American Government Test 1 Vocabulary
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- A means through which individual and group interests compete to shape government's impact on society's problems and goals.
- Politics
- Practice of organizing on the basis of one's ethnic or racial identity, sex, or sexual orientation to compete for public resources and to influence public policy.
- Identity Politics
- A shared body of values and beliefs that shapes perception and attitudes toward politics and government and in turn influences political behavior.
- Political Culture
- Politcal equality, Rule by the people
- Popular Sovereignty
- Greek word meaning "Authority of the people"
- Democracy
- Citizens do not pass laws or make policy; they select policymakers to make decisions for them.
- Indirect Democracy, AKA Republic
- Citizens vote on most issues and legislate for themselves.
- Direct Democracy
- First constitution of the United States. Ratified in 1781. "League of Friendship" among hte states.
- Articles of Confedereation
- Three-Fifths of slaves would be counted in apportioning the seats.
- Three-fifths Compromise
- Division of power between the national government and the state governments.
- Federalism
- The power to make, administer, and judge the laws was split into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.
- Separation of Powers
- Rather than one political party controlling both elected branches, one party might win the presidency while the other party wins a majority of seats in one or both houses of Congress.
- Divided Government
- Each branch was given some authority over the others. If one branch abused its power, the others could use their checks to thwart it.
- Checks and Balances
- John Locke believed some right cannot be taken away by rulers. They are given by God and are unalienable.
- Natural Rights
- Implied agreement between the people and their government.
- Social Contract
- Government strong enough to protect people's rights, but not so strong as to threaten these rights.
- Limited Government
- Those known to support the Constitution.
- Federalists
- Did not want a division of pwer between the governments.
- Anti-Federalists
-
Madison drafted twelve amendments, the states ratified 10 of them.
Freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion. (First Amendment)
Protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. (Fourth)
Protection against self-incrimination - Bill of Rights
- Proclaimed that slaves "Shall be...forever free" in the Confederate states where the Union army was not in control.
- Emancipation Proclamation
- Lincoln's speech given during a dedication of the battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
- Gettysburg Address
- Thirteenth (Abolished Slavery), Fourteenth (Declared all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens), and Fifteenth Amendments (Extended the right to vote to blacks).
- Reconstruction Amendments
- President Franklin Roosevelt initiated an ambitious program heralded as "a new deal for the American people".
- New Deal
- Central government has only those powers given to it by the subnational governments; it cannot act directly on citizens, and it can be dissolved by the states that created it.
- Confederal System
- National government creates subnational governments and gives them only those powers it wants them to have.
- Unitary System
- Established the predominance of the national government over the states.
- Supremacy Clause
- Reserves to the states and to the people those powers not granted by the Constitution to the national government.
- Tenth Amendment
- A government in which division of power leaves neither level dominant over the other.
- Dual Federalism
- The return of powers to make and implement policy to subunits or lower levels of government from a higher level.
- Devolution.
- Day-to-day joint activities and continuing cooperation among federal, state, and local officials in carrying out the business of government.
- Cooperative Federalism
- Requires states to recognize contracts made in other states.
- Full Faith and Credit Clause
- Laws or regulations imposed on the states unaccompanied by sufficient funding to implement them.
- Unfunded Mandates
- Gives local governments considerable autonomy in such matters as setting tax rates, regulating land use, and choosing their form of local government.
- Home Rule
- Collection of individual opinions towards issues or objects of general interest.
- Public Opinion
- People learn and develop opinions about government and politics.
- Political socialization
- Individuals learn about politics by being exposed to new information supplied or filtered through parents, peers, school,s and the media, political leaders, and the community.
- Agents of political socialization
- First attempts to measure popular sentiments on a large scale. Unscientific Polls.
- Straw Polls
- Manipulate opinion, rarely focus on candidate's issue positions, and often distort a candidate's record and the facts.
- Push Poll
- Idea that the national government can be a constructive force to extend a helping hand to cushion the impact of economic recessions and unemployment to improve schools, to help individuals provide for a cleaner environment and safer work conditions.
- Liberalism
- The notion that the nation and economy are best served if they are free of government interference.
- Conservatism
- The willingness of individuals to extend procedural rights and liberties to people with whom they disagree.
- Political Tolerance
- Media and Politicians use each other for their mutual advantage.
- Symbiotic Relationship
- Media and Politicians fight each other.
- Adversarial Relationship
- Disclosures of information that officials want kept secret.
- Leaks
- Being first to break a story.
- Scoop
- Frames the politician against a backdrop that symbolizes the points the politician is trying to make.
- Photo Opportunity
- Radio talks by the president. First started by Franklin Roosevelt.
- Fireside Chats
- The underlying assunption is that politics is a game and politicians are the players.
- Game Orientation
- "front-runners" "Dark horses" "Also-rans"
- Horse Race Coverage
- Influencing the process by which problems are considered important and solutions are proposed and debated.
- Setting the Agenda