Participation
Voter turnout is always ______________in presidential elections than in midterm elections.
Higher
What were the Articles of Confederation?
Articles of Confederation: Original governing document of the United States, put into effect in 1781; it gave considerable power to the states and little to the central government.
What is the 10th amendment?
Tenth Amendment: Part of the Bill of Rights that says that powers not given to the federal government specifically are reserved to the states, or to the people.
What are civil liberties?
Civil liberties: Limitations on the government's ability to use its power against an individual.
What are civil rights?
Civil rights: Limitations on discriminatory treatment of different—often minority—groups by the government and society.
The _________________ Act allowed citizens to register to vote at offices like the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Define federalism
Federalism: A system of government where certain powers are reserved for the national government, other powers are reserved for the subnational governments (states), and other powers are held concurrently.
Which of the following is an example of nullification?
correct answers are hidden
responses are hidden
A) Idaho accepts federal highway funding to lower its drinking age.
B) Delaware declares that a new federal law setting a new testing requirement for elementary students will not be enforced in the state.
C) Georgia decides to forgo additional funding to expand eligibility for citizens under the Medicare program.
D) Colorado abides by federal rules on the distribution of water from the Colorado River.
B) Delaware declares that a new federal law setting a new testing requirement for elementary students will not be enforced in the state.
Nullification is usually considered to be an act by a state finding a federal law unconstitutional, and declaring it void and unenforceable in that state.
What is the key problem that Justice Breyer identifies with regulating off-campus speech, if coupled with the same regulation on-campus?
What is the key problem that Justice Breyer identifies with regulating off-campus speech, if coupled with the same regulation on-campus?
correct answers are hidden
responses are hidden
1) This regulation becomes total, applying everywhere and at all times, effectively eliminating the student's ability to make the expression.
2) This regulation may not be sufficient to protect other students from the dangers of the speech.
3) The school is unlikely to know whether parents are home at specific times.
4) The off-campus speech poses much greater problems for the school than on-campus speech.
1) This regulation becomes total, applying everywhere and at all times, effectively eliminating the student's ability to make the expression.
Explain these two movements:
Abolitionism
Suffrage Movement
Abolitionism: The 18th- and 19th-century political movement to abolish slavery.
Suffragettes: A 19th- and 20th-century political movement of women seeking the right to vote.
____________ has the strongest impact on political participation.
Education
Define the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan
New Jersey Plan: A plan that builds on the Virginia Plan by proposing proportional representation in the House and equal state representation in the Senate.
Virginia Plan: A plan to divide the government into three branches and have two houses of Congress; representation in each house would be proportional to population.
Distinguish between vertical and horizontal federalism.
Vertical federalism describes the relationship between the states and the federal government. Horizontal federalism describes the relationships between the states.
One of the main arguments for federalism is that states can be "laboratories of democracy." What does this mean?
One state can pursue one policy, and another state can pursue a different policy. The results can show the merits of those policies; then, other states can follow along with the better option. As well, voters can move to the places where policies match their preferences.
What do these terms mean?
De facto & de jure?
De facto: How things function in practice.
De jure: How things function according to the law as written.
Define a candidate-centered election and a party-centric election.
Candidate: Individuals decide to run for office on their own, and they are completely responsible for their campaign from top to bottom.
Party: Organized political parties recruit candidates for office and largely control and run the campaigns.
What was Shay's Rebellion and what did it help lead to?
Shays’s Rebellion: An uprising by farmers angered by debt collection practices; helped catalyze movement for a new constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation.
Define these two terms:
Dual federalism
Shared federalism
Dual federalism: The belief that each unit of government is separate from the other and that each maintains its own sphere of sovereignty; in the U.S. context, the notion that there are certain areas of policy where only the states should make rules.
Shared federalism: The belief that each unit of government shares with the other units the responsibility of governing and that separate spheres of sovereignty do not exist; in the U.S. context, this is the idea that the federal government and the states should cooperate to solve problems without respect to notions of sovereignty.
What is content neutrality & why is it important?
Content neutrality: When a government policy around expression does not vary based on the content of the underlying expression, thus treating all viewpoints equally.
What was the Reconstruction Period?
Reconstruction: The period after the Civil War in which the federal government used military and political power to enforce rapid social, political, and economic changes on the South to quickly bring about the integration of formerly enslaved people into public life.
Distinguish/ define these 3 type of elections:
Recall
General
Primary
General election: An election in which a Democrat runs against a Republican for the Presidency.
Primary election: An election in which registered voters select the candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election.
Recall election: When voters can remove an official from office through a petition and vote process. This exists in some states but does not exist at the federal level..
Summarize these two court cases:
Marbury v. Madison
McCulloch v. Maryland
Marbury v. Madison: Early Supreme Court case in which the Court invalidated a part of congressional legislation, establishing that it had the power to hold laws unconstitutional (the power of judicial review).
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): Supreme Court case in which the Court held that Congress has the power to create a national bank by interpreting the Necessary and Proper Clause broadly.
Define a block grant & a matching grant
Block grant: A federal grant of money that bypasses a state and goes directly to a city or county.
Matching grant: A federal grant of money that matches spending by the states on a particular program with spending by the federal government.
Define these 3 clauses:
Establishment Clause
Free Exercise Clause
Confrontation Clause
Establishment Clause: A clause of the First Amendment that prohibits the government from "respecting an establishment of religion."
Free Exercise Clause: A clause of the First Amendment guaranteeing each person the free exercise of their religion.
Confrontation Clause: A clause of the Sixth Amendment that guarantees the ability of defendants to confront their accusers and those who offer evidence against them in a trial.
What is rational-basis scrutiny and strict scrutiny?
Rational-basis scrutiny: The lowest level of judicial scrutiny of a discriminatory government policy, which the government generally succeeds under.
Strict scrutiny: The highest level of judicial scrutiny of a discriminatory government policy, which the government almost always fails under.