Semester 1 Exam Flashcards
What is a monarchy?
Power is vested in hereditary kings and queens who govern in the interests of all
What is a totalitarian government?
Power resides in a leader who rules according to self-interest and without regard for individuals rights and liberties (Iraq under Saddam Hussein)
What is an oligarchy?
The right to participate is conditioned on the possession of wealth, social status, military position, or achievement
What is a democracy?
Power to the people, whether directly or through elected representatives
What is a direct democracy?
Members of the polity meet to discuss all policy decisions and then agree to abide by majority rule
What is a representative (indirect) democracy?
Gives citizens the opportunity to vote for representatives who will work on their behalf
What is a republic?
A government rooted in the consent of the governed; a representative or indirect democracy
Who is Thomas Hobbes?
Famous for The Leviathan; actions in society done out of self interest; All men are equal; individual rights
Who is John Locke?
Famous for Two Treatises on Government; refuted the divine right of monarchy; believed personal liberty and political order could coexist; men are subject to moral law; men born free and equal
Most influential in the writing of the Declaration of Independence because of his social contract Theory
What is the social contract theory?
People are free and equal by natural right and in turn requires all people give their consent to be governed
Who is Thomas Paine?
Famous for Common Sense; believed men are born free and equal; political associations created to preserve rights
What are the major events that led to the independence?
Treaty of Paris
Stamp Act Congress convenes to talk about what can be done about the stamp act (1765)
Townshend Acts (1767): several acts impose duties on colonial imports, like tea
Boston Massacre (1770)
Boston Tea Party (1773)
Coercive Acts
First Continental Congress (1774): not thinking about split from Britain yet, but want to iron out differences and oppose the Coercive Acts
Battles of Lexington and Concord (1775)
Second Continental Congress (1775): adopted the Olive Branch Petition, but was rejected by King George
Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
Mainly Thomas Jefferson, but included others
When was the Declaration of Independence formally adopted?
July 4, 1776
Who/what is the philosophical inspiration of the Declaration of Independence?
John Locke’s social contract theory
What are the 6 basic tenets of American democracy?
Personal liberty Equality Popular consent Majority rule Popular sovereignty Civil society Individualism Religious faith and freedom
What parties make up the political party scale/spectrum?
Libertarian: favors free market and oppose govt. interference
Conservative: government is best that governs least
Liberal: favors government involvement and provision of social services
What is mercantilism?
Theory designed to increase a nation’s wealth via commercial industry and favorable balance of trade; how Britain justified strict import/export on colonies to establish this
What are the Committees of Correspondence?
Created because of new taxes, especially the Tea tax, led by Samuel Adams,
Meant as a communication network about developments with the British
Served as molders of public opinion against the British
What is the First Continental Congress?
Didn’t plan on breaking ties with England
Made Declaration of Rights and Resolves to try to iron out differences with the king
What is the Second Continental Congress?
The king didn’t agree to Declaration of Rights and Resolves, fighting broke out at Lexington and Concord, drafted the Olive Branch Petition, and voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776
What was the Articles of Confederation?
Basics:
- Each state held supreme authority
- One vote in the Constitutional Congress for each state, regardless of size
- Must have nine state votes to pass any measure
- Vote of all states to amend Articles
- Selection and payment of delegates to the Congress handled by respective states legislatures
What are the problems or weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?
Little unity, couldn’t get enough agreement to make anything happen, economic turmoil, chaotic regulation of trade, no federal govt power, no judicial system
What was Shay’s Rebellion?
Shay and 1500 armed farmers who weren’t paid for their military services b/c of Massachusetts law favoring the wealthy revolted
Congress called for militia and state donations but only Virginia complied and private money was raised
Demonstrated the weakness of the Articles of Confederation
Called for another convention for the “sole and express” purpose of revising it
What is Article 1 of the Constitution?
Establishes the rules and laws that govern the legislative branch. Issues such as the powers and responsibilities of Congress, how members of Congress are to be chosen, and how bills become law are explained
What is Article 2 of the Constitution?
Establishes the rules and laws that govern the executive branch. The powers of the President are divided into four sections.
What is Article 3 of the Constitution?
Establishes the rules and laws that govern the judicial branch. Both the Supreme Court and inferior courts are covered in the first two articles, while section three address the act of treason
What is Article 4 of the Constitution?
Deals with the states. The relationship between the states, issues of territory, and the federal government’s responsibility to the states
What is Article 5 of the Constitution?
Establishes the rules for amending the Constitution
What is Article 6 of the Constitution?
Establishes the role of treaties, requires that all members of the individual branches of government swear an oath to support the constitution, and declares that no religious test will be required of those seeking public office
What is Article 7 of the Constitution?
States the number of states needed to ratify the Constitution, as well as lists the names of the Constitution’s signers
What is the Full Faith and Credit clause?
States that legislative acts, judicial decisions, and public records of other states must be recognized in every other state
What is the Supremacy Clause?
Asserts the federal law supreme over all other establishments (local law, state law, etc.)
What are the different types of powers outlined by the Constitution?
Delegated federal power, reserved state power, and concurrent powers, implied powers
What is the New Jersey Plan?
Strengthens not replaces Articles
One house legislature w/ state representatives chosen by state legislature
Gave Congress power to raise revenue from duties and postal service
Created Supreme Court appointed for life
What government plan favored smaller states?
New Jersey Plan
What was the Virginia Plan?
Powerful central government
Three branch government (judicial, executive, legislative)
Two house legislature
Legislature has the power to elect the judiciary and executive branches
Presented by James Madison
Which government plan favored bigger states?
Virginia Plan
What are the Federalists?
Wanted to abandon Articles of Confederation and ratify the Constitution
Thought Constitution would help control debt or tensions
Liked strong, central government
George Washington, John Jay, and John Adams
What are the Antifederalists?
Wanted to amend Articles of Confederation, rejected Constitution
Changed their minds with the addition of the Bill of Rights
Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Henry, Samuel Adams
When was the Constitution ratified?
September 17, 1787
What were the Federalist Papers?
Written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the pen name Publius
Series of 85 essays
What are the methods of amending the constitution?
2/3 vote in both houses of Congress
National convention called by Congress by 2/3 of the state legislature
What are the methods of ratifying the constitution?
Legislation in 3/4 of the states
Conventions in 3/4 of the states
What is the first amendment?
The freedom of religion, speech, the press, assembly, and redress
What is the second amendment?
The right to bear arms
What is the third amendment?
The right to be protecting from quartering of troops
What is the fourth amendment?
The freedom from unreasonable search and seizure
What is the fifth amendment?
The right to due process; eminent domain
What is the sixth amendment?
The rights of those accused of crimes (trial by jury, right to counsel, etc.)
What is the seventh amendment?
The right to a civil trial by jury
What is the eighth amendment?
Freedom from excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment
What is the ninth amendment?
Protection of rights not specified in the Constitution
What is the tenth amendment?
Powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution belongs to the states
What is federalism?
The idea that power comes from different levels of government joining together as one (local, state, federal)
What is dual federalism?
The idea that there is a clear line between state and federal power, and there are limits to what each cannot do
Ex: reserved power
What is the Necessary and Proper Clause?
Law that allows all laws to be passed that are “necessary and proper” for making sure taht the expressed powers can be implemented
Used in McCullough v. Maryland to declare chartering banks constitutional
AKA “elastic clause”
What are enumerated powers?
Powers specifically granted to the federal government via the Constitution
Military Control, Federal courts, Currency, Declare War, Necessary and Proper, Postal
What are reserved powers?
Under the 10th amendment, Powers not already designated to the federal govt are reserved to the state
Control of local govts, State Courts, State level Education
What are concurrent powers?
Powers guaranteed to both the state and federal government
Make and enforce laws, establish courts, borrow and spend money, Charter banks, Transportation
What are the limits of state relations?
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
What are the most common factors of political socialization?
Family, school/peers, mass media, religious beliefs, race/ethnicity, gender, region, age
What is public opinion?
Public opinion is what the public thinks about a particular issues or set of issues at any given point in time
How is public opinion measured?
Generally, public opinion is measured with public opinion polls based on a group of sample citizens. These polls help predict elections and give feedback to the government about how satisfied the public is
What are public opinion polls?
Interviews or surveys with samples of citizens that are used to estimate the feelings and beliefs of the entire population
What are the types of polls?
Straw polls, push polls, tracking polls, and exit polls?
What are straw polls?
Unscientific surveys used to gauge public opinion on a variety of issues and policies
What are push polls?
Polls taken for the purpose of providing information on an opponent that would lead respondents to vote against that candidate
What are tracking polls?
Continuous surveys that enable a campaign to chart its daily rise or fall in support
What are exit polls?
Polls conducted as voters leave selected polling places on Election Day
What is sampling?
a subset of the whole population selected to be questioned for the purposes of prediction or gauging opinion
What is random sampling?
A method of poll selection that gives each person in a group the same chance of being selected, nearly impossible
What is stratified sampling?
A variation of random sampling; census data are used to divide the country into four sampling regions.
What is a margin of error?
A measure of the accuracy of a public opinion poll
What is limited response bias?
Like or dislike, no middle ground answers
How does lack of information influence sampling?
Public opinion polls may also be inaccurate when they attempt to gauge attitudes about issues that some or even many individuals do not care about or about which the public has little information
What happened with the Literary Digest sample?
Literary Digest (1916)- first magazine to use straw polls. 1936- did not guess outcome correctly (thought Landon would win, but Roosevelt won).
Sample: sample was drawn from telephone directories and lists of automobile owners- oversampled upper middle class and the wealthy. Timing: questionnaires were mailed in early September, too far away from elections. Self-selection: only highly motivated individuals sent back their responses
Who is George Gallup?
Founded Gallup Polls, correctly predicted the presidential winner in 1936
What are the Eras of Party Domination?
Era of the Democrats: 1800-1860
Era of the Republicans: 1860-1932
The Return of the Democrats: 1932-1968
Nearly all parties suspended during the era of good feeling
Summary: Democrat, Republican Democrat
What are the functions of the American Party system?
Divides country in two, allows people to side with others who think the same, gives citizens a way to promote opinion, allows citizens to participate and play a role in the government
What is the role of third/minor parties?
Function as something to make the electoral progress in direct proportion to the failure of the two major parties to incorporate new ideas or alienated groups or to nominate candidates as their standard bearers
Typically back with a major party
Arise when a house seat becomes open, when a minor party candidate has previously competed in the district, and when partisan competition between the two major parties in the district is close
Why do third parties do better in Europe?
Third parties usually do better in nations, such as europe, that have proportional representation. This means that however many votes the party gets determines how many delegates they get to represent the parties ideology
What is the governmental party?
The office holders who organize themselves and pursue policy objectives under a party label
What is the organizational party?
The workers and activists who make up the party’s formal organization structure
What is the party in the electorate?
The voters who consider themselves allied or associated with the party
What are the major reasons for party identification?
Region, gender, race, age, income, education, union member, veteran, religion, marital status, and ideology
What is party dealignment?
The general decline in party identification and loyalty in the electorate. This usually happens when people are reluctant to admit their real yparty identifier for the fear of being socially accepted. Many people today say that they vote for “the person, not the party.”
What are conventional political participation?
Attempts to influence the political process through well-accepted, often moderate forms of persuasion like voting
What is unconventional political participation?
Attempts to influence the political process through unusual or extreme measures (less frequent than conventional but war in Iraq revived it a bit)
protests, boycotts, picketing (ex: Boston Tea Party and Shays’s Rebellion)
What are the main reasons for low voter turnout?
Too busy, difficulty of registration, difficulty of absentee voting, number of elections, voter attitudes, and weakened influence on political parties
How does weakened influence of political parties contribute to low voter turnout?
Weakened influence of political parties is due to the fact that today the parties mostly focus on the candidate rather than getting their voters involved.
What are the most frequently suggested methods to improve voter turnout?
Easier registration/convenience voting, making election day a holiday, strengthen parties, holding fewer elections
Who determines voter registration requirements?
States
What was the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
designed to further minority rights (mainly African Americans)
enforced the poll tax ban of the 24th amendment
abolished literacy tests, property qualifications, and other obstacles to voter registration
requires bilingual ballots in Spanish speaking communities
requires approval for any changes in voting qualifications r procedures in certain areas where minority registration was not in proportion to the racial composition of the distrct; authorizes fed gov to monitor all elections in areas where discrimination was practice or where less than 50% of the voting age public was registered to vote in the 1964 election
What is the purpose of elections?
Elections make a fundamental contribution to democratic governance
Enable voters to select leaders and to hold them accountable for their performance in office.
What are the types of elections?
Primary, general, midterm, initiative, referendum, recall, etc
What is a primary election?
Election in which voter decide which of the candidates within a party will represent the party in the general election
What is the difference between closed and open primaries?
In a closed primary, only a party’s registered voters are eligible to vote.
In an open primary, party members, independents, and sometimes members of the other party are allowed to vote
What is a runoff primary?
A second primary election between the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes in the first primary
What is crossover voting?
Participation in the primary of a party with which the voter is not affiliated
What is raiding?
An organized attempt by voters of one party to influence the primary results of the other party
What is a general election?
Election in which voters decide which candidates will actually fill elective public offices
What is a ballot measure?
An election option such as the initiative or referendum that enables voters to enact public policy
What is an initiative?
An election that allows citizens to propose legislation and submit it to the state electorate for popular vote
What is a referendum?
An election whereby the state legislature submits proposed legislation to the state’s voters for approval
What is a recall?
An election in which voters can remove an incumbent from office by popular vote
What is a party convention?
A meeting of a political party, typically to select party candidates
What are delegates?
Chosen by voters during the primaries and caucuses in each state.
Delegates act as representatives, voting on behalf of those who have elected them
What are super delegates?
Selected members of the political party, and many of them are past or present political leaders. Super delegates are chosen during the primary season and are not pledged to either candidate, meaning they are free to make their own decision
Selected outside of primaries or caucuses
How do presidential elections compare to congressional ones?
Congressional elections receive scant national attention. Most candidates for Congress labor in relative obscurity… the vast majority of party nominees for congress are little-known state legislators and local office holders who receive remarkably limited coverage in many states and communities
What is incumbency?
The holding of an office?
What are the advantages of incumbency?
Staff support
Media and Travel
The “scare off” effect
Redistricting
What is a nomination campaign?
begins as soon as candidate decides to run
aimed at winning a primary election
critical time for gaining and maintaining support
What is a general election?
after earning party nomination
aimed at winning general election
What is a campaign manager?
individual who travels with the candidate and coordinates the many different aspects of the campaign
What is a finance chair?
coordinates fund-raising efforts for the campaign
What is a pollster?
takes public opinion surveys that guide political campaign
What is a direct mailer?
supervises a political campaign’s direct mail fundraising strategies
What is a communication director?
develops overall media strategy for candidate, blending free press coverage with paid tv, radio, and mail media
What is a press secretary?
charged with interacting and communicating with journalist on a daily basis
What is an internet team?
campaign staff that makes use of web-based resources to communicate with voters, raise funds, organize volunteers, and plan campaign events
What is a campaign consultant?
sells to a candidate the technologies, services, and strategies required to get that candidate elected
What is a media consultant?
produces candidates’ television, radio, and print advertisements
What is paid media?
political advertisements purchased for a candidate’s campaign
What is free media?
coverage of a candidate’s campaign by the news media
What is new media?
new technologies, such as internet, that blur the line between paid and free media sources
What are the types of paid media?
Positive/negative ads, contrast ad, spot ad, inoculation ad
What is a spot ad?
television advertising on behalf of a candidate that is broadcast in 60, 30, or 10 seconds
What is an inoculation ad?
dvertisement that attempts to counteract an anticipated attack from the opposition before the attack is launched
What is the FEC?
Federal Elections Committee
an independent federal agency tasked with enforcing the nation’s election laws
What is the Federal Elections Campaign Act?
established the Presidential Public Funding Program, which provides partial public funding for presidential candidates who meet certain criteria (initiated in the early 1970s)
What is soft money?
The virtually unregulated money funneled by individuals and political committees through state and local primaries.
What is hard money?
legally specified and limited contributions that are clearly regulated by the Federal Election Campaign Act and by the Federal Election Commision
What are PACs?
Political Action Committees
federally mandated, officially registered fund-raising committee that represents interest groups in the political process
Required for interest groups to raise money
What are the types of mass media?
Print media, radio, televisions, new media
What is yellow journalism?
a form of newspaper publishing in vogue in the late nineteenth century that featured pictures, comics, color, and sensationalized, oversimplified news coverage
What is muckraking?
A form of journalism, in vogue in the early twentieth century, concerned with reforming government and business conduct
What is broadcasting?
television and radio platforms used to advertise politics
What is narrowcasting?
media programming on cable TV or the Internet that is focused on one topic and aimed at a particular audience
Ex: FOX, MSNBC
What is the equal time rule?
states that broadcasters must provide equal broadcast time to all candidates for a particular office
What is the right of rebuttal?
requires broadcasters to provide an opportunity for candidates to respond to criticisms made against them
What is the fairness doctrine?
states that a broadcaster who airs a controversial program must provide time to air opposing views
What are interest groups?
a political group with a common interest that seeks to influence public policy, but does not run for public office
What is the pluralist theory?
political power is distributed among a wide array of diverse and competing interest groups
What is the disturbance theory?
interest groups form to counteract the efforts of other groups
What is the transaction theory?
public policies are the result of narrowly defined exchanges among political parties
What is the population ecology theory?
the life of a political organization is conditional on the density and diversity of the interest group population in a given area
What do interest groups do?
Try to influence public policy without running for office
What is lobbying?
activities of a group/organization that seeks to influence legislation and persuade political leaders to support the group
