Unit 1: Foundations
This Federalist Paper argues that a large republic is the best remedy for the dangerous effects of factions.
What is Federalist #10?
$100 Clue: The president's power to return a bill unsigned to Congress, who may override it with a two-thirds vote of both chambers.
What is the veto?
$100 Clue: The First Amendment contains two clauses about religion. Name either one. Response:
What is the Establishment Clause? (also accept: Free Exercise Clause)
$100 Clue: The process by which citizens develop their political values and beliefs — heavily influenced by family, school, media, and peers.
Response: What is political socialization?
$100 Clue: This 1965 law, passed in the wake of the Selma marches, outlawed discriminatory voting practices and is directly connected to the Shaw v. Reno decision.
Response: What is the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
Federalist No. 51 argues that this structural design — dividing government into three branches with overlapping powers — is the best safeguard against tyranny.
Response: What is separation of powers / checks and balances?
$200 Clue: Unlike treaties, these presidential foreign policy agreements with other nations do NOT require Senate ratification.
What are executive agreements?
$200 Clue: In Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), the Supreme Court ruled that this Amendment's right to an attorney must be provided by states to defendants who cannot afford one.
Response: What is the Sixth Amendment?
$200 Clue: This term describes the tendency for public opinion polls to undercount a candidate's actual support when respondents feel social pressure not to admit their true preference.
Response: What is social desirability bias?
$200 Clue: Citizens United v. FEC (2010) ruled that this type of political spending by corporations and associations is protected First Amendment speech. Response:
What is independent political expenditure? (also accept: campaign spending, political speech)
The Anti-Federalist author of Brutus No. 1 argued that a republic this size could not be governed democratically by a single national government.
What is a large (or extensive) republic?
$300 Clue: Federal judges serve "during good behaviour," which in practice means this — insulating them from political pressure.
What is life tenure?
$300 Clue: In Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), the Court held that students do not "shed their constitutional rights" here — protecting their right to wear black armbands protesting the Vietnam War.
Response: What is at the schoolhouse gate (in school)?
$300 Clue: Conservatives generally favor this level of government for most domestic policy decisions, consistent with the Tenth Amendment's reservation of powers to the states.
Response: What is the state (or local) level of government?
$300 Clue: Baker v. Carr (1962) established that federal courts COULD hear challenges to this — opening the door to the "one person, one vote" principle.
Response: What is legislative apportionment? (also accept: redistricting, malapportionment)
In this 1803 case, Chief Justice John Marshall established that the Supreme Court has the authority to strike down laws that conflict with the Constitution — a power not explicitly mentioned in the document itself.
Response: What is Marbury v. Madison?
$400 Clue: Iron triangles are made up of these three mutually beneficial actors who together dominate a specific policy area.
What are congressional committees, federal agencies, and interest groups?
$400 Clue: The process by which the Supreme Court has applied most Bill of Rights protections to the states, one by one, through this clause of the 14th Amendment.
Response: What is the Due Process Clause? (also accept: selective incorporation)
The ideology emphasizes equality of opportunity and that people do not need additional support.
What is conservatism?
$400 Clue: This constitutional amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the national voting age to 18 — largely in response to the argument that those old enough to fight in Vietnam were old enough to vote.
Response: What is the 26th Amendment?
This constitutional principle — established in Marbury v. Madison — was actually described and defended first in Federalist No. 78, where Hamilton called the judiciary the "least dangerous branch."
What is judicial review?
$500 Clue: This doctrine of judicial philosophy says courts should defer to elected branches and follow precedent, rather than impose new constitutional interpretations.
What is judicial restraint?
$500 Clue: Dr. King argued in Letter from Birmingham Jail that this type of law — one imposed on a minority group by a majority that does not bind itself — is morally unjust and must be disobeyed.
Response: What is an unjust law? (accept any accurate paraphrase of King's definition)
$500 Clue: This structural feature of American elections systematically advantages two major parties and makes it extremely difficult for third parties to win, because the winner takes everything in each district.
Response: What is the winner-take-all system? (also accept: single-member district system, plurality system)
$500 Clue: In Shaw v. Reno (1993), the Court held that congressional districts drawn with this as the predominant factor must survive this level of judicial scrutiny.
Response: What is race as the predominant factor / strict scrutiny?