Political Science Test 1
Terms
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- Democracy- Demos + kratia
- Rule by the People
- 3 types of democracy
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Direct or participatory
Representative or majoritarian
Revisionist or elite - All adult citizens participate in desion making
- Direct democracy
- direct democracy creates more sophisticated and more informed citizens as well as more responsible and politically tolerant
- enlightment
- problems with direct democracy
- too many people to debate issues and not enough time
- Rule by few, controlled by many
- Representative democracy
- 3 fundamental principles of representative democracy
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popular sovereignty
political equality
political liberty - popular sovereignty has been reached when...(3)
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1)policies reflect peoples wants
2)people join in political process
3)high quality info is available
4)majority rules - 1 person; 1 vote, assumes equal moral agency and reason
- political equality
- basic freedom to show political ideas; first amendment
- political liberty
- assumptions rep gov. makes about citizens(5)
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sophisticated
rational
informed
politically active
politically tolerant - 4 problems w/ rep gov.
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scale/population
lack of info and debate
hyperpluralsm- gvmt pays too much attn to 1 interest group
complexity of issues - the masses are asses; creates irrational, intolerant citizens
- Revisionist or elite dem.
- 7 values of the american creed
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individualism
unity
diversity
commitment to constitution
liberty
equality
self government - the principle that Americans are one people and form an indivisible union
- unity
- A commitment to personal initiative, self-sufficiency, and material accumulation
- individualism
- the idea that individual and group differences should be respected and that those differences are a sort of strength
- diversity
- the constitutionalstrand- fundamental law should serve as a restraint on human behavior
- commitment to rule of law under a constitution
- the belief that individuals should be free to act and think as they choose, provided that they don't infringe on others rights
- liberty
- the belief that all individuals are equal in moral worth and are entitled to equal treatment under the law
- equality
- the belief that the people are the ultimate source of governing authority and must have a voice in how they are governed
- self government
- 8 pricipal elements of the American Creed
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1)source of political power is the people
2)gvmt limited by law and people
3)local gvmt prefered over national
4)majority wiser than minority
5)individual has sacred rights
6)less gvmt the better
7)competitive individualism- try to better oneself
8)free enterprise - Is the american creed and ideology
- NO
- hostility of the common person to power and the powerful
- populism
- Goldilocks problem with articles of confederation
- need stronger gvmt for nation building but not to strong to make tyrannical
- 6 provisions of the articles of confederation
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1) could make war or peace, couldn't impose taxes to pursue either
2)couldn't regulate interstate commerce
3)no executive to insure laws were enforced
4)no national court system to settle interstate disputes
5)9/13 required to pass legislation
6)amendments required unanimous approval by states - 5 problems w/ articles designed to preserve indepency of states
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1)made sure central gvmt wouldn't encroach on liberty
2)gvmt unable to collect needed money $, money became worthless
3)central gvmt unable to pay troops
4)no executive to make peace or treaties
5)gvmt unable to prevent outbreaks between states - First US populist uprising, farmers debt problems, led to new constitution
- Shays Rebellion
- Virgina Plan
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~popularly elected bicameral w/ power to appoint executive and judicial officials
~seats appointed based on population
~single exutive
~weaker supremacy laws-state laws void when vs. federal law - New Jersey Plan
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~considered a revision of articles
~Unicameral legislature (one vote each state)
~stronger supremacy clause - Hamiltons waked out monarchy Plan
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~monarch for life free from public control
~try to scare delegates to virgina plan?
~ignored and left in fit - Connecticut (great) comprimise
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~bicameral legislature (house and senate)
~stronger supremecy clause - 3/5 compromise
- south was 50% of south, would be treated as 3/5 a person
- 4 ways of changing the constitution
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1) 2/3 vote of congress and 3/4 state legislature (26/27 amendments)
2)2/3 vote of congress, 3/4 state constitutional conventions (prohibition)
3)national convention requested by 2/3 of states legislatures, 3/4 of state legislature
4)national convention requested by 2/3 of state legislatures, 3/4 of state constitutional conventions - government is slow and inefficient because...
- it was designed to work that way
- a system of gvmt under which significant gvmt powers are divided between the central gvmt and smaller govermental units
- federalism (mixed powers)
- a multiplicity of governing levels and units, national gvmt, 50 state gvmt, 10000 of local gvmt
- American federalism
- constituent units or states retain ultimate authority and can veto major actions of central gvmt
- confederation
- cental gvmt exercises all gvmtal powers and can change its constituent units
- unitary system
- 3 key structural characteristics of American Federalism
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1)tends to prevent fully unifed disciplined parties
2)limits actions of congress and the president (10th amendment)
3)allows a diversity of policiies to be pursued in different states, regions - 3 advantages of federalism
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1)diversity of needs can be met
2)closeness to people
3)innovation and experimentation - 3 disadvantages of federalism
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1)lack of national standards
2)low visibility annd lack of popular control
3)lack of uniformity in rules and programs - Federalism is deeply established into constitution
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1)power is expressly given to states as well as to the federal gvmt
2)states have had important roles in shaping the national gvmt - constitutional laws and treaties are supreme law of the land
- Supremecy Clause
- Article I, section 8
- enumerated powers clause
- tenth amendment
- reservation clause, powers not to US or prohibited by states aare reserved to the states or the people
- national power stops at the state border: limited national power by claiming that states retained certain powers that could not be regulated through national action: lasted from late 19th century until 1937
- Dual federalism
- What led to the decline of Dual Federalism (3)
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~FDRS tangle w/ the supreme court over Great depression recovery programs
~Evolution of a national police power
~Doctrine of Incorporation- The app. of Bill of Rights, freedoms at state level on the ground of 14th amendments guarenteed fundamental liberties - The expenditure of federal funds on programs run in part through state and local gvmts
- fiscal federalism
- What led to the rise of fiscal Federalism?
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~johnsons great society increased medicare
~increased federal spending made possible by 16th amendment annd abandoment of gold standard
~grant-in-aid - a grant that can be used for a designated activity
- Categorical Grant
- Grant where Fed gvmt specifies general area, healthcare
- Block Grant
- the idea that America federalism will be improoved by a shift in authority from the Federal gvmt to the state gvmts
- Devolution
- 4 consequences of federalism
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1)complexity in policy making
2)permits experimentation at state and local levels
3)entails inequality of kinds
4)difficult to carry outpolicies that cross state lines - 2 ways federalism promotes democracy
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1)permits state gbmts to counter balance actions of natl gvmt
2)allows people in each state to do what their majority prefers - 2 ways federalism hinders democracy
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1)hard to assign blame, responsibilities blurred
2)Democratic processes may not work as well at state level as at natl level - constitutional provisions, laws and practices that protect individuals from gbmt interference, embodied in the Bill of Rights as prohibitions against gvmt actions that threaten freedom
- civil liberties
- 4 liberties in the constitution
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1)writ of habeas corpus-in court to be charged
2)prohibits bills of attainder- punishment w/out court
3)prohibition on ex post facto- laws can't change to charge a crime already commited
4)obligation of contracts - Civil war Amendments
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13th-oulawed slavery
14th- reversed Dred scott; due process and equal protection clauses
15th-blacks vote - plessy v. ferguson (1896)
- Separate but equal
- Due process clause
- no state should make any law which shall abridge priveledge of communities
- Schenck v. united states (1919)
- Clear and present danger
- Limitation of speech
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~speech mixed w/ conduct may be restricted
~symbolic expression
~use of fighting words
~Libel and slander
~classified information - Libel
- Published false and harmful information
- Slander
- spoken false and harmful information
- 3rd amendment
- Prohibition of quartering of troops
- 4th amendment
- prohiibition against unreasonable search and seizure
- Griswold v. connecticut
- birth control
- Lawrence and Garner V Texas
- sodomy laws
- Equal treatment by gvmt of all citizens, guarentees all citizens participate as equals in the practice of democratic life
- Civil rights
- circumventing voting guarentees (4)
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1)Poll tax
2)literacy test (and grandfather clause)
3)White Primaries
4)terror and intimidation - Civil rights act of 1964
- barred discrimination in voting, public places, employment
- Civil rights for women
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~sexual harrassment
~sexual favors for jobs illegal
~for sexual har. cases must only prove a hostile environment