Vocabulary List 3: Flashcards
Word: A way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels of government have
formal authority over the same land and people.
Federalism
Word: A way of organizing a nation so that all power resides in the central government.
Unitary governments
Word: The workings of the federal system—the entire set of interactions among national, state, and local governments,
including regulations, transfers of funds, and the sharing of information.
intergovernmental relations
Word: The clause in Article VI of the Constitution that makes the Constitution, national laws, and treaties supreme over state laws as long as the national government is acting
within its constitutional limits.
supremacy clause
Word: The constitutional amendment stating,
“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.”
Tenth amendment
Word: An 1819 Supreme Court decision that established the supremacy of
the national government over state governments.
McCulloch v. Maryland
Word: Powers of the federal government that are specifically addressed in the Constitution; for Congress, including the powers listed in Article I, Section 8, for example, to coin money and regulate its value and impose taxes.
enumerated powers
Word: Powers of the federal government that go beyond those enumerated in the
Constitution, in accordance with the statement in the Constitution that Congress has the power to “make all
laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution” the powers enumerated in Article 1.
implied powers
Word: The final paragraph of Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which authorizes Congress to pass all laws
“necessary and proper” to carry out the enumerated powers.
elastic clause
A landmark case decided in 1824 in which the Supreme Court interpreted very broadly the clause in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution giving
Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce as encompassing virtually every form of commercial activity.
Gibbons v. Odgen
Word: A clause in Article IV of the Constitution requiring each state to recognize the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of all other states.
full faith and credit
Word: A legal process whereby a state surrenders a person charged with a crime to the state in which the crime is alleged to have been committed.
extradition
Word: The provision of the Constitution according citizens of each state the privileges of citizens of other states.
privileges and immunities
Word: A system of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres, each responsible for some policies.
dual federalism
Word: A system of government in which powers and policy assignments are shared between states and the national government.
cooperative federalism
