Foundations of democracy
This 1786 rebellion by angry, debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers proved that the Articles of Confederation were way too weak to maintain order.
Shay's
This landmark 1803 case essentially allowed the Supreme Court to establish judicial review
The legal process by which the Supreme Court uses the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause to apply the Bill of Rights to the states piece by piece.
Selective incorporation
Madison wrote this paper to reassure everyone that factions are inevitable, but a large republic is the best way to control their effects.
Fed 10
The cozy, policy-making relationship formed between a congressional committee, a bureaucratic agency, and an interest group.
Iron triangle
The constitutional compromise created our bicameral Congress by combining the Virginia and New Jersey plans.
CT (Great Compromise)
This 2010 Supreme Court case ruled that political spending by corporations and unions is a protected form of free speech under the First Amendment.
Citizens United v FEC
This 1972 case decided that Amish families didn't have to send their kids to high school because doing so violated this specific First Amendment clause.
Free exercise Clause
The Anti-Federalist manifesto that warned a massive central government would swallow up state sovereignty and inevitably abuse its power.
Brutus 1
These political organizations can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on campaigns, as long as they don't directly coordinate with the candidate
Super PACS
This constitutional clause requires states to recognize the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state (like a driver's license or marriage certificate)
Full faith and credit clause
This case proved that the Apportionment Clause has teeth, declaring that redistricting challenges are justiciable and giving us the phrase "one person, one vote"
Baker v. Carr
While Civil Liberties protect you from government overreach via the Due Process Clause, Civil Rights protect you from discrimination via this 14th Amendment
Equal Protection Clause
Written on the margins of a newspaper, this document famously stated that "injury anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" and defended the urgency of direct action.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
When the media acts as this, they focus less on the actual policies of a candidate and more on who is ahead in the polls.
Horse-Race Journalism
This specific type of democracy emphasizes widespread, direct participation by ordinary citizens in both politics and civil society, rather than relying solely on elected elites or organized interest groups.
Participatory
This 1995 case marked a rare moment where the Supreme Court told Congress that carrying a gun in a school zone didn't count as "interstate commerce," limiting federal power.
U.S. v. Lopez
The Nixon administration tried to stop the publication of the Pentagon Papers, but the Supreme Court ruled that this type of "censorship before publication" is highly unconstitutional
Prior Restraint
Hamilton argued in this paper that we need a energetic, single executive because a multi-person presidency would just lead to finger-pointing and chaos.
Fed 70
This term describes a voter who looks at a candidate's past track record in office and asks, "What have you done for me lately?" before casting a ballot.
Retrospective voting
This type of federalism resembles a marble cake because national and state responsibilities are swirled and shared together, rather than neatly layered.
Cooperative federalism
This 1962 case decided that the state-sponsored reciting of a mandatory, nondenominational prayer in public schools violated the Establishment Clause
Engel v. Vitale
If the police illegally search your house without a warrant, this legal rule prevents them from using any evidence they find against you in court.
Exclusionary rule
Madison explicitly states in this document that "ambition must be made to counteract ambition" to justify separating the government into distinct branches.
Fed 51
If a Supreme Court justice agrees with the majority's ultimate decision to overturn a law, but completely disagrees with the legal reasoning they used to get there, the justice will write this type of opinion.
Concurring