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Unit 1 Key terms
AP Government
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Limited Government | governmental power is restricted by law |
| Natural Rights | rights that people supposedly have under natural law-ex. Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness |
| Social Contract | agreement between the ruled and the rulers, defining their rights and duties |
| Popular Sovereignty | belief that government is created by and subject to the will of the people |
| Republicanism | governing a nation as a republic with an emphasis on liberty and the civic virtue practiced by citizens |
| State of Nature | condition of human beings before or without political association. |
| Separation of Powers | the assignment of lawmaking, law-enforcing, and law-interpreting functions to separate branches of government |
| Checks & Balances | a government structure that gives each branch some scrutiny of and control over the other branches |
| Inalienable Rights | Rights that are incapable of being alienated, surrendered, or transferred |
| Participatory Democracy | rank-and-file citizens rule themselves rather than electing representatives to govern on their behalf |
| Pluralist Democracy | government by the people operating through competing interest groups; more than one center of power |
| Elite Democracy | wealthy and well-educated influence political decision making |
| Pluralist Theory | politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies. |
| Hyper-Pluralism | a theory that groups are so strong that government is weakened |
| Mischiefs of Factions | A phrase used by James Madison in the Federalist Papers to refer to the threat to the nation's stability that factions could pose. |
| Delegations of Authority | the transfer of a specific authority by one of the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) to another branch or to an independent agency. |
| Federalism as Distributions of Power | power is distributed between a central government and sub divisional government |
| Delegated Powers | Constitutional powers granted solely to the federal government. |
| Inter-State Powers | Combined state powers |
| Intra-State Powers | individual state powers |
| Shay's Rebellion | Daniel Shays, a Revolutionary War veteran, marched on a western Massachusetts courthouse w/ supporters armed; they wanted to close the courthouse to prevent the foreclosure of farms by creditors |
| The Philadelphia Convention of 1787 | gathering that drafted Constitution; all states were invited to send delegates; the convention met in Philadelphia & established Congress as a lawmaking body with two houses |
| Virginia (Madison) Plan | "Large state" proposal, calling for proportional representation in both houses of a bicameral Congress. |
| New Jersey (Paterson) Plan | "Small-state plan" proposal, equal representation by state, regardless of population, in a unicameral legislature. |
| Connecticut (Great) Compromise | a compromise submitted by the Connecticut delegation; a plan calling for a bicameral legislature in which the House of Representatives would be based on population and the states would equally represent the Senate |
| Electoral College | a body of people representing the states of the U.S., who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president |
| Three-Fifths Compromise | the slaves would count as ⅗ of a person |
| Importation of Slaves Compromise | act prohibiting importation of slaves of 1807 |
| Amendment Process | the only way the Constitution can be changed is by adding an amendment |
| Legislative Powers | power to make laws: duties other than lawmaking; electoral powers, amendment powers, impeachment, executive powers of the Senate and oversight. |
| Executive Powers | enforce laws, treaties, and court decisions. - issue executive orders. -appointing and removing officials. |
| Judicial Powers | power of the Supreme Court to declare laws and actions of local, state, or national governments unconstitutional |
| Majority Powers | democratic principle requiring that the majority's view be respected |
| Minority Protections | guarantees rights to those who do not belong to majorities & allows that they might join majorities through persuasion and reasoned argument |
| Impeachment & Removal | federal judges and civil officers can be removed from office before their terms expire. |
| Enumerated Powers | powers of the federal government specifically addressed in the Constitution |
| Expressed Powers | Powers the Constitution specifically grants to one of the branches |
| Implied Powers | Powers not specifically mentioned in the constitution |
| Reserved Powers | not specifically delegated to the national government or denied to the states |
| Concurrent Powers | Powers that the Constitution gives to both the national and state governments |
| Denied Powers | the constitution denies to the national, state or both governments. |
| Commerce Clause | gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nation. |
| Necessary & Proper/Elastic Clause | gives Congress the authority to pass all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out enumerated powers specified in the Constitution |
| Full Faith & Credit | requiring each state to recognize the civil judgments rendered by the courts of the other states and to accept their public records and acts as valid. |
| Privileges & Immunities | A state cannot unreasonably discriminate against citizens of other states |
| Extradition | alleged criminal offender is surrendered by the officials of one states to officials of the state in which the crime is alleged to have been committed |
| Public Policy Exceptions | a common law remedy to the employment-at-will doctrine that has been created by the judicial system |
| Supremacy Clause | establishes that federal laws/United States Constitution take precedence over state laws/state constitutions |
| Writs of Habeas Corpus | The writ is a court order directing any official having a person in custody to produce the prisoner in court & explain why the prisoner is being held. |
| Bills of Attainder | legislative act that provides for the punishment of a person without a court trial |
| Ex Post Facto | law makes a particular act illegal, & punishes people who committed that crime before the law was passed, i.e., when the act was legal |
| Horizontal Federalism | the ways state governments relate to one another. It refers to the separation of powers within the national government that take into account regional interests. |
| Dual Federalism | Views the Constitution as giving a limited list of powers—primarily foreign policy and national defense—to the national government |
| Vertical Federalism | the relationship among central, states and local governments vertically. |
| Layer-cake Federalism | Views the Constitution as giving a limited list of powers—primarily foreign policy and national defense—to the national government, leaving the rest to the sovereign states. |
| Marble-cake Federalism | all levels of government are involved in a variety of issues and programs |
| Grants Federalism | the evolving relationship between state governments and the federal government of the United States |
| Incentives Federalism | governments are choosing to invest public resources to make private investments feasible and therefore receive investment returns in the form of economic impacts |
| Aid Programs Federalism | Programs run by the government to give aid to citizens who need it |
| Revenue-sharing Federalism | Federal sharing of a fixed percentage of its revenue with the states. |
| Funded Mandates | federal government gives the states money to help them do whatever they want them to do |
| Unfunded Mandates | requires a state or local government to perform certain actions, yet provides no money for fulfilling the requirements. |
| Categorical Grants | a grant from the federal government to local/state governments with far stricter regulations as to what the money can be used for. |
| Block Grants | a grant from the federal government that a local/state government can allocate to a wide range of services. |
| Formula Grants | Federal categorical grants distributed according to a formula specified in legislation or in administrative regulations. |
| Fiscal Federalism | a concept of federalism where funding is appropriated by the federal government to the states with specific conditions attached. |
| Incorporated Powers (via the courts) | Courts can define a state law as unconstitutional |
| Devolution | transfer of powers & responsibilities from the federal government to the states |
| Grassroots | relies on high levels of membership participation to promote social change. it lacks a hierarchical structure and works through existing political structures. |
| Linkage Institutions | a structure within a society that connects the people to the government or centralized authority. |
| Access Points | A point in the policymaking process where ordinary citizens can influence the government. |
| Gridlock | a situation when there is difficulty passing laws that satisfy the needs of the people. |
Created by:
Madison Abigail Taylor
Popular American Government sets