Democratic Ideals, Powers, and Concepts
Powers in the Constitution given solely to the federal (national) government. Examples include the power to coin money, declare war, and to regulate interstate commerce.
Exclusive powers
This model of democracy emphasizes the importance of individual rights and obligations. All citizens in this model use their political power to influence the policy-making process.
Participatory Democracy
People here have the power to shape governmental policies as seen in the Declaration’s proclamation that government’s power comes from the consent of the governed and the U.S. Constitution’s first three words, “We the people.”
Popular Sovereignty
The 2nd Amendment outlines this right.
The right to bear arms
In this case, a state tried to tax the US national bank.
SCOTUS Holding (Decision) Established supremacy of the U.S. Constitution and federal laws over state laws.
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Written explanation of causes for breaking away from Great Britain based on violations of our natural “inalienable rights” to life + liberty. States democratic ideals including: “all men are created equal” and social contract that government gets its power from the “consent of the governed.”
Declaration of Independence
delegates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention assigned to resolve how large and small states should be represented in a bicameral Congress.
Grand Committee
This violent action in Massachusetts in 1786-1787 exposed the core weakness of the Articles of Confederation. The new national government was powerless to help pacify this dangerous clash between farmers and creditors.
Shay’s Rebellion
Allows the federal (national) government to be supreme when in conflict with state law
Supremacy Clause
This model of democracy emphasizes the importance of competing interest groups as the best means to empower a diverse citizenry.
Pluralist Democracy
Philosophical position that certain inalienable protections such as life, liberty, and property belong to all peoples.
Natural Rights
This Amendment provides protection from unreasonable searches and seizures
4th
In this case, the US government tried to punish those who possessed a gun near any public school.
SCOTUS Holding (Decision) Congress may not use the commerce clause to make possession of a gun in a school zone a federal crime, but states may pass these kinds of restrictions.
US v. Lopez (1995)
First national government creating the United States as a firm league of friendship in which the original states acted more with state sovereignty with a weak national government unable to regulate commerce or to collect taxes from states to pay for a central military.
Articles of Confederation
Supporters of a stronger central government under the Constitution.
Federalists
enslaved people would be counted as 3/5 a person for the purposes of apportioning more representation to states that had legalized slavery. This decision gave states that had legalized slavery increased voting power in the House and in the Electoral College.
3/5s Compromise
Constitutional principle that prevents one branch of government from acting unilaterally. Any act made by one branch can be scrutinized by another.
Checks and Balance
This model of democracy emphasizes the importance of specialized, talented and highly respected members of a community to govern.
Elite Democracy
Enlightened idea that promoted popular sovereignty with the understanding that individuals give up some freedoms for the government to regulate, but that government must act at the behest of the people.
Social Contract
The 1st Amendment outlines these five freedoms
This amendment was a determining factor in the Lopez case due to the reserved powers of the states.
10th Amendment
Written explanation of skepticism that the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause gave too much power to the central government under the US Constitution; Criticism that the Constitution provided too few safeguards to prevent a “tyrannical aristocracy” and to protect individual liberties from a stronger central govt; Large republic can’t represent local concerns; Strong central economic powers and federal courts can threaten states and individual liberties.
Brutus 1
Opponents of a stronger central government under the Constitution.
Anti-Federalists
Negotiated resolution for how large and small states should be represented in a bicameral Congress.
Connecticut (“Great”) Compromise
Constitutional principle that calls for the independence of the executive, legislative, and judicial functions of government.
Separation of Powers
System or structure of government in which power is concentrated at the state/regional level.
Confederal
In a social contract government, free peoples set boundaries on freedoms their government cannot take away. A central principle of the U.S. government is that government cannot tell free peoples where to live or where to work.
Limited Government
This amendment provides protection from self-incrimination, no double jeopardy, allows eminent domain for government seizure of public property with reimbursement
5th
This type of power was reaffirmed for the National government in the McCulloch case.
implied powers
Written by President Abraham Lincoln and delivered during the U.S. Civil War, reaffirmed equality and popular sovereignty as defining foundations of democracy with Lincoln’s reminders in the speech that the United States is a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” and that the political system of the United States was "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
Gettysburg Address
groups of political allies referenced in Madison’s Federalist 10. (Hint he was concerned about these)
Factions
Federalism necessitates numerous elected offices at different levels of government. Each provide a unique avenue for citizens to make their policy positions and persuasions known.
Access Points
Grants powers to states if those powers are not given to the federal (national) government in the Constitution.
Reserved Powers
System or structure of government in which a national government shares power with states/regions/smaller localities
Federalism
This amendment outlines the rights to counsel, speedy trial, jury trial
6th
This clause was the reason the U.S. government could create a national bank in McCulloch v. Maryland.
The Necessary and Proper Clause
Written explanation that factions were part of human nature and that a large republic would prevent 1 majority faction from becoming tyrannical since multiple smaller factions would have to form alliances in a larger area.
Federalist 10
Described in articles I and II of the Constitution. Empowers House majority to accuse of wrong doing then for Congress to remove the president, vice president, and “all civil officers” including federal judges
Impeachment
Shared powers between the federal (national) and state governments.
Concurrent powers
Hybrid form of democratic rule where popular sovereignty empowers elites to govern. Instead of direct decision making by the masses, a republic allows the masses to elect qualified representatives to govern. This is the form of government idealized by American framers in a Constitution that established a representative democracy.
Republicanism
This amendment establishes protection from cruel and unusual punishments; excessive fines
8th
Written explanation about how the Constitution was expected to create a system of separation of powers and checks and balances
Federalist 51
National (federal) government requirements that states carry out federal policies.
Federal Mandates
Gives flexibility for Congress to expand its enumerated powers such as the power to regulate commerce between states.
Necessary and Proper Clause
(Elastic Clause)
This Amendment establishes the Reserved Powers Clause for states if powers not given to national government.
10th
Madison’s written explanation the U.S. Constitution establishes a republican system of representative government and a system of federalism intended to divide the authority between the national government and state governments. This system to compose both national and state governments would limit the concentration of power in any one level of government while also allowing multiple access points in the national, state, and local levels for political participation.
Federalist 39
Method used by the federal government in the 1970s to help fund state programs implementing federal policies such as the Clean Water Act. Gives states most discretion on spending federal monies for the enactment of federal laws.
Federal revenue sharing or revenue sharing
The Constitution’s enumerated power to regulate all interstate commerce has been used to expand the size and scope of the federal government.
Commerce Clause
This amendment inclues both:
Due Process Clause interpreted to make state protect most liberties in the Bill of Rights;
Equal Protection Clause used in civil rights cases to protect some groups from discrimination.
14th
Federal (national) funding to states for broad policy enactmen
Federal Block Grants
Federal (national) funding to states for specific policy enactment.
Federal Categorical Grants