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American Gov Midterm
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Politics | The process through which individuals and groups seek agreement on a course of common collective action. |
| Politics matter because... | Each party's success in finding a solution requires the cooperation of others who are looking to solve a different problem. |
| Success requires _, and ends in _ | Bargaining, compromise |
| Those who create government institutions tend to regard preferences as _ | Givens |
| Preferences | Reflect the individual's economic situation, religious values, ethnic identity, or some other valued interest. |
| Bicameralism | A legislature compromised of two chambers each holding a veto over the other. |
| Constitution | Establishes its governing institutions and the set of rules and procedures this institution must follow to each and enforce collective agreements. |
| Offices | Confur on their occupant's specific authority and responsibilities |
| Authority | Acknowledged right to make a particular decision. |
| Power | A politicians influence over whose cooperation is needed to achieve their political goals. |
| Collective action | Challenges a group's members to figure out what they want to do and how to do it. |
| Coordination | Involves members sharing information about their preferences. Involves effectively organizing everyone's contribution. |
| Prisoner's Dilemma | A variety of settings in which individual actors pursue their own self interest. |
| Focal point | A prominent due directing them how to pool their collective efforts. |
| Free rider problem | A form of the prisoner's dilemma where an individual's contribution to the success of a collective effort is so small as to seem inconsequential, they will be tempted to fail to contribute. |
| Transaction costs of collective action | Time, effort, and resources |
| Conformity costs of collective action | Abiding by rules is costly (people want different things) |
| High conformity costs equal _ transaction costs | lower |
| Free ridership becomes an issue when a good is _ and _ | Rival and non-excludable. |
| Rival excludable | Private goods that are typical (clothes, food, etc) but limited |
| Rival nonexcludable | Common goods (forests, parks) |
| Non-rival excludable | Club goods (they cost money, but one person getting it won't limit your opportunity to get it. Cable TV or a streaming service) |
| Non-rival non-excludable | Public goods (fire department, ER) |
| Direct democrary | Citizens make policy decision by voting on legislation |
| Referenda | Placed on ballot by a state legislature |
| Initiatives | Placed on ballot by people once sufficient numbers of signatures are collected. |
| A republic allows for _ | delegation |
| Transaction costs of a republic | veto points and checks |
| Conformity costs of a republic | Vote choice is simplified. |
| Parliamentary governments have _ transaction costs and _ are _ democratic than republics. | Lower, more |
| Transaction costs of parliamentary government | Power resides in parliament |
| How is parliamentary democratic? | Majority rule and proportional representation |
| The executive branch was intended to be the _ branch because of King George | Weakest |
| What powers do the executive branch have? | Appoint executive officers, receive and appoint ambassadors, serve as commander, state of the nation, legislative veto, and take care clause |
| Which branch has to confirm the president's ability to appoint executive officers and receive and appoint ambassadors? | Senate |
| Who has to declare war? | Congress |
| When can congress override a legislative veto? | 2/3 vote against it |
| What is the take care clause? | Executive authority beyond enumerated powers. |
| Who appoints the supreme court? | The president |
| Who confirms the supreme court? | The senate |
| Who has the power to create lower courts? | Congress |
| What branch has the final say on conflicts between state and national government? | Judicial |
| What is the supremacy clause? | Court could nullify state laws in conflict with national law. |
| What branch has the power to rule things as unconstitutional? | Judicial |
| What changes were made to the constitution after the articles of confederation? | No unanimous consent and more transaction costs |
| Amending a law requires _ of house, _ of senate, and _ of state | 2/3, 2/3, and 3/4 |
| What change did the constitution make to foreign policy after the articles of confederation? | National government had full control of the military? |
| What change did the constitution make to trade policy after the articles of confederation? | Became the purview of the national government so states weren't competing. |
| What change did the constitution make to interstate commerce after the articles of confederation? | The national government had broad authority |
| What were states no longer allowed to do with the new constitution? | Enact trade agreements against each other, print money, tax import/exports from local ports. |
| What transaction cost did the national government make to replace the constitution? | The national government now covered all state debt |
| Why did the north accept slavery in the south? | High transaction counts for enacting the constitution and logrolling for other issues |
| What were feminists most focused on in the late 18th century? | Women having the power to divorce. |
| Main points of the French and Indian war | France and British fighting over empires, costs borne entirely by British, colonies could no longer free ride on British strength |
| Taxes after the French and Indian war | Sugar Act, Currency Act, Stamp Act |
| Rebelling against a monarchy caused... | Distrust of centralized authority |
| Continental congress lacked authority to _ | Impose taxes |
| Congress instructs state to organize, most agree on... | Bicameral legislature, governors with extremely limited powers, copying a lot of British law |
| What was the national government able to do after the continental congress? | Issue bonds and establish currency |
| What were the states able to do after the continental congress? | Select delegates |
| What were the "return to home" rules in the articles of confederation? | Each states has 1 vote in congress, law requires 9/13 supermajorities to pass, laws related to taxation had to unanimous |
| What were the transaction costs of the Articles of Confederation? | Bonds without taxation (high interest), congress couldn't mandate military contribution (free riding problem), American $35 million debt (states controlled taxation) |
| What is popular sovereignty? | Citizens delegate authority to representatives and can rescind that authority. |
| Influences for constitution | Issac Newton ("natural laws" and "checks and balances"), Baron de Montesquieu ("limited government" and "three branches"), David Hume ("politics is market of competing interests" |
| Virginia Plan suggested a _ legislature. | Bicameral |
| Under the Virginia Plan, the lower chamber had _ representation. | proportional |
| Under the Virginia Plan, the upper chamber elected the _ | Lower chamber |
| Under the Virginia Plan, the lower chambers are nominated by the _ and _ branches | Executive and judicial |
| Under the Virginia Plan, the lower chambers nominees are selected by _ | State legislature |
| Under the New Jersey Plan, small states have _ power | Less |
| New Jersey Plan suggested a _ legislature. | Unicameral |
| Under the New Jersey Plan, each state had _ vote | One |
| Under the New Jersey Plan, the national government has the power to | Enforce tax laws |
| Under the New Jersey Plan, legislature needs a _ | Majority rule |
| What were the characteristics of the compromise? | Bicameral legislature, national government powers, commerce clauses, elastic clauses |
| What did ratification require for the constitution's approval? | 9/13 state approval |
| Characteristics of federalists | Supported centralized government, believed the country can't survive on a loose confederation, thinks tyranny is avoided through checks and balances |
| Characteristics of anti-federalists | Opposed ratification, preferred autonomous states, believed the constitution will lead to tyranny of the majority |
| What was the goal of Federalist #10? | Rebuts the argument that the Constitution will lead to tyranny of the majority. |
| What was the problem identified by Federalist #10? | Factions are united out of passion or interest against the rights of others |
| What was the solution determined by Federalist #10? | Pluralism |
| What is pluralism? | Large diverse nations will have few enduring majoritarian coalitions. |
| What was the goal of Federalist #51? | Rebuts the argument that the Constitution will lead to a tyrant. |
| What was the problem identified by Federalist #51? | People naturally want more power |
| What was the solution determined by Federalist #51? | Checks and balances, legislature has more power (because its elected) |
| What are the framer's toolkit for managing power? | Command, veto, agenda control, voting rules, and delegation |
| Characteristics of command | Authority to dictate other's actions, low transaction and high conformity costs, needed in times of crisis, most often in the form of executive orders |
| Characteristics of veto | Authority to block another's action, unilateral, negative/limited power |
| Characteristics of agenda control | Authority to place proposals for consideration, used by congress and the president |
| Characteristics of voting rules | Minimum number of votes required for proposals/elections, reflects the transaction/conformity cost trade-off |
| Characteristics of delegation | Authority to assign an agent to act on your behalf, federal bureaucracy, more effective government, creates principal agent problems |
| What is a purality? | Most votes |
| What is a simple majority? | 50% + 1 |
| What is a supermajority? | Anything more than 50% + 1 |
| Veto override requires | 2/3 super majority |
| Rule 22 requires | 60 votes in the Senate |
| Cons of ratification | Full rights resolved primary to land-owning white men, nullification remained a problem until 1865, issues with government institutions and polarization, and the shifting meaning of Constitutional provisions. |
| Is the past marble cake or layered cake federalism? | Layered |
| Is the present marble cake or layered cake federalism? | Marble |
| Why did states retain most of their autonomy after the constitution? | The 10th Amendment and the interstate commerce. |
| Federalism | A system of government in which power is divided between a central government and several regional governments. In the United States the division is between the national government and the states |
| Unitary Government | A system of government in which a single government unit holds the power to govern the nation |
| Dual Federalism | Every level of government has mutually exclusive “spheres of sovereignty” |
| What powers do the national government have under dual federalism? | Tax/Borrow/Take property, print money, regulate commerce, tax imports, make treaties, make war, and postal services |
| What powers do the state government have under dual federalism? | Tax/Borrow/Take property, run elections, establish local governments, protect public health, and anything not explicitly prohibited in the constitution. |
| Shared federalism | Levels of government share responsibility for providing citizens with policies to ensure their welfare |
| What were the two protections against expansive federal government in the Constitution | The senate and explicit rules reserving rights to the states |
| Legislation requires will of the people (_) | House |
| Legislation will of the people in the majority of the states (_) | Senate |
| Originally, the Supremacy Clause (which says the federal government is the supreme law of the land) only applied to... | Activities reserved for the federal government. |
| Originally, the elastic clause only applied to | enumerated powers of the national government |
| Originally, the commerce clause made it to where | Interstate commerce was relatively limited |
| The Supreme court ... | litigates disputes between state and federal government |
| Why was their a lack of resistance from the states? | States often lack resources, lack funding from the federal government, and the people often demand federal action. |
| McCulloch vs Maryland made it to where the Supremacy Clause was interpreted to mean... | States can't tax the federal government |
| Causes for increased nationalization | Politicians want power, political parties operate at a national level, modern challenges require national response, and voters want the government to take action. |
| What happens when the states ask the federal government for help? | Conformity costs (hindering cooperation between state and federal government) |
| Today, their are few restrictions on the federal government due to the... | Commerce Clause, Supremacy Clause, Elastic Clause, and judicial views |
| Mandates with funding are | The carrots |
| Mandates without funding are | The sticks |
| When a program does well, who gets credit? | Congress and the president |
| When a program does poorly, who gets blamed? | The states |
| Congress can wait until watchdogs, advocacy groups, voters let them know a program is being mismanaged. This is called a | Fire alarm |
| Congress can actively monitor how programs are being administered, be proactive. This is called a | Police patrol |
| Freedoms BY the government power are | Civil Rights |
| Freedoms FROM government power are | Civil Liberties |
| Why did slavery and segregation last so long? | Minorities can't defend themselves, institutions governing American politics. |
| Why did having no national veto over state laws hinder civil rights? | Elections and public safety policy largely administered at the state level |
| Missouri Compromise of 1820 | Missouri admitted as a slave state with Maine admitted as a free state to maintain balance |
| Compromise of 1850 | California is a free state, North agrees to Fugitive Slave Law, introduced popular sovereignty |
| What is popular sovereignty | Residents of the territories would decide whether to apply as slave or free states |
| Dred Scott case ruled that | The federal government can't intervene in matters of slavery, and African Americans aren't considered citizens protected by the constiution |
| What were Civil Rights like during Reconstruction? | Narrow, focused on voting (because it helped Republicans) and ignored economic needs of freedmen |
| Why did reconstruction fail? | Violence, republicans in the north didn't want to pay for the costs anymore, and the narrative had shifted from preserving liberty to exacting punitive justice, “The Lost Cause” |
| Compromise of 1877 | Democrats agreed to send all 20 electors to Hayes, Republicans agree to end Reconstruction |
| What were tolls used by white people to exclude black people from government? | White primary, polls, literary tests, and grandfather clauses |
| What was the twisted logic about the 14th and 15th amendment | States could abridge individual rights, so long as those rights were not conferred specifically to the national government in the Constitution |
| What coalition represents a major re-organizing of American interests/groups and represented the first aid to Black families since reconstruction | The New Deal |
| During the Civil Rights Coalition, a tenuous alliance forms between | black voters, northern white democrats, and progressive republicans |
| Why did little happen legislatively during the Civil Rights coalition, when southern democracts had the power? | Filibuster and senate committee system |
| Impact of 1957 Civil Rights Act | Allowed Black Americans the right to sue in federal court due to voting discrimination, few could afford this kind of litigation, impact was limited |
| Civil Rights act of 1964 | Outlaws discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin |
| How many members of the house are there? | 435 |
| How many members of the senate are there? | 100 |
| Senates represents _ and more _ compared to the House | Larger, diverse constituencies |
| Members of Congress need to be _ with their constituents. | Responsive |
| What are the 4 concentric circles? | Geographic, reelection, primary, personal |
| How many years are house terms? | 2 |
| How many years are senate terms? | 6 |
| Age limit for house | 25 |
| Age limit for senate | 30 |
| How long do you have to be a US citizen for house? | 7 years |
| How long do you have to be a US citizen for senate? | 9 years |
| The house is elected by the people of the | district |
| The senate is elected by the people of the | state |
| Powers of congress | Impose taxes, print/borrow money, regulate interstate commerce, authorize wars, confirm nominees, and ratify treaties. |
| The House is intended to represent | The people |
| The senate is intended to act as a | Check on the people |
| In redistricting, _ have the authority to draw lines | states |
| What is gerrymandering? | Drawing legislative districts in such a way as to give one political party a disproportionately large share of seats for the share of votes its candidates wins |
| Delegate | A representative who acts and votes according to the preferences of his or her constituency |
| Trustee | A representative who votes based on what he or she thinks is best for his or her constituency |
| Substantive representation | Representatives who act for and in the best interest of their constituents |
| Descriptive representation | Representatives who share the same characteristics as those they represent |
| Symbolic representation | Representatives who "stand for" the people they represent and are accepted, therefore, as legitimate representatives |
| Promissory representation | Promises during elections, elected to enact those promises. |
| Anticipatory representation | Elected or reelected based on prior record |
| Gryoscopic representation | Elected based on evalutations of quality |
| Surrogate representation | Based on appeal/support from those outside their district |
| Major post-Civil War eras/events | Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Voting Rights Act |
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KenzieMWallace105
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