| A | B |
|---|
| Madisonian model | model of government that focuses on the limitation of power because James Madison feared that too much power belonging to one individual or branch would lead to abuse. His main goal was to avoid tyranny by having each branch of government having limited and specific duties and a culture of interdependence |
| Constitution: | an established law or custom; ours was passed in 1787 after a lot of debate and compromise |
| Declaration of Independence | passed in 1776, we claimed our independence from England |
| Consent of the governed | idea that people are only governed if they agree to being governed and give up certain rights to their government |
| Articles of Confederation | our first form of government |
| Factions | a small group vying for power |
| Virginia Plan | proposal by Virginia delegates that was drafted by James Madison and focused on representation in Congress being based on population |
| Three-fifths Compromise | slaves counted as 3/5 of a person when deciding the size (and thus electoral votes) of a state |
| Checks and balances | each branch can keep the other branches from getting too powerful |
| Federalists | supporters of ratifying the Constitution |
| Federalist papers | a series of letters written supporting the ratification of the Constitution |
| Marbury v Madison | case that established judicial review |
| Social contract | the idea that citizens give up certain rights to the government in order to receive certain protections |
| Unitary government | occurs when all three organs of the state are one single unit run by one group or person |
| Intergovernmental affairs | refers to either the relationship between two different governments or the relationship between the different branches of the government |
| 10th amendment | basically all powers not given in the Constitution to the federal government are reserved for the states |
| Enumerated powers | also called listed powers, these are the powers that are directly allocated in the Constitution |
| Elastic Clause | also called implied powers, these are powers not given to the government directly through the Constitution |
| Full faith and credit clause | addresses that the states within the U.S. have to respect public acts, records, and judicial rulings of other states |
| Privileges and immunities | addresses the privileges (benefits) and immunities (exemptions from legal duties or punishments) Americans have when going overseas both as regular citizens and as diplomats |
| Cooperative federalism | a concept that dominated from the 1930s to 1970s where the national, state, and local governments interact cooperatively and collectively to solve common problems rather than making policies separately |
| New federalism | the idea that power should shift back to the states from the federal government |
| 27th amendment | prohibits any law which increases or decreases the salary of members of Congress from taking effect until the next set of terms for members of the House |
| US v Lopez | a Supreme Court case that limited the power of Congress. Congress tried to assert their power to ban weapons in school zones through the interstate commerce clause. This was deemed as a non-economic activity, and Congressional power was decreased |
| Revenue sharing | The federal government provided a portion of money to the state governments |
| Horizontal federalism | principle of government that states that power and authority are allocated between the national and local governments where each has a designated sphere of authority and other powers are shared |
| Interstate Commerce Clause | this is an enumerated power of Congress that allows Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the states, and with the Indian tribes |
| US Constitution | created in 1787 and ratified in 1789 |
| Natural rights | rights that men receive at birth. Normally include the rights to life, liberty, and property |
| Limited government | the goal that the government will not become too large and invasive |
| Shay’s Rebellion | an armed uprising in 1786 to 1787 where poor farmers were angered by crushing debt and taxes that often led to imprisonment for those who did not pay |
| New Jersey Plan | also known as the Small State Plan was a proposal for how our federal government should be constructed where each state would have equal representation regardless of the population under a unicameral legislature |
| Judicial review | the power of the Supreme Court to annul legislative or executive acts that the judges declare as unconstitutional |
| Federalism | separation of powers that sometimes are unique or sometimes overlap |
| Confederation government | tend to be established while dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign affairs, or a common currency |
| Supremacy Clause | establishes the Constitution, Federal Statutes, and U.S. treaties as the supreme law of the land |
| McCulloch v Maryland | the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government has the ability to establish their own bank, which expanded the power of the federal government |
| Implied powers | powers not given directly through the Constitution. This concept let the government create the necessary and proper clause |
| Gibbons v Ogden | confirmed the right of Congress to regulate interstate commerce |
| Extradition | the surrender of an alleged criminal to another jurisdiction that has charges against the individual |
| Dual federalism | the idea that the states and federal government each have their own spheres of power and each is supreme in their sphere |
| Fiscal federalism | deals with how money will be distributed and gathered from national, state, and local governments |
| Connecticut Compromise | proposed a bicameral legislature where the House of Representatives would be based on population and the Senate would be two representatives per state |
| Writ of habeas corpus | legal action through which a person can seek relief for unlawful detention. This is a protection against being harmed by the judicial system |
| Separation of powers | each branch has their own distinct powers |
| Anti-Federalists | group that did not want the Constitution ratified because of a lack of protection for the individual and the states |
| Bill of Rights | the first ten amendments to the Constitution |
| Mandates | the federal government is requiring you (as a business, city, county, or state) to do something |
| Formula grants | grants issued by the federal government based on a quantifiable elements such as population, proportion of population unemployed, infant mortality rate, etc |
| Project grants | grants for specific tasks |
| Categorical grants | grants issued by the U.S. Congress which must be spent a narrowly-defined purpose |
| Block grants | a large sum of money granted by the national government with only very general provisions |
