AP Gov: Chapter 3

Question 1

The Unitary System

Answer 1

A centralized gov system which local or sub-divisional gov exercises only those powers given to them by the central gov

• How colonist lived under Britain
• Central gov can withdraw powers previously delegated to local or regional govs
• Majority of countries today operate under this

Question 2

A Confederal System

Answer 2

A System of a league of independent states, each having essentially sovereign powers. The central gov created by such a league has only limited powers over the states.

• Opposite of unitary
• Articles of Confederation
• Can’t really make laws
• League of independent states where central gov handles common concern matters
• Switzerland is a modern example

Question 3

A Federal System

Answer 3

• Balance between Unitary & confederal
• Authority is divided by central gov & regional/subdivision gov
• Central gov is supreme & the constituent give derive their authority from it
• Ex. Australia, Brazil, Canada

Question 4

Federalism

Answer 4

A system of gov which power is divided by a written condition between a central gov & regional/subdivision gov.

Each level much have some domain in which its polices are dominate & some genuine constitutional guarantee of its authority.

Question 5

Why Federalism?

Answer 5

Provided a means to ensure stability while empowering the states to govern in areas closest to the everyday lives of citizens.

Question 6

A Practical Constitutional Solution

Answer 6

• Knew a Federal arrangement needed to ratify constitution
• Federalism retained state traditions & local power while establishing a strong national gov capable of handling common problems
• Unitary system would’ve been difficult with size & region, isolation
• Geography wise federal gov made sense.
• Now communities have more access to public officials.

Question 7

Benefits for the United States

Answer 7

• State gov train for future leaders
  
  • Governors to presidents
• States being testing grounds for new gov initiatives
  
  • Ex. unemployment compensation, air pollution, statewide healthcare
  • Ex. Today: education programs, marijuana, environmental protection
• National & State problem = recession & home-mortgage crisis
• Finical differences in states

Question 8

Arguments against federalism

Answer 8

A way for powerful state & local interests to block progress & to impede national plans.

Progressive dominant fractions

Small political groups are more likely to be dominated by single political groups

Question 9

Powers of the national gov

Answer 9

The ability to declare war, coin money, regulate commerce, and establish post offices.

Found in Article 1

Expressed & Implied powers

Question 10

The necessary & proper clause

Answer 10

Article 1, Section 8, that grants Congress the power to do whatever is necessary to execute its specifically delegated powers

• First used in McCullough v. Maryland
• Succeeded in strengthening the scope of its authority to meet the numerous problems that the framers of the Constitution didn’t anticipate

Question 11

Inherent Powers

Answer 11

Those powers that the national government holds because it is a sovereign state, not because they are explicitly listed in the Constitution.

• Ex. buying land, act in foreign affairs

Question 12

Powers of state governments

Answer 12

10th Amendment

Can’t be denied to the states from the federal gov

• Regulate commerce within borders, provide state military, make laws on all matters not by US constitution or national gov
• Police power: the authority to legislate for the protection of the health, morals, safety, & welfare of the people. In US, most police power is reserved to the states.

Question 13

Concurrent Powers

Answer 13

Powers held jointly by national & states governments

• Tax, borrow funds, establish courts, charter banks & corporations
• Sometimes limited by geography

Question 14

Prohibited Powers

Answer 14

Those explicitly denied to the federal government, the states, or both, by the Constitution to maintain a balance of power.

• Ex: the states’ prohibition from levying export taxes, and the denial to both the federal and state governments from issuing bills of attainder or ex post facto laws.

Question 15

The Supremacy Clause

Answer 15

The constitutional provision that makes the constitution & federal laws superior to all conflicting state & local laws.

Question 16

Vertical & Horizontal Checks & Balances

Answer 16

Horizontal Control: A check against the expansion of gov power that relies on checks & balances

Vertical Control: A structural check against the accumulation of too much power in any one level of gov (state or national)

Question 17

Interstate Relations

Answer 17

Prevent any one state from setting itself apart from the other states

Question 18

The Full Faith & Credit Clause

Answer 18

Requires states to recognize one another’s laws & court decisions.Ensures rights established under deeds, wills, contracts, & other civil matters in one state will be honored by other states.

• Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)

Question 19

Privileges & Immunities

Answer 19

Special rights & expectations provided by law.States may no discriminate against one another’s citizens

• Laws, right to work, access to courts, etc.

Question 20

Interstate Extradition

Answer 20

• How criminals are handled

Extradite: to surrender an exposed or convicted criminal to the authorities of the state from which they fled; to return a fugitive criminal to the jurisdiction of the accusing state.

Question 21

Interstate Compact

Answer 21

An agreement between 2 or more states .

Agreements on minor matters are made without Congressional consent, but ant Compact that tends to increase the power of the contracting states relative to other states or reality to the national gov generally requires the consent of Congress.

-Make states able to solve regional problems

-Ex. Port Authority of NY & NJ in 1921

Question 22

Defining Constitutional Powers

Answer 22

Established implied powers and federal supremacy through the Necessary and Proper Clause.

• McCulloch v. Maryland is a landmark Supreme Court case that established the principles of implied powers and federal supremacy, ruling that the federal government has the authority to create a national bank under the “necessary and proper” clause and that states cannot tax a federal entity.
• Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): This case clarified the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce, broadly interpreting the Commerce Clause to include navigation and all commercial intercourse.

Question 23

Selective Exclusiveness

Answer 23

Congress may regulate only when a commodity (good) requires a national uniform rule.

• Ex. A state cannot pass a law that requires a specific license or tax for a steamboat company to operate between two different states because that commerce is “interstate” and therefore under federal control.

Question 24

Shift back to states rights

Answer 24

John Marshall (chief justice) did a lot to increase the power of the national gov & reduce state power

1829-1837 shift back to state power began

1828 Congress passes tariff, South Carolina unsuccessfully tried to nullify - lead to 3 decades the N & S divided over tariffs

1860 = South Carolina formally reapleaded its ratification of constitution & withdrew from union
- 6 S states followed in 1861 to form the Confederate States of America

Question 25

War effort (growth of national government)

Answer 25

1865 South lost, shows the idea of states successfully seceding not working Civil War increased the national govs political power

Question 26

The Civil War Amendments

Answer 26

13th Amendment: Officially abolished slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the United States, except as punishment for a crime. 14th Amendment: Granted citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the U.S. and guaranteed all citizens "equal protection of the laws" and "due process". It also overrode the Dred Scott decision and corrected the three-fifths compromise. 15th Amendment: Prohibited states from denying a citizen the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".

Question 27

Dual Federalism & then the end of it

Answer 27

A system in which states & the national gov each remains supreme withing their own sphere. The doctrine looks on nation & state as coequal sovereign powers. No interference. END: The era of dual federalism in the United States ended during the 1930s with the New Deal, driven by the Great Depression and the Supreme Court's approval of expanded federal power. - FDR wanted more justices in his favor but did not get it, eventually the court started to cease attempts to limit national powers under the Commerce clause

Question 28

Role of the Supreme Court

Answer 28

- Civil War increased SC influence - The Dred Scott decision severely damaged the Supreme Court's power and credibility by making a politically charged, overreaching ruling - Eventually court reestablished itself - Tended to support: dual federalism, defend states rights, limit powers of national gov

Question 29

New Deal

Answer 29

A series of programs, public work projects, and financial reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s in response to the Great Depression. - Ex. NRA

Question 30

Cooperative Federalism

Answer 30

The theory that the states & national gov should cooperate in solving problems. - FDR's New Deal programs involving both national & state action (joint) - Grants

Question 31

Categorical Grants

Answer 31

Federal grants to states or local gov that is for specific programs or projects - Formula grants:method used to allocate funds -State needs, population, etc comes into matching funds - South got a lot of these - 1960s-1980s many categorical grants - Medicade, highway construction, unemployment benefits, housing assistance, & welfare programs

Question 32

Block Grants

Answer 32

Federal program that provides funds to state & local gov for general functions - Ex. criminal justice or mental health programs - Governors & mayors prefer these because gives states more flexibility on how money is spent - Congress favors categorical grants because the exponiotures can be targeted according to Congressional priorities.

Question 33

Federal Mandates

Answer 33

Requirement in federal legislation hat forces states & municipalities to comply with certain rules. - Ex. the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Clean Air Act, and the No Child Left Behind Act

Question 34

Politics of Federalism

Answer 34

-Allocation of powers between national & state gov = major issue - Hurricane Katrina = people argued which gov level should be held accountable for failures in providing aid afterward - Failures of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) - Local issues as well as national issues - Hurricane Sandy confronted some federal gov challenges

Question 35

What has National Authority Accomplished?

Answer 35

- Conservatives favored states, liberals favored national gov - Expansion of national authority due to social change - Civil war, freed slaves = major social revoltion - New Deal - Both support for states rights was a method of opposing these changes & supporting thee status quo

Question 36

Civil Rights & the War on Poverty

Answer 36

- Johnson used national power to change society - oversaw greatest expansion of national authority since New Deal - Civil Rights Act forced states to grant African American equal treatment - Great Society & War on Poverty programs = increase in gov spending - States rights were invoked to support the status quo = states rights mean no action on civil rights & no increase in antipoverty spending

Question 37

States Status Quo

Answer 37

The existing state of affairs, particularly a preference for maintaining the current political or social system and resisting change. Favor = the political advantage that comes with blocking change, the desire to maintain existing power structures and resources, the need to avoid political instability, and the inherent bias in the system that makes inaction easier than action.

Question 38

Devolution

Answer 38

The transfer of powers from a naitional or central gov to a state or local gov - Main ideological theme for the Rebuplian Party - Reagan Era, more block Grants - Clinton did this

Question 39

"New Federalism"

Answer 39

Transfer of power from the federal government back to the states, aiming to decentralize government and increase state autonomy.

Question 40

New Judicial Federalism

Answer 40

The increased reliance of state courts of the last resort on state constitutions rather than on the federal constitution for the protection of individual rights.

Question 41

Federalism in the 21st century & Supreme Court

Answer 41

- Both D & R presidents have passed notions against partitees use of Federalism lines - Liberals today may benefit from states rights understood as policy innovation oppunritines - Conservatives remaina ctively in limiting the schope of Federal power

Question 42

Reining in the Commerce Power

Answer 42

- 1st time SC limit on national gov was Gun-Free School Zone act, US v. Lopez - 2000: US v. Morrison, passed Violece Agaisnt Women Act in 1994 Agaisnt commerse - Dec 2017: Trump signed into law tax reform bill that reduces the initial mandata tax penality

Question 43

State Sovereignty & the 11th Amedement

Answer 43

11th Amendment is a key component of state sovereignty in AP US Government, granting states sovereign immunity from being sued in federal court by citizens of other states or foreign states. - Alden v. Maine (1999): The Supreme Court extended the principle of sovereign immunity to state courts, ruling that states also cannot be sued in their own courts for violating federal law.

Question 44

10th Amendment issues

Answer 44

Defining the exact balance of power between the federal government and the states. - 1992: NY - 1997: revisited 10th Amendment issue - 1993: Printz v. US

Question 45

Federalism & State Immigration Policy

Answer 45

- Immigration & border were federal issues not the states - Several states have ban laws, restrictions - Arizona has the strictest laws - Took away some of Arizona's policies - Obama DAC & DAPA programs = Texas says was overstepping the bounds of executive authority - Trump ended that all.

Question 46

Fiscal Federalism

Answer 46

The pattern of spending, taxing, and providing grants in the federal system, where the federal government uses its financial power to influence state and local governments.

Question 47

US v. Lopez

Answer 47

A Supreme Court case where the Court said Congress couldn't ban guns in schools under the Commerce Clause, because the Court found that bringing a gun to school did not have a "substantial effect" on interstate commerce, and therefore it was a power reserved for the states. This ruling was important because it marked the first time in over 50 years that the Court limited Congress's power under the Commerce Clause, reaffirming the idea of federalism and the division of power between federal and state governments. The Significance: The decision reaffirmed that the federal government's power under the Commerce Clause is not unlimited. It emphasized the importance of federalism (the division of power between federal and state governments) and set a boundary for when Congress can regulate activities under the Commerce Clause.