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The Constitution and Federalism

Terms in this set (32)

Popular sovereignty
The people are the source of any and all government authority, and government can exist only with the consent of the governed.
Limited government
Government is restricted in what it may do; and each individual has rights that government cannot take away.
Constitutionalism
Government must be conducted according to constitutional principles; Government must obey the law
Rule of law
Concept that holds that the government and its officials are always subject to the law, never above it.
Separation of powers
The executive, legislative, and judicial powers of government are divided among three independent and co-equal branches.
Checks and balances
A system of overlapping the powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches that permits each branch to stop the actions of the others.
Judicial review
The power of a court to determine whether a law or other government action is constitutional.
Unconstitutional
Contrary to the Constitution, and thus illegal, null and void, and of no force or effect.
Federalism
A system of government in which a written constitution divides power between a central (or national) government and several regional governments.
Amendment
A change in (or addition to) the written language of a constitution or law.
Ratification
Formal approval, final consent to the effectiveness of a constitution, an amendment, or a treaty.
Formal amendment
Change or addition that becomes part of the written language of the Constitution itself.
Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the Constitution.
Executive agreement
Pact made by the president directly with the head of a foreign state.
Treaty
A formal agreement between two or more sovereign states.
Electoral college
The group of persons chosen in each state (and DC) every four years, who make the formal selection of the President and Vice-President.
Division of powers
A basic principle of federalism; the constitutional provisions by which governmental powers are divided on a geographic basis.
Delegated powers
Those powers (expressed, implied or inherent) granted to the national government by the people through the Constitution.
Expressed powers
Those delegated powers of the national government that are spelled out in the Constitution.
Implied powers
The delegated powers of the national government that are suggested by the expressed powers set out in the constitution.
Inherent powers
Powers the Constitution is presumed to have delegated to the national government because it is the government of a sovereign state.
Exclusive powers
The powers that can be exercised by the national government alone.
Reserved powers
The powers that the Constitution neither grants to the national government nor denies to the states.
Concurrent powers
Those powers that both the national government and the states possess and exercise.
Supremacy clause
A provision of the U.S. Constitution which says that the Constitution, federal law and treaties of the United States are the "supreme law of the land".
Grants-in-aid programs
Grants of federal money or other resources to states, cities, counties, and other local units.
Categorical grants
One type of federal grants-in-aid; made for some specific, closely defined purpose. These grants are usually made with conditions.
Block grants
One type of federal grants-in-aid for some particular but broadly defined area of policy. These grants are made with few conditions.
Interstate compact
A formal agreement between or among states entered into with the consent of Congress.
Full faith and credit clause
A constitutional requirement that each state accept the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.
Extradition
The legal process by which a fugitive from justice in one state is returned to the state where he or she is wanted by the law.
Privileges and Immunities clause
The Constitution's stipulation that no state can draw unreasonable distinctions between its own residents and those persons who happen to live in other states.
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