Download Final Exam Study Guide- Fall 2010

FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE
American Government
Unit 1- Foundations of our Government
 The Constitution is the framework of our government.
 Our first government was created with the Articles of Confederation. It failed to work because it created a
weak national government with strong state governments. It was more of a league of friendship between
the states.
 Types of Government
1. Democracy- people have the power
2. Dictatorship- the people have no voice in the gov’t
a. Autocracy- one person holds all the power
b. Oligarchy- a small group of people hold all the power
3. Unitary- all power that the gov’t has is held by one central agency. They may create local units,
but the central agency is in control. (Ex: most gov’ts, Great Britain)
4. Federal Government- power is divided between a central gov’t and local gov’t (Ex: USA,
Canada, Mexico)
5. Confederation- an alliance of independent states, the central gov’t isn’t powerful (Ex: European
Union; historically: US under the Articles of Confederation and the Confederate States of America)
6. Presidential- the branches are separate, voters elect the members of the legislative branch and the
voters elect leaders of the executive branch; “checks & balances” (Ex: USA)
7. Parliamentary- the Executive Branch is under the control of the Legislative Branch, voters elect
members of the Parliament & then the leader of the Executive Branch is chosen from the Parliament.
If the Prime Minister loses the support of the Parliament, they can get rid of him/her. (Ex: most
countries, Great Britain)
 State- aka nation- must have population, territory, sovereignty, and a government.
 Sovereignty is the only thing that our 50 states lack. (They have to answer to another government- the US
Gov’t.)
 Origin of State Theorieso Evolutionary- state evolved over time from families
o Force- the state was created by force
o Divine Right- god chose to create the state and selected the ruler
o Social Contract- the state was created when like minded people came together and decided to create
the state; government powers are granted and limited by the people; the US is based on this contract
 Locke- a philosopher who is associated with the social contract theory
 Magna Carta- signed by King John in 1215- this was the first document that limited the power of the King;
our concept of limited government comes from this document
Unit 2- The Constitution
o Ratification- for the Constitution to become law 9 out of 13 states had to ratify it
o Debate over ratification Federalists- liked the Constitution the way it was
 Anti-Federalists- didn’t like that the Constitution did not give citizens’ rights
 The Anti-Federalists won when the Bill of Rights was added
 The Constitution
o Signed Sept. 17, 1787
o 3 parts
 Preamble- the Introduction
 Articles- 7 sections of the Constitution
 Amendments- 27 total (1-10 are called the Bill of Rights)
o Basic Principles Popular Sovereignty- people have the power
 Limited Government- gov’t only has the power the people give it
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 We have Separate branches and also some powers belong only to the states
 Separation of Powers- power is divided into 3 separate and equal branches
 Checks and Balances- each branch can check the power of the other branches
 Judicial Review- courts have the power to declare gov’t acts unconstitutional
 Federalism- power of the gov’t is split between national and state governments
o Amendments- changes to the Constitution
Federalism- power is divided between national and state governments
o Delegated Powers-given directly to the national gov’t
 Expressed- the right to coin money, declare war, etc.
o Reserved Powers- given just to the states (ex. Marriage and divorce laws)
o Concurrent Powers- shared between the national and state
Unit 3- The Bill of Rights and Political Participation
 The first 10 amendments to the Constitution
 These were the first amendments to set out the rights of the people
 Added to get the Anti-Federalists to ratify the Constitution
 1st- freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition
 5th- no double jeopardy, right to remain silent, right to a lawyer, due process
 10th- states have any power not granted to the national government
 14th – states must give citizens their rights <protects citizenship rights>
 15th- race cannot be used to keep people from voting
 19th- Women get the right to vote
 25th- Presidential Succession and VP fills in when President can’t
 26th- Right to vote lowered to 18
 Being an informed citizen makes you an informed voter
 Two major political parties
o Democrats
o Republicans
 Political Partieso Their job is to nominate candidates and get the candidates elected
o They gather political support for their candidate
o You can be a member of any party you want to (membership is based on personal choice)
 Votingo Should be an informed voter
o You must be 18 years old
o Most states require that you are registered to vote, are a citizen of the country and a legal resident of
the state
Unit 4- Congress
 Bicameralo House of Representatives- based on the population of each state
o Senate- each state has an equal number (2)
 House of Representatives
o Must be 25
o Must be a resident of the state you are representing
o Must be a citizen for 7 years
o 2 year term
o 435 total- the number per state is based on population
o Led by the Speaker of the House- right now, Nancy Pelosi
o Sole power to call for an impeachment and make laws dealing with taxes
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Senate
o Must be 30
o 6 year term
o Citizen for 9 years
o Each state has 2 (100 total)
o Led by the President of the Senate (the Vice President) or the President pro tempore
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o Judges an impeachment and approves Presidential appointments and treaties
o Is a continuous body- 1/3 of its members are elected every 2 years- they don’t want to risk having an
all new Senate
Members of Congress are directly elected by the people
Congress is the Legislative Branch; has 535 total members; makes the laws
Committees exist in Congress because it allows them to get more accomplished
o House Rules Committee- “traffic cop”, they decide which bills make it on to the floor for debate
o Conference- created when there is a disagreement over a bill passed in both houses- exist because
both houses have to pass identical bills
Filibuster- only happens in the Senate, it is an attempt to talk a bill to death to keep a vote from happening;
can only be ended by invoking the cloture rule
Lobbyists- people that do the work on interest groups in Congress; they try to get the Congress members to
pass bills that help out their interest group. They do this through friendly persuasion. (They can’t do illegal
activities like bribing)
Unit 5- The Executive Branch
 Roles of the President
o Chief of Party
o Chief Diplomat
o Commander-in-chief – leader of the
o Chief Legislator
armed forces
o Chief Administrator
o Chief Executive
o Chief Citizen
o Chief of State
 Qualifications and Benefits
o Must be 35 years old
o Natural born citizen
o Resident of the US for at least 14 years
o Un-official <informal> qualifications- well educated, past political experience
o $400,000 a year, live in the White House, $50,000 expense account, cars, planes
o 4 year term <can serve 2 terms>
 Election Processo Primary Elections- everyone who is in a party and wants to run for President competes against each
other to see who will be the party president. When you vote in a primary election you are voting to
show your preference for a party candidate
 Closed Primary- you can only vote in it if you are a declared <registered> voter for that party
o General Election- the candidates from the parties run against each other to see who will be the
President
o President is actually elected by the Electoral College- a group of electors from each state meet and
cast their votes for the person who won their state general election. It is possible to win the popular
vote but lose the election if you win more electoral college votes
 The number of Electors for each state is the # of Senators plus the # of Representatives
 Presidential Successiono Determined by the Presidential Succession Act
o The VP becomes President if something happens to the President
o After the VP is the Speaker of the House then the President pro temp
 The Vice President
o Official job is the President of the Senate
 Federal Bureaucracy- divided into 3 parts- the Executive Office of the President, the Cabinet and the
Independent Agencies
 Cabinet
o 15 department chiefs
o advise the President
o appointed by the President and approved by the Senate
o Almost always from the President’s political party

When the President receives a bill he can
o Sign it and make it law
o Veto it and send it back to Congress
o Don’t do anything for 10 days and it becomes a law anyway
Unit 6- The Judicial Branch
 Outlined in Article 3 of the Constitution
 Interprets the Laws
 Dual Systemo Federal Courts
o State Courts
 Federal Court judges are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate; no formal qualifications
 Judges are called the lasting legacy of the President because they are on the bench a long time after the
President leaves office and can continue his work/ideas
 Types of Jurisdictiono Original- the first court to hear a case
o Appellate- a court that hears a case on appeal
o Exclusive- cases heard only by the federal courts
o Concurrent- cases heard by both federal and state
 Supreme Courto highest court in the land- because they have the final say in cases that have worked their way up
o has original and appellate jurisdiction (original on cases involving foreign diplomats and states;
appellate on cases that have work their way up from the US Courts of Appeals)
o 9 justices
o leader called the Chief Justice
 Marbury v Madisono 1803 Decision
o Established the principle of judicial review- the courts can declare acts of the government and laws
unconstitutional
o Chief Justice was John Marshall
 Jury duty- when you have jury duty you should not let your personal biases influence how you vote
 Docket- list of cases to be heard by a court
 Federal Crimes- bank robbery, crimes across state lines, counterfeiting, mail fraud
 Jurisdiction- which court decides a case
General Stuff You Should Know
 Our government has 3 branches- the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial
 Legislative Branch
o Makes the laws
o Approves Presidential appointments
o AKA Congress
<checks and balances>
 Judicial Branch
o Interprets the laws
o Led by the Supreme Court
o Can declare acts of the government/laws unconstitutional <checks and balances>
 Executive Branch
o Executes the laws
o Can veto laws passed by Congress
o Led by the President
<checks and balances>
o Makes appointments of federal judges
<checks and balances>