unit 1 Flashcards

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1
Q

natural rights (John Locke)

A
  • people are born with certain rights that are given to them their creator
  • important because those rights were not given by a monarch and could be taken away
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2
Q

popular sovereignty (Thomas Hobbes) & the social contract (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)

A

-Popular Sovereignty: by nature, the power to govern is in the hands of the people

  • The Social Contract:in order to protect their natural rights, people willingly give some of that power away to a government
    – state is the servant of the people not the other way around
  • if the government violates the agreement and becomes tyrannical then the people’s duty is overthrow that government and switch it out
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3
Q

republicanism

A
  • elect leaders to represent them and create laws in the public interest
  • power separated between three branches
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4
Q

limited government

A
  • a government that prevented from tyranny through a system of checks and balances and the distribution of power among several acting members
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5
Q

participatory democracy

A
  • emphasizes broad participation in the political process by most, if not all members of a society
  • town halls, initiatives
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6
Q

pluralist democracy

A
  • groups of people associate with interest groups who then compete to influence policy
  • provides the people with a voice in chunks
  • interest groups (NRA, NAACP)
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7
Q

elite democracy

A
  • limited participation in policymaking on the assumption that government is complicated and the most educated people need to run it
  • electoral college
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8
Q

Shays’s Rebellion

A
  • war veterans were not getting paid by congress because congress had no money, but congress still prosecuted them if they didn’t pay their taxes
  • a bunch of them rose up in Massachusetts and there was no national army to come in and help
  • made a lot of people realize that the federal government needed a lot more power in case of rebellions
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9
Q

constitutional convention (Philadelphia convention)

A
  • 1787
  • official goal was to modify the articles of confederation
  • ended up drafting an entirely new constitution
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10
Q

grand committee

A
  • Washington, Hamilton, Madison
  • tasked with forging compromises needed for a new governing document
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11
Q

Great Compromise

A
  • a compromise on how the people would be represented in the new congress
  • Virginia Plan: congressional representatives should be apportioned by population. Big states would have more representatives and more power.
  • New Jersey Plan: each state should be represented equally with one vote. Small stats have a disproportionate amount of power
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12
Q

Bicameral

A
  • 2 houses in congress
  • House of Representatives: people represented by population
  • Senate: two votes per state
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13
Q

Electoral College

A
  • each state is given a number of electors that corresponds to the number of congressional representatives they have in the House
  • State legislatures have all the power to decide who those people are
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14
Q

3/5ths compromise

A
  • three fifths of the enslaved population would count towards representation
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15
Q

Article V

A
  • two stage process to amend the constitution: proposal and ratification
  • amendment could be proposed by congress or by the states at a special convention (two-thirds vote is needed to become official)
  • amendment is sent to states for ratification (three quarters of state legislatures/state ratifying conventions need to agree)
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16
Q

advice and consent

A
  • any appointments the president makes to the presidential cabinet or supreme court or any other federal office has to be approved by the senate
17
Q

Veto

A
  • if congress passes a law that the president doesn’t like, he can veto it and it becomes null and void
  • vetoes can be overridden by a 2/3rds vote
18
Q

Judicial Review

A
  • the courts prerogative to judge the laws passed by congress and signed by the president on the merits of their constitutionality
19
Q

federalism

A
  • the sharing of power between national and state governments
20
Q

exclusive powers

A
  • specifically delegated by the constitution to the federal government
  • ex. only congress can make treaties with other sovereign nations
21
Q

reserved powers

A
  • kept by states
  • 10th amendment
  • ex. police powers, hospitals, education, etc.
22
Q

concurrent powers

A
  • shared by both federal and state
  • ex. income tax
23
Q

fiscal federalism

A
  • money
  • congress is able to establish national standards and direct funds to states that comply with those standards and withhold funds from states that don’t
24
Q

Grants

A

categorical grants: grants given to states as long as states comply with specific federal standards
- given to specific needs of the state and congress decides on how that money is spent

block grants: grants given to states for a relatively broad purpose and the states can spend the money as they see fit
- state has discretion, but there are still limits

25
Q

Mandates

A
  • require states to follow federal directives but often compliance with these directives are beyond a state’s budget capacity
  • federal government sets the rules and provides the states money to help them comply
26
Q

Unfunded mandate

A
  • federal government issues mandates and provides no funding to help the states achieve it
27
Q

devolution

A
  • return of power to the states away from the federal government
28
Q

USA patriot act

A
  • after 9/11
  • find and stop future terrorists
  • increased ability of federal agencies to find and gather intelligence by phone tapping and monitoring emails
  • outcry among citizens, argued that it was a violation of 4th amendment rights to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure
29
Q

No child left behind act

A
  • in order to receive federal funding that schools depend on, schools had to meet certain criteria was found to be unattainable by a vast majority of schools
  • schools that did not meet criteria were slapped with sanctions
  • outcry from state that this was federal overreach
30
Q

commerce clause

A
  • allows congress to regulate commerce among the states
31
Q

necessary and proper clause (elastic clause)

A