal of constitutional amendments

Question 32

To actually put a constitutional amendment into effect requires approval by a majority of those persons voting on the amendment in either a regular or a special election.

Answer 32

ratification of constitutional amendments

Question 33

A union of independent sovereign states that wish to cooperate to achieve mutually beneficial goals.

Answer 33

confederal

Question 34

A period prior to the Civil War when South Carolina claimed - unsuccessfully - the right to declare national laws it disagreed with null and void.

Answer 34

Nullification Crisis

Question 35

The principle that the authority of a government is based on the people, and are created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives.

Answer 35

popular sovereignty

Question 36

Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy or representative government, is a type of democracy founded on the principle of elected persons representing a group of people, as opposed to direct democracy

Answer 36

republican government

Question 37

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

Answer 37

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Question 38

a pragmatic approach to federalism that views relations between national and state governments as both coercive and cooperative

Answer 38

progressive federalism

Question 39

Supreme Court declared Gun Free School Zones Act exceeded Congress's Interstate Commerce Clause power and was therefore unconstitutional. First federal law declared to exceed commerce clause since the 1930s (Devolution Revolution?)

Answer 39

U.S. v. Lopez (1995)