SCOTUS Cases
How many Justices are needed for a majority vote?
5
How many amendments are there overall?
27
The first ten amendments to the Constitution
Bill of Rights
What document says - There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects.
There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.
Federalist 10
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
What Enlightenment ideal from John Locke is referenced in the Declaration of Independence?
Natural Rights
What is another name for the winning opinion, also called the HOLDING of a case?
majority opinion
"To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof."
What part of the government in the Constitution is given power because of the above clause?
Congress
Each slave counts as 60% of a person for taxation and representation purposes.
3/5 Compromise
James Madison stated in Federalist 51, that if men were no angels, then this would not be needed in government.
Checks and balances or separation of powers
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the __________
Dec of Independence
Consent of the Governed
This case decided that Congress had overstepped its power. Congress claimed that they were able to regulate gun laws because of the Commerce clause of the Constitution.
US v. Lopez
What amendment reserves power to the states and sets up federalism?
The 10th Amendment
A legislative body with two houses is known as...
bicameral
What are two failures of the Articles of Confederation?
No executive, no courts, no power to tax, Shays Rebellion, no national currency, one vote per state,
The idea that a citizen gives up certain freedoms to the government, and in exchange the government agrees to protect the citizens' rights.
Social contract
In what case, did the Supreme Court affirm Congress's power to create a national bank, establishing the principle of implied powers under the "necessary and proper" clause, and ruled that states cannot tax federal entities.
McCulloch v. Maryland
Founders rationale for creating the Electoral College
Barrier between voters and the presidential election, educated electors will actually cast the vote, elitist democracy.
The relationship between the federal government and state governments
Federalism
This disposition, which is implanted in human nature, will operate in the federal legislature to lessen and ultimately to subvert the state authority, that a free republic cannot succeed over a country of such immense extent, containing such a number of inhabitants.
This comes from what document?
Brutus I
What is the difference between a direct democracy and a republic?
Direct democracy - citizens get individual votes, participate directly
Republic - vote for representatives
In what case did the court established its role as the arbiter of the constitutionality of federal laws, the principle is known as judicial review.
Marbury v. Madison
Explain the Great Compromise
bicameral
Senate - 2 per state
House - based on population
Gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or nation
Commerce Clause
What document says - But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
Federalist 51
What are the three types of democracies?
Define them!
Participatory Democracy: All members of a group or community participate in decisions
Pluralist Democracy: A model of democracy that stresses vigorous competition among various interests in a free society
Elite Democracy: The privileged classes acquire the power to decide by a competition for the people’s votes and have substantial freedom between elections to rule as they see fit