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American Gvt exam 1
Chapters 1-3 Exam 1 Review
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Politics | The process by which actions of government are determined |
Public Policy | What government decides to do or not to do; government laws, rules, or expenditures |
Democracy | Government system in which the citizens have political power; citizens elect leaders to represent them; citizens have basic rights and liberties |
Totalitarian Regime | There are no limits on the power and authority of rulers; rulers have all power |
Pathways to Action | The activities of citizens in American politics that affect the creation, alteration, and preservation of laws and policies |
Checks and Balances | Each branch has the power to limit the actions of the others |
Capitalism | An economic system in which a country’s business and industry are privately owned with little governmental interference |
Socialism | An economic system in which government owns and controls most factories and much or all of the nation’s land |
Representative Democracy | Citizens elect leaders through a fair process to represent them and carry out business of government on their behalf |
Authoritarian Regime | System of government in which leaders have no formal or informal restraints but are limited by informal structures like religious groups or military leaders |
Constitutional government | A system of government that has both informal and formal restraints on exercise of power |
Mayflower Compact | The first form of rules governing the people in Plymouth in 1620 |
Great Squeeze | British Parliament wanted to regain money lost from the French and Indian War so they taxed their colonists heavily ie. Stamp Act, Sugar Act |
Natural rights | Peoples’ basic rights ie. Right to fair trial, right of speech |
Social Contract Theory | A theory that says that individuals give up some rights in return for securing freedoms. If government breaks contract, it is means for revolt. |
Shay’s Rebellion | Uprising in 1786-1787 by small farmers angry about high debt and tax burdens; helped bring about the Constitutional Convention |
Constitutional Convention | A meeting in 1787 in Philadelphia where delegates from the colonies created the Constitution |
Virginia Plan | A strong national government with bicameral legislation, a national executive, judiciary, and legislative, and representation based on population |
Sharing of Powers | Each branch is partly dependent on each other for carrying out duties while also having their own specific powers |
Bill of Rights | The first ten amendments to the Constitution |
Federalists | Supporters of the ratification of the constitution |
Federal System | A government that divided power between a central government and regional subunits |
McCullough v. Maryland | Before the civil war, Maryland implied a tax on all banks but James McCullough refused to pay it; court decision defined the respective powers of the state and federal governments |
Dual Federalism | Theory stating that the powers of the federal and state governments are strictly separate, with interaction often marked by tension than cooperation |
New Deal | Programs designed by FDR to bring economic recovery from the Great Depression |
Cooperative Federalism | A system where the powers of the federal and state governments are intertwined and shared |
Sovereignty | The exclusive right of an independent state to have supreme and base absolute power over a region and it’s people |
Block Grants | Money given to states that allow substantial discretion to spend the money with minimal federal restrictions |
Doctrine of Nullifcation | The state governments had a right to rule any federal law unconstitutional and therefore null and void |
Necessary and Proper Clause | Constitution grants congress the power to pass all laws “necessary and proper” for carrying out expressed powers |