State Government
What is the structure of state governments?
State constitution establishes state government and separates powers among 3 branches.
Who influenced the idea of separation of powers?
Baron de Montesquieu
Separation of Powers
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.
Representative Government
Power is held by the people and exercised through the efforts of representatives elected by the people.
Restraint
An act that limits a state's ability to regulate an area.
How is federal aid conditioned to states?
Mandates, restraint, and preemption.
What did separation of powers inspire?
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the US Constitution.
Implied Powers
Powers inferred from the expressed powers that allow Congress to carry out its functions.
Limited Government
A government structure in which government actions are limited by law
Federalism
A system in which power is divided between the national and state governments
What are the guarantees and obligations of the states?
Each state gets a republican form of government, has to protect their citizens, and provide aid in case of emergencies.
Why did the founding fathers promote the idea of Federalism?
They were worried of the possibility for the rise of an Oligarchy.
Enumerated Powers (Expressed Powers)
Powers granted directly to the national government by the Constitution.
Elastic Clause (Necessary and Proper Clause)
The clause in Article I, Section 8, that grants Congress the power to do whatever is necessary to execute its specifically delegated powers.
Mandates
Requires states to meet national standards in some state functions.
What are the rights and amendments in states?
Each state has a bill of rights containing all or most of the rights found in the US. Constitution's Bill of Rights. It can be amended through ballot initiatives, amendments proposed by the legislation, constitutional conventions, or constitutional commissions.
Great Compromise
Compromise made by Constitutional Convention in which states would have equal representation in one house of the legislature and representation based on population in the other house.
Delegated Powers
Those powers, expressed, implied, or inherent, granted to the National Government by the constitution
What document protects citizens' rights, such as freedom of speech and religion?
The Constitution
Public Policy
A choice that the government makes in response to a political issue. A course of action taken with regard to some problem.
What are the relations among the states?
States must honor other states' laws and court orders, even if their own laws are different. States must also give their fundamental rights to people from other states that they would normally give to their own citizens. State usually settle disagreements by making interstate compacts. The US Supreme Court is the only court where one state can sue another.
McCulloch V. Maryland
1819; State tax on the Second Bank of the US was unconstitutional; and a national bank is implied by the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.
Concurrent Powers
Powers held jointly by the national and state governments.
Supremacy Clause
Article VI of the Constitution, which makes the Constitution, national laws, and treaties supreme over state laws when the national government is acting within its constitutional limits.
Preemption
The right of a federal law or a regulation to preclude enforcement of a state or local law or regulation.