Unit 1 Test Flashcards
4 basic ideas of US government
natural rights, social contract, popular sovereignty, limited government
natural rights
creator-given rights that cannot be taken away, exist in a natural state
social contract
an implicit agreement among the people in a society to give up some freedoms to maintain social order
popular soverignty
all government power comes from the conesnt of its people
limited government
a government’s power cannot be absolute
four principles of limited government
seperation of powers, checks and balances, Federalism, Republicanism
Seperation of powers
three branches of government each with different powers
checks and balances
powers that can be used to block the powers of the other branches, so that no one branch is dominant
Federalism
power is shared between a national and state government
Republicanism
the people are represented in the government
Declaration of Independence
-restates philosophy of natural rights, a social contract that provides a foundation for limited government and popular soveriegnty
Forms of representative democracy
paticipatory, pluralist, elite
participatory
emphasizes broad participation in politics and civil society
pluralist
emphasizes group-based activism by non-governmental interests striving for impact on political decision making
Elite
emphasizes limited participation in politics and civil society
Federalist 10
identifies factions as greatest evil, says constitution limits them by spreading power among large area and many different entities
Brutus 1
belives government is inherently dangerous to rights, thinks to limit the danger, local government should dominate over national and rights should be explicitly protected
Federalists
supported ratification of the Constitution
-supported strong central government
- superiority of large republic in controlling the “mischiefs of faction:
-delegate authority to elected representatives (not direct democracy)
-disperse power between national and state governments
Anti-Federalists
opposed ratification of the Constitution,
-wanted more power reserved to states (not a strong national government
-small, decentralized republic better for democracy
-large, centralized government a threat to personal liberty
problems with articles of confederation
-lack of centralized military power to address Shay’s Rebellion
-lack of an executive branch to enforce laws, including taxation
-lack of national court system
-lack of power to regulate interstate commerce
-lack of power to coin money
compromises necessary for ratification of Constitution of the United States
-Great (connecticut) compromise:create a bicameral (dual) system of congressional representation with the house of representatives based on each state’s population and the Senate representing
each state equally
-Electoral College: Create a system for electing the president by electors from each state rather than by popular vote or by congressional vote
-Three-Fifths Compromise: provided a formula for calculating a state’s enslaved population for purposes of representation in the House and for taxation
-Postpoining until 1808 a decision whether to ban the importation of enslaved
persons
- Agreement to add a Bill of Rights to address concerns of the Anti-Federalists
Amendment process
Step 1: 2/3 of both houses or a convention called by 2/3 of the states may propose amendments
step 2L 2/4 of state legislature or state ratifying conventions ratify amendment
Unsolved Issues of Constitution
-Slavery
- Proper role of federal government
- Campaigns
- Social Issues
Federalist 51
Checks and balances keeps factions and tyrannical majorities from
abusing power
-Different branches and layers give people trying to influence policy many places to lobby
and try to get involved (multiple access points
-Legal actions can be taken against officials who abuse power.
. Ultimate check on abuse
of power is the impeachment
Whats the ultimate check on power
impeachment
removal from office process
majorit if the House to impeach forcing a trial in the Senate, 2/3 of the Senate to convict and remove from office
Federalism
System of government in the US where power is shared between national and state governments
- Exclusive powers - Powers given to either state or national governments but not
both
- Concurrent powers - Powers shared between national and state governments
- Ongoing debate over the appropriate balance of power
Exclusive powers
Powers held by only one level of government
- Enumerated powers - Specific powers of national government listed in
Constitution
-
Implied powers - Not specificaly written in Constitution but inferred from the
Necessary and Proper Clause
Reserved powers
- ## Powers not delegated or enumerated to the national governmentInstead, reserved to the states
- Tenth Amendment
Concurrent powers
- Shared between both levels of government
- Collect taxes
- Make and enforce laws
- Build roads
Distribution of Power Demonstrated by:
- Revenue sharing - National funding with almost no restrictions to the states on its
use and is the least used form funding - Block grants - National funding with minimal restrictions to the states on its use
and is preferred by the states - Categorical grants - National funding that is restricted to specific categories of
expenditures, is preferred by the national government, and is the most commonly
used form of funding - Mandates - Requirements by the national government of the states
14th Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses
Give national government the power to enforce protections for any person
against states
-Supreme Court decisions can influence the extent of those protections
Commerce Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3)
- Gives national government power to regulate interstate commerce
- Supreme Court decisions can influence the extent of this power (since the New
Deal this has been expansively interpreted)
Necessary and Proper Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 18)
Gives Congress the power to make laws related to carrying out its enumerated
powers
- Supreme Court decisions can influence the extent of these powers
McCulloch v. Maryland
Maryland attempts to tax the Bank of the United
States, which was created by the United States government. Court rules 7-0 that
A, a National Bank is constitutional as it is necessary and proper to carry out the
enumerated power of interstate commerce, and B, the states cannot tax the
federal government under the Supremacy Clause
- United States v. Lopez -
- Lopez is convicted under a federal law that bans the
possession of guns near schools. Supreme Court rules 5-4 that this law is
unconstitutional because it is not closely related enough to interstate commerce
to be necessary and proper to carrying out the commerce power.
Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2)
- Gives national government and its laws general precedence over states’ laws
- Supreme Court decisions may affect when specific actions exceed this
constitutional power
