Understanding American Politics and Government (chapter 4)
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25 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 confederation | independent entities join together to pursue some common purpose. |
| unitary system | states dependent on the national government. lower levels of government are subordinate to the national government and have little independent governing authority |
| federalism | system that distributes political power across a national government and subnational governments |
| reserved powers | powers not delegated to the national government by the constitution, and not prohibited for state governments are reserved for the states or for the people |
| sovereignty | government's having the ultimate authority to make decisions about what happens within its borders, free from interference from other governments |
| compact theory | states were sovereign entities that joined together |
| nullification | idea that states could nullify national government laws with which they disagreed and which they believed violated the Constitution. |
| nationalist theory | Constitution was intended to be a departure from the limited government of the Articles of Confederation. the Constitution represented the people, not the states, coming together |
| dual federalism | embraces the ideas of dual sovereignty and dual citizenship. the national government is sovereign in some areas and the state governments are sovereign in others |
| dual sovereignty | both national government and state government are dominant over their respective areas of concern |
| police power | protection of public safety, health, welfare, and morality |
| dual citizenship | if you are a US citizen, you are also a citizen of a state |
| commerce clause | gave congress the power to "regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with indian tribes" |
| cooperative federalism | national and state governments share many functions and areas of authority. diminished the notion of separate spheres of state and national authority that was embodied in dual federalism. |
| necessary and proper clause | aka elastic clause. constitution gives congress the authority "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this constitution in the government of the US" |
| enumerated powers | responsibilities of congress |
| implied powers | congress could make laws needed to carry out its enumerated powers |
| mandate | orders state governments to take certain actions |
| unfunded mandates | federal requirements that states take some action, but without provision of sufficient resources to do so |
| preemption legislation | mandates certain actions off-limites for state governments |
| fiscal federalism | refers to the national government's use of its financial resources to persuade the states to take particular actions |
| categorical grant | federal government provides money that is to be used for every specific purposes |
| block grants | more general and provide greater flexibility to the states. for broad categories of spending: transportation funds, welfare program funds, homeland security, and so on. |
| devolution | transfer of authority over program details and implementation from a higher level of government to a lower level of government. |
| sovereign immunity | mean that the states could not be sued in federal court unless they chose to allow themselves to be sued or congress made a compelling case that it should be able to override this immunity. |
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