government terminology
Terms
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- Interest groups
- Private associations, such as business and professional organization, union, and racial and religious groups that share common attitudes, and make these views felt.
- Direct action
- attempts to influence government by civil disobedience, and sometimes by militant or violent action, for example demonstrations, marches, sit-ins, campus strikes, picketing, and protest.
- Representative democracy
- A democracy in which leaders are elected to speak for and represent the people.
- Demands
- What people and groups want from the political system.
- Supports
- The attitudes and actions of people that sustain and buttress the political system at all levels and allows it to continue to work
- Outputs
- The binding decisions that a political system makes, whether in the form of laws, regulations, or judicial decisions.
- Feedback
- The response of the rest of society to decisions made by the authorities of a political system.
- Policy
- A course of action decided upon by government, or by any organization, group, or individual, that involves a choice among competing alternatives.
- Public policy
- A policy shaped by government officials.
- Public agenda
- The subjects that government policymakers try to deal with
- Distribution
- What occurs when government adopts a public policy that provides or distributes benefits to people or groups.
- Military-industrial complex
- A term coined by President Eisenhower in 1961 to describe the economic and political ties between the military establishment and the defense-aerospace industry.
- Natural Rights
- The political philosophy of John Locke 91632-1704) who reasoned that human being were “born free†and possessed certain rights when they lived in a state of nature before governments were formed. According to Locke, people contracted among themselves to form a society to protect those rights
- Magna Carta
- A historic document, issued by King John of England in 1215, in which the nobles confirmed that the power of the king was not absolute.
- Common Law
- The cumulative body of law as expressed in judicial decisions and custom rather than by stature
- Committees of Correspondence
- A political communications network formed in 1772 by Samuel Adams to unite the colonies against Great Britain.
- Virginia Plan
- A group of resolut9ion introduced at the Constitutional Convention proposing the creation of a new national government. It called for a two-house national legislature with the power to annul state laws it found to unconstitutional, as national executive elected by the legislature, and a national judiciary chosen by the legislature.
- New Jersey Plan
- An alternative plan designed to prevent the more heavily populated states from controlling the new government. It called for the continuation of the Articles of Confederation with a Stronger Congress, an executive of more than one person to be elected by Congress, and a Supreme Court to be appointed by the executive.
- Great Compromise
- (Connecticut Compromise) The compromise that broke the deadlock between the Virginia and New Jersey plans. As adopted, it called for a House of Representatives apportioned by population and a Senate consisting of two members from each state.
- Ratification
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The procedure followed by the states to approve the constitution
- Federalist Papers:
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A series of more the 80 letters, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, explaining and defending the Constitution. Their publication helped bring about its ratification
- Flexible construction
- The principle established by chief Justice Marshall in 1819 in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland, that the Constitution must be interpreted flexibly to meet changing conditions.
- Elastic Clause
- Article I, Section 8 of the constitution, which gives Congress the power to make all “necessary and proper laws: to carry out the powers of the constitution.
- Bill of Rights
- The first 10 amendments to the Constitution. Protection of the people from government.
- Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
- A propped amendment to the Constitution designed to guarantee equal rights for women and end discrimination against women. The ERA was approved by congress in 1972, but failed to be ratified by the states.
- Lin-item veto
- The power of an executive to reject particular parts of appropriations bills. The Constitution does not provide the president with such a veto
- Federalism
- A system of government characterized by a constitutional sharing of power by national government and regional units of government.
- Unitary System
- A centralized system of government where most of the important policy decisions are made by a central government
- Dual Federalism
- A concept of government under which the supreme court saw itself as a referee between two competing power centers- the states and the federal government-each with its own responsibilities.
- Cooperative federalism
- A view of federalism that emerged in the late 1930’s. The various levels of government are seen as related parts of a single governmental system, characterized more by cooperation and shared functions than by conflict and competition.
- Creative federalism
- A term coined by President Lyndon Johnson to describe his own view of the relationship between Washington and the states. During his administration, Congress enacted legislation that further expanded the role of the federal government
- New Federalism
- President Richard Nixon’s effort to return tax money to state and local governments.
- Regulatory federalism
- A term used to describe the concept under which the federal government sets requirements for the states through federal laws and regulations, which are then implemented by the state and local governments.
- Enumerated powers
- Powers that are granted specifically to the three branches of the federal government under the constitution
- Implied Powers
- Powers of the national government that flow from its enumerated powers and the “elastic clause†of the constitution.
- First Amendment:
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Battle between “absolute†and “balancedâ€
- Absolute
- no matter what the 1st amendment is protected for everyone
- Balanced
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1st amendment is contingent on needs
- Preferred Position
- The first amendment should take precedence over other needs
- Freedom of the Press
- Closely tied to free speech as well by the first amendment, is freedom of the press. However, the courts do not always rule in favor of the press, despite the first amendment. The Supreme Court has balanced the first amendment’s language protecting freedom of the press against the competing interests of society.
- Right to Privacy
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Not provided for in the constitution- but has been defined by the courts (see Griswald v Connecticut (1965) “Right to be left aloneâ€
Justices held that the concept of privacy included the right to a legal abortion. - Freedom of Religion
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“free exercise†protects the right of individuals to worship or believe as they wish- or to believe in nothing at all
“establishment†clause- Neither a state nor the federal government can set up a churchâ€- Separation of church and state-No prayer in school - Due Process
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(5th and 14th)
Ask two questions
Is the law reasonable? ( Substantive)
Is the law administered in a fair manner? (Procedural) - “Exclusionary Ruleâ€
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The rule to exclude evidence that was obtained unconstitutionally “ Illegal search and seizureâ€
1984 courts created the “good faith†courts can consider evidence that was taken in “good faith†by the police.
- Uninvited Ear
- 1967 the Supreme Court ruled that a conversation could be seized electronically. Thus, placing bug or tap did not have to involve physical trespass to violate the fourth amendment, and police therefore could not eavesdrop without a court warrant.
- Rights of the Accused
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(15th and 18th amendments)
Right to a lawyer, to informed of their legal rights and charges against them, to have a speedy and public trial by jury, to summon witnesses to testify on their behalf, to cross-examine bail or subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, or tried more than once for the same offense (double jeopardy) - Citizenship
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Jus Soil- Right by Soil
You were born on American soil you are American
Jus Sanguinis- Right by blood
You were born in Africa but your parents are American so you are American - Hispanic
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A term used in the US to include persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish origin
- Reservation
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An area of land “reserved†for Native American use and held in trust by the federal government
- Forced Termination
- A policy adopted by Congress in 1953 (ended in 1974) that was designed to end the special trustee relationship between the federal government and Native Americans.
- American Indian Movement (AIM)
- A militant Indian organization that was responsible for the 70-day seizure of the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, in 1973
- Bracero Program
- A program under which between 1943 and 1964, hundreds of thousands of Mexican migrant workers entered the US temporarily as farm workers
- Women Liberation
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A general term for the organized effort to end sex discrimination and assure women full equality in American society
- National Organization for Women((NOW)
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A nationwide women’s organization, founded in 1966, that has worked to improve employment opportunities for women; has defended abortion rights, birth control, and reproductive rights for women; and has supported the reform of laws dealing with women.
- Pro-choice groups
- Groups that support the right of a woman to have an abortion. They argue that women have the right to control their reproductive systems and to make decisions about their own bodies
- Pro-life groups
- Groups that have deplored and opposed the 1973 supreme court ruling on abortion. The antiabortion forces argue that life begins at the moment of conception, a view that has not been accepted by the pro-choice forces or the Supreme Court
- Dred Scott Decision
- The 1857 supreme court ruling that black Americans “are not included and were not intended to be included, under the word “citizens†in the Constitution†It was reversed by the 14th amendment (1868) which made citizens of the freed slaves
- Jim Crow Laws
- Laws that were designed to segregate black and white Americans and give legal recognition to discrimination
- Separate but equal
- A doctrine established by the Supreme Court in 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson, which held that Jim Crow laws were constitutional.
- De facto segregation
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Segregation that results from residential patterns rather then from laws.