Unit 1 flashcards

Question 1

1st Constitution of the U.S. 1781-1788**
(weaknesses-no executive, no judicial, no power to tax, no power to regulate trade)**

Answer 1

Articles of Confederation

Question 1

What were the problems of the Articles of Confederation?

Answer 1

**It did not give the national government enough power
* * **Power to tax
* * No power to regulate trade
* * No executive or judicial branch

Question 2

A principle of constituational government; a government whose powers are defined and limited by a constitution

Answer 2

Limited Government

Question 3

A voluntary agreement among individuals to secure their rights and welfare by creating a government and abiding by its rules

Answer 3

Social Contract

Question 4

A government in which the people rule by their own consent

Answer 4

Popular Sovereignty

Question 5

Philosophy of limited government with elected representatives serving at the will of the people.** The government is based on consent of the governed**

Answer 5

Republicanism

Question 6

A system of democracy in which all members of a group or community participate collectively in making major decisions

Answer 6

Participatory democracy

Question 7

A political system in which the priviledged classes qcquire the power to decide by a competition for the people’s votes and have substantial freedom between elections to rule as they see fit.

Answer 7

Elite Democracy

Question 8

A theory og government that holds that open, multiple, and competing groups an check the asserted power by any one group.

Answer 8

Pluralism

Question 9

a theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened

Answer 9

Hyperpluralism

Question 10

A formal document charging a public official with misconduct in office

Answer 10

Impeachment

Question 11

The compromise reached the constitutional Convention that established two houses of Congress: the House of REpresentatives, in which representation is based on a state’s share of the U.S. population, and the Senate, in which each state has 2 representative

Answer 11

Connecticut Compromise

Question 12

Constitution’s requirement that each state accept the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state

Answer 12

Full Faith and Credit Clause

Question 13

An essay composed by James Madison which argues that liberty is safest in a large republic because many intrests (factions) exist. Such diversity makes tyranny by the majority more difficult since ruling coalitions will always be unstable

Answer 13

federalist no.10

Question 14

written to discourage ratification of the Constitution, the document examines the major complaints of the Constitution which are: 1.) too much power to national government via implied 2.) specter of the standing army 3.) presidency is too powerful 4.) lack of Bill of Rights 5.) national government rules over too large a nation 6.) courts are too powerful

Answer 14

Brutus I

Question 15

article I = legislative
article II= executive
article III= judicial,
IV=States/Federalism,
V=Amendments Process,
VI=Supremacy,
VII=Ratification

Answer 15

Articles of the Constitution

Question 16

Constitutional division of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, with the legislative branch making law, the executive applying and enforcing the law, and the judiciary interpreting the law

Answer 16

Separation of Powers

Question 17

A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power

Answer 17

Checks and Balances

Question 18

Impeachment Process

Answer 18

1. House passes articles of impeachment by majority
2. Senate tries and 2/3 must convict

Question 19

exclusive powers

Answer 19

Those powers that can be exercised by the National Government alone

Question 20

concurrent powers

Answer 20

`powers shared by the national and state governments

Question 21

Reserved Power

Answer 21

Powers not specifically granted to the federal government or denied to the states belong to the states and the people

Question 22

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Answer 22

10th Amendment

Question 23

Powers given to the national government alone

Answer 23

enumerated powers

Question 24

powers that congress has that are not stated explicitly in the constitution

Answer 24

implied powers

Question 25

The powers of the national government in foreign affairs that the Supreme Court has declared do not depend on constitutional grants but rather grow out of the very existence of the national government.

Answer 25

inherent powers

Question 26

delegated powers

Answer 26

Powers specifically given to the federal government by the US Constitution, for example, the authority to print money.

Question 27

A system in which power is divided between the national and state governments

Answer 27

Federalism

Question 28

terms set by the national government that states must meet if they are to receive certain federal funds

Answer 28

conditions of aid

Question 29

federal grants-in-aid that allow states considerable discretion in how the funds are spent

Answer 29

block grants

Question 30

Federal grants that can be used only for specific purposes, or “categories,” of state and local spending. They come with strings attached, such as nondiscrimination provisions.

Answer 30

categorical grants

Question 31

Supreme Court ruling (1819) confirming the supremacy of national over state government - Also upheld the idea of implied powers.

Answer 31

McCulloch v. Maryland

Question 32

1995 - The Commerce Clause of the Constitution does not give Congress the power to prohibit mere possession of a gun near a school, because gun possession by itself is not an economic activity that affects interstate commerce even indirectly.

Answer 32

United States v. Lopez

Question 33

prevents a state from treating citizens of other states in a discriminatory manner.

Answer 33

Privileges and Immunities Clause