| Word |
definition |
| Jacques Rousseau | Published The Social Contract in 1762;He believed that the people needed to create a society with freedom yet maintain control |
| The Social Contract | Written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau; The most influential work of Rousseau; Helped motivate reforms revolutions and reforms in Europe; Published in 1762 |
| Thomas Hobbes | Author of Leviathan; He believed in a society in which everyone gave one man his or her freedom. That man would be the ruler whom in return would give protection. |
| Leviathan | Written by Thomas Hobbes; Written in 1651; Is about the structure of society |
| John Locke | Wrote Two Treaties on Government; He believed that the government gets its power from the people; Locke’s Idea of Natural Rights: Life, Liberty, Property |
| Natural Rights | Rights and freedoms that every human has that cannot be taken away |
| Consent of the Governed | A ruler needs this in order to rule |
| Limited Government | Restrictions on what rulers can do; Locke: Laws need to be written out so they cannot change instantaneously, No ruler should be allowed to take way property, If property cannot be preserved, the government would be useless. |
| Two Treatises on Government | Written by John Locke; In the Second Treatise (Book II): State of Nature=Anarchy, Law of Nature = "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions", Civil Society Made to protect property,etc. |
| Thomas Paine | Wrote Common Sense; Was a revolutionary |
| Common Sense | Written by Thomas Paine; It gives reasons as to why the Colonists should not hesitate to resist British control.; Convinces many Colonists to revolt |
| Power | the ability to cause others to modify their behaviors; Something a government needs in with authority (right to use power) and legitimacy (what makes a law right). |
| Authority | The right to use power |
| Legitimacy | What makes a law right;Does not necessarily mean one agrees or trusts it |
| Aristocracy | Government is controlled by the highest class |
| Monarchy | Power is inherited |
| Oligarchy | A select few are in charge; Typically the: Rich, Upperclassmen, Those with military power |
| Constitution | A document outlining how a country's government will work in future years |
| Republic | Government in which ultimate sovereign belongs to people and we elect people to make decisions for us |
| Democracy | Ultimate power is in the people |
| Direct Democracy | System where there are no elected officials; The population makes decisions; Only woks in small political communities; Happens in Switzerland sometimes; Can happen on a state level today in the U.S. |
| Representative (Indirect) Democracy | People elect officials to make decisions; Complaints : A bill takes five to seven years to pass, Easy for special interest groups to get their way, Does not respond on the majority opinion |
| Elitism | Political decisions in power is controlled by the rich - Money buys campaigns |
| Marxism | A form of Elitism; Those who holds the four factors of production |
| Max Weber | Came up with a form of Elitism; Bureaucracy based on expertise and specialization |
| Pluralism | A form of Elitism; Basically our public policy is group conflict; A different select group for every issue; Special interest are actually in charge |
| Bureaucrats | people that work in the government |
| Gridlock | when nothing gets passed because of checks & balances |
| George Washington | Lead the revolutionary war; First President of the United States under the Constitution |
| Shays Rebellion | Captain Shay and his men took up their guns and attacked a courthouse to keep the bank from foreclosing their farms; Shay and his men got away with it because there was no one to stop them; This was the turning point of the Articles of Conferderation. |
| Articles of Confederation | The first constitution of the US. The states were in a league of friendship. It was a complete failure. The central government wasn't strong enough. It showed what not to do. |
| James Madison | Wrote the Bill of Rights and Was the architect of the Constitution; scared of factions |
| Unicameral | One-house legislature |
| Judicial Review | The power of the Supreme Court to say that a law is unconstitutional |
| New Jersey Plan | Unicameral System; One state = One vote; Big state did not like it because they thought it was unfair |
| Virginia Plan | A plan that favored the big states; A strong national government with three branches: the legislative, executive, and judical; representation was population based |
| Connecticut Compromise (o A.k.a. Great Compromise) | There would be three branches of government as stated in the Virginia Plan; However, the legislature branch would have two houses: House of Representatives: Representation would be based on population, Senate: Two Representatives for each state |
| Federalism | A way of organizing a country into 2 or more levels of government that have the authority over the same people |
| Unitary System | All power resides in a central government |
| Confederation | Only the states are able to pass laws that the citizens have to obey; A happy little league of friendship of states; Central government cannot govern the people |
| Intergovernmental Relations | State and local officials lobby in Washington; Purpose: to get more federal money with fewer strings; By 1980, however, federal funds had stopped growing |
| Elastic language | that which can be “stretched” to include several things |
| Necessary and Proper Clause | Very vague on purpose; Called “elastic clause”; Powers aren’t laid out specifically |
| Supremacy Clause | Specifically states that the following three are the Supreme Law of the Land: Constitution, Laws of national government consistent with the constitution, Treaties (written by national government) |
| Chief Justice John Marshall | Influencial justice who presided over many cases including McColloch vs. Maryland |
| McColloch vs. Maryland (1819) | Told Maryland start a bank would be “necessary and proper”; It was not stated, but was implied; Case sets a pattern Marshall sides with the federal government every time through the Necessary and Proper Clause. |
| Nullification | states able to declare a law null and void if in their opinion it was unconstitutional - stopped after civil war |
| Dual Federalism | the federal government and the state governments are co-equals, each sovereign |
| Commerce Clause | Congress can regulate interstate (between state) commerce; commerce wasn't defined |
| Gibbons vs. Ogden | Defined commerce to include any form of commercial activity; Means radio, electricity, telephones, internet, not just goods traveling - Insurance too; led to an expansion of federal government |
| Concurrent power | those held to some extent by both the federal and state governments |
| Expressed (Enumerated) powers | Powers that are stated |
| Implied Powers | can do this while it is not listed because it is implied there |
| Full Faith and Credit | states accept documents from other states as lawful like Marriage License, Driver’s License, Birth Certificate, Contracts |
| Extradition | When you break a law in one state and leave to another state, the state you left can come after you; Law requires state to return a criminal to another state |
| Privileges and immunities clause | Requires each state to give some privileges and immunities to citizens from other states |
| Interstate commerce | between state commerce regulated by congress |
| Intrastate Commerce | in state commerce regulated by states |
| Interstate Compact | An agreement among several states |
| Laboratories of Democracy | states are allowed to make their own laws. Because of this, many states experiment with laws to see if they work. If they don’t, other states know not to try it but if they do, many states may try to implement the same laws |
| Matching funds | putting up the same amount of money someone else does |
| New Deal | President Franklin Roosevelt and Congress wrote landmark legislation known collectively as the "New Deal" to combat the Great Depression |
| Cooperative Federalism | asserts that the national government is supreme over the states, and some constitutional clauses have a different meaning |
| New Federalism | Nixon tries to reduce government control/spending on welfare/grants; government is willing to use coercive grants to achieve policy objectives |
| Fiscal Federalism | All about money; One of the best ways to deal with states when you want them to do something is by using money; Cornerstone of government is relationship between the state and local governments |
| Land-grant colleges | Schools built on land given by the federal government for the purpose of building a college |
| Block Grants | Grants given for a very broad program; Does not specifically tell them how to do the projects |
| Categorical Grants | Main source of grants (used most often); Used only for 1 of several 100 purposes / categories |
| Equal Opportunity Act (1982) | Bar job discrimination at state and local governments, Attach money to it to get states to do it, Non-discrimination provisions always attached (if you want money, no discrimination) |
| Cross over sanctions | Use federal money in one program to influence another that they should have no say in |
| Cross cutting requirement | Federal money extended to all activities supported by any federal funds |
| Formula Grants | type of categorical grant; Awarded on basis of competition |
| Project Grants | Distributed according to formula |
| Mandates | Requirements imposed against state and local governments to perform. The requirements may have nothing to do with the receipt of federal funds and may originate from court orders. |
| Condition of aid | federal rules attached to the grants that states receive; states must agree to abide by them to receive the grants |
| Distributional Formula | Formula to see how much money should go where |
| Alexis de Tocqueville | Wrote Democracy in America about how democracy worked in America and why; believed democracy worked here and not in Europe because we have a lot of good soil, few government restrictions, at the time there were few taxes and could push west for more land |
| Political Culture | our basic beliefs, values, and norms about a nation and its government that are widely shared within a society |
| Liberty | the right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of their choosing |
| Individualism | Political economic and social concept that places emphasis on the worth and value of individuality rather than society |
| Political socialization | Process by which people create their own political ideas, beliefs, and values |
| Americanism | American way of life |
| Capitalism | The economic system based on private ownership and control of the means of production; Free enterprise |
| Civil competence | Belief that one can affect government policy |
| Protestant Work Ethic | Hard work, Saving money, Obeying laws, Doing your best |
| Orthodox | Morality more important than self expression, Rules come from god, Fundamentalists, Protestants |
| Progressive | Personal freedom is more important than tradition; Rules based on circumstances; Mainstream Protestants or People with little religious beliefs (Most people today) |
| Political Efficacy | A citizens capacity to understand/influence political events |
| Internal Efficacy | Confidence in his own ability to understand/take part in political events |
| External Efficacy | System will respond to what we want; External efficacy has declined over recent years, but America is still higher than Europe |
| Agents of Socialization | Institutes through which people learn core values and beliefs |
| Jerry Falwell | founded the moral majority in 1979 |
| Pat Robertson | founder and chairman of the Christian broadcasting network |
| Liberal | A person slightly to the left of center of the political spectrum; Progress is good; Today’s liberals tend to believe government has a role to play in preserving fights of the individual to freedom and equality and in solving social and economic problem |
| Liberalism | belief that people are rational and can use their intelligence to create a better world overcoming social and economic problems; Developed in 18th/19th centuries; people could reach their full potential if freed from gov. restrictions |
| Conservative | One who believes in and supports traditional values and resists change in the status quo |
| Conservatism | A set of beliefs that include a limited role of national government; Deals with helping individuals; Supports traditional values and lifestyles; Has a cautious response to change |
| Gender Gap | A phrase frequently used to describe the different voting patterns of men and women |
| Political Culture | our basic beliefs, values, and norms about a nation and its government that are widely shared within a society |
| Greying of America | The aging baby boomer generation |
