| A | B |
|---|
| The first constitution of the United States; established a national legislature, but most authority rested with the state legislatures | Articles of Confederation |
| Congressional influence of judges | Senate confirms judges/justices, play role in selection of district judges |
| Enumerated powers of Congress | Can lay/collect taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce with foreign nations, coin money, declare war |
| Shared powers of House and Senate | Can pass bills, declare war, raise army/navy, regulate interstate commerce, borrow/coin money, create federal courts, establish naturalization of immigrants |
| Part of the First Amendment stating that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion | Establishment Clause |
| Committee responsible for tax policy in House of Representatives | Ways and Means Committee |
| How media covers presidential election | tell exciting news that will entice people in, probably either turning them towards or away from a nominee |
| A law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African American suffrage. | Voting Rights Act of 1965 |
| grants provided to state/local governments for a specific purpose | Block Grants |
| Types of federal grants | Block grants, project grants, formula grants, categorical grants |
| federal categorical grant given for specific purposes and awarded on the basis of the merits of applications | Project Grants |
| Federal categorical grants distributed according to a formula specified in legislation or in administrative regulations | Formula Grants |
| Federal grants that can be used for specific purposes of state and local spending | Categorical Grants |
| Strongest source of political socialization in America | Family and Mass Media |
| Reasons for low voter turnout | Class inequalities, problems with voter registration, must vote more often than other countries, choices between candidates are not as starkly different as other countries |
| a way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels of government have formal authority over the same land and people | Federalism |
| political funding vehicles (corporation, union, etc) create this and provide money to campaigns | PAC (Political Action Committees |
| meant to regulate transportation (originally railroads, now highways), movement of goods/transportation from one state to another | Interstate Commerce |
| Buying/Selling or products/services within a single state | Intrastate Commerce |
| Clause designed to regulate interstate commerce | Commerce Clause |
| Says that goods/services from a single state are not regulated by US Congress | Intrastate Commerce Act |
| Parts of Constitution that have increased power of Congress | Article 1, Section 8 |
| warned against groups of people united with one particular goal/interest, adverse to the majority of the population (modern-day interest groups) | Madison's Factions (Federalists) |
| Description of voter turnout and age | Older vote more than younger |
| Impact of education on voter turnout | More educated more likely to vote |
| Impact of economic class on voter turnout | upper class vote more |
| Where president gets most support | foreign issues (more associated with domestic, most likely to be against) |
| Federal projets, grants, and contracts available to state/local government and other institutions in a congressional district | Pork-Barrel |
| Conservative non-profit organization dedicated to problems such as campaign finance reforms | Citizens United |
| Effects of Citizens United v. FEC | Both corporations and unions can spend as much as they like to promote political views, as long as it's not coordinated with political party |
| McCain-Feingold Act | Ban on soft money contributions |
| Lasting effects of McCain Feingold | campaign contributions are more open and honest (though there are loopholes) |
| Government manipulation of the supply of money in private hands, controlled by federal reserve | Monetary Policy |
| Features of the Constitution that limit government's power by requiring that power be balanced among the different governmental institutions | Checks and Balances |
| 1973, gave women option to have abortion, but have a right to privacy under due process | Roe v. Wade (privacy) |
| Roe v. Wade role in civil liberties | women's right to abortion must be determined by pregnancy's trimester |
| reviewing the operations of the executive branch to ensure that federal agencies implement laws the way Congress intends and that they use appropriated funds properly | Congressional Oversight |
| Constitutional Amendment that establishes the four great liberties: freedom of press, speech, religion, assembly | First Amendment |
| prohibits abridgment of citizen's freedom to worship/not worship as they please | Free Exercise Clause |
| Agreements similar to treaties, negotiated by presidents, with heads of foreign governments that do not require ratification, usually non-controversiable | Executive Agreement |
| old rule applies to existing situations, new rule applies to future situations | Grandfather Clause |
| Group that does most of the work of Congres | Committees (mostly standing) |
| actions of committees | Bills introduced, hearings held |
| individuals surrender freedoms in exchange for protection of rights | John Locke's Social Contract Theory |
| A Latin phrase meaning "Let the decision stand"; most cases reaching courts are settled on this principle | Stare-Decisis |
| Amicus Curiae | Legal briefs submitted by a "friend of the court" for the purpose of influencing a court's decision by raising additional points of views and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties |
| filing a document to Supreme Court, asking to hear decision, after losing in lower court | Rit of Certiorari/Cert Petition |
| Ways to amend the Constitution | Congress can propose an amendment by a two-thirds vote in each house; state legislatures ratify by three-fourths vote; national convention proposes an amendment, requested by two-thirds of the state, then state legislatures ratify by three-fourths vote; Congress proposes an amendment by two thirds vote in each house, state conventions ratify by three-fourths vote; national convention proposes amendment by two-thirds vote, state legislatures can ratify |
| How the Constitution is most often amended | Congress proposes, state legislature approves |
| Strategies used by interest groups to achieve goals | lobbying, electioneering, litigating, policymaking |
| Types of Interest Groups | Labor (union, right to work laws), business, banks/corporations, trade associations, environmental (Sierra Club), equality (NAACP), consumer/public interest groups |
| government agencies not accounted for by cabinet departments, independent regulatory commissions, and government corporations | Independent Executive Agency |
| Practice by the Supreme Court that permits four out of the nine justices to grant a rit a cioriti | Rule of 4 |
| The channels through which people's concerns become political issues on the government's policy agenda (elections, political parties, interest groups, media, etc) | Linkage Institutions |
| Considers all bills from policy and fiscal committees, and determines whether and in what order to schedule their consideration for the floor of the House; also reviews, adopts, and schedules resolutions from the floor | House Rules Committee |
| one type of spending that makes up the total U.S. government expenditures for a year; determined/adjusted on a yearly basis (defense budget, education, EPA, department of veteran's affairs) | Discretionary Spending |
| Congressional committees formed when the Senate and the House pass a particular bill in different forms; party leadership appoints members from each house to iron out the differences and bring back a single bill | Conference Committees |
| What candidates use public opinion for | polls as a benchmark of the progress of the campaign, helps to develop campaign strategy, which problems should be stressed, what characteristics of the candidate, what characteristics should be downplayed |
| the clause in Article IV of the Constitution that makes the Constitution, national laws, and treaties supreme over state laws as long as the national government is acting within its constitutional limits | Supremacy Clause |
| Actions taken by governments, mostly legislative/executive branches (federal, state and local governments) to deal with a broad range of issues | Public Policy |
| Process for making public policy | Identifying problems (agenda setting), formulating policy (through Congress, interest groups, lobbyists) |
| Characteristics of a Federalist | Pro-Constitution, limit majority control to prevent tyranny |
| A way of organizing a nation so two or more levels of government are shared | Federalism |
| Those against the Constitution, wanted stronger state government, weaker national government, direct election of officials, shorter terms, stronger protections for individual liberties (concerns led to Bill of Rights) | Anti-Federalists |
| Manipulating the boundaries of an electoral region to favor one party | Jerry Maundering |
| Those appointed to work directly with the President, over 600 people, completely loyal, help make policy decisions and determine policy direction | White House Staff |
| How political parties are discussed in Constitution | They're not |
| Plessy would not leave white car on train (7/8 white), arrested, taken to court | Plessy v. Ferguson |
| 1803 case in which Chief Justice John Marshall and his associates first asserted the right of the Supreme Court to determine the meaning of the U.S. Constitution; established court's power of judicial review over acts of Congress | Marbury v. Madison |
| One party controls the White House, other party controls one/both houses of Congress | Divided Government |
| a mutually dependent, mutually advantageous relationship between interest groups interested in a particular policy, government agencies that administer that policy, and the congressional committees that handle it | Iron Triangles |
| Examples of Voting Eligibility Requirements | Must be 18, must be registered, cannot be a convicted felon |
| Branch of government determining voter eligibility requirements | set out in Constitution, regulated by state governments |
| Independent regulatory agency, founded in 1975 by Congress, to regulate campaign finance legislation | FEC (Federal Election Commission) |
| Most comprehensive civil rights legislation ever adopted to prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities; includes private businesses, state/local governments, transportation, employment; signed into Bush in 1990 | ADA (American Disabilities Act) |
| Elections to select party nominees in which voters can decide on election day whether they want to participate in the Democratic or Republican contests | Open Primary |
| Election to select party nominees in which only two people who have registered in advance with the party can vote for that party's candidates, thus encouraging greater party loyalty | Closed Primary |
| The belief that one's participation in the political process really matters, and that a vote makes a difference | Political Efficacy |
| Agency with responsibility for making/enforcing rules to protect the public interests in some area of the economy | Independent Regulatory Agencies |
| meant to bring a debate to a quick end, then take a vote | Cloture |
| A system of government in which powers and policy assignments are shared between states and the national government | Cooperative Federalism |
| 1993, lets U.S. citizens register to vote when applying for a driver's license | Motor Voter Act |
| Process in which the American courts have applied certain portions of the Bill of Rights to the states, 14th Amendment incorporated most portions of the Bill of Rights enforceable of the state governments | Selective Incorporation |
| Decides appeals from the district courts; appellate courts/district courts lie within a federal judicial area | Federal Appellate Court |
| Transferring responsibility for policies from the federal government to state and local governments | Devolution |
| Where all revenue bills start | House Ways and Means |
| Approves Supreme Court nominations | Senate |
| how long a federal judge serves | a lifetime |
| A policy for which Congress has obligated itself to pay X level of benefits to Y number of recipients (Social Security) | Entitlement |
| A type of veto occurring when Congress adjourns within 10 days of submitting a bill to the president and the president simply lets the bill die by neither signing nor vetoing it | Pocket Veto |
| Powers of the Speaker of the House | Presides over the House of Representatives, assigns bills to committees, appoints people to committees, second in line to Presidency |
