Term | Definition |
Article I | The Legislative Branch, it's powers, workings, and members. |
Article II | The Executive Branch, it's powers, duties, and means of removal. |
Article III | The judicial Branch and definition of treason. |
Article IV | The regulation of the states' powers, and their interaction with the National government. |
Article V | Set up of the amendment process. |
Article VI | Status of the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, to which leaders must be loyal. |
Article VII | Ratification and declares that the constitution should take affect if 9 out of 13 states ratify. |
The Dark Side of the Constitution | It is difficult to have a strong, principled leader in the U.S because there are so many checks and balances among the three branches of government (legislature, judiciary and executive) and federalist system. |
Shared Powers | Powers which are held and exercised by more than one level of government. |
Twenty-Sixth Amendment (XXVI) | Voting age is 18 |
Shay's Rebellion | Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in central and western Massachusetts (mainly Springfield) from 1786 to 1787. |
Agenda-setting | The agenda-setting theory is the theory that the mass-news media have a large influence on audiences by their choice of what stories to consider newsworthy and how much prominence and space to give them. |
Dual Federalism | Dual federalism is a political arrangement in which power is divided between national and state governments in clearly defined terms, with state governments exercising those powers accorded to them without interference from the national government |
"Warre" | Misspelling of war |
Albany Plan of the Union | A proposal to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies, suggested by Benjamin Franklin. |
Social Contract Theory | An agreement by the governed on a set of rules by which they are governed. |
Colonial Charters | Document that gave colonies the legal rights to exist. |
Supremacy Clause | Establishes the U.S. Constitution, federal statutes, and U.S. Treaties as "the supreme law of the land." |
Intergovernmental Lobby | Local and State governments and agencies of local and state governments lobby the federal government in Washington, D.C. |
McCulloch v. Maryland | The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. |
Police Powers | capacity of a state to regulate behaviors and enforce order within its territory, often framed in terms of general welfare, morals, health, and safety. |
Cooperative Federalism | A concept of federalism in which national, state, and local governments interact cooperatively and collectively to solve common problems, rather than making policies separately but more or less equally |
Amendment XX | Moved the terms of the President and Vice President from March 4 to January 20, and of members of Congress from March 4 to January 3. It also determines what is to be done when there is no President-elect. The Twentieth Amendment was ratified in 1933. |
Political Tolerance | Respecting and accepting the basic rights and civil liberties of people and groups whose viewpoints differ from one's own. |
Elitism | The advocacy or existence of an elite as a dominating element in a system or society. |
Political Efficacy | Concept used to explain political behaviour in Political Science. |
Eleventh Amendment | Says nobody can sue a state in federal court without the consent of the state concerned. |
Creative Federalism | Concept of federalism in which national, state, and local governments interact cooperatively and collectively to solve common problems |
Republicanism | The political orientation of those who hold that a republic is the best form of government |
Extended Republics | The public good is sacrificed to a thousand private views |
Hierarchy of Freedom | Fair treatment through the normal judicial system |
Freedom of enterprise | Businesses are responsible for decisions about what to produce and how to produce it. |
Constitutionalism | Idea coming from Locke..that government can and should be legally limited in its powers |
Sixteenth Amendment | Authorizes a federal income tax |
Civil Rights | The rights of citizens to political and social freedom and equality |
Original Intent | A theory in law concerning constitutional and statutory interpretation |
Selective Incorporation | The process by which American courts have applied portions of the U.S. Bill of Rights to the states. |
Writ of habeas corpus | Ordering a prisoner to be brought before a judge |
Concurrent powers | Powers that are held by both the states and the federal government |
Fiscal Federalism | The name given to a system of financial transfers between the federal and state and local governments to pursue policy initiatives. |
Due Process | fair treatment through the normal judicial system, esp. as a citizen's entitlement |
Writ of Mandamus | commanding an official to perform a ministerial act that the law recognizes as an absolute duty and not a matter for the official's discretion; used only when all other judicial remedies fail |
Classical Liberalism | is a philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets |
Amendment XXII | Sets a term limit for the president |
Extradition | The action of extraditing a person accused or convicted of a crime. |
Bill of Attainder | An act of a legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without privilege of a judicial trial. |