Download LANDMARK SUPREME COURT CASES

LANDMARK SUPREME COURT CASES
Marbury v. Madison (1803) – Marshall Court Case/Established Judicial Review/Strengthened Power of the
Federal Government and the Supreme Court
McCullough v. Maryland (1819) – Another Marshall Court Case/National Bank Case/Federal Power Supercedes
State Power
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) – Another Marshall Court Case/Competing Ferry Lines Case/Federal Power
Supercedes State Power
Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) – Pre-Civil War Abolitionist Test Case/Pro-Slavery Forces Won
Munn v. Illinois (1877) – One of the Granger Cases Against Railroad Monopolies/Established Government’s
Right to Regulate Private Business
Schenck v. United States (1919) – Free Speech Case During World War I/Free Speech Not Absolute/Clear and
Present Danger Criteria
Schecter Poultry v. United States (1935) – New Deal/Great Depression Case/NRA Struck Down/Led to FDR’s
Court Packing Plan
Korematsu v. United States (1944) – Japanese Internment Case/Policy Ruled Constitutional/Civil Liberties
Limited During Wartime
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) – Upheld Jim Crow (segregation) Laws/Separate But Equal Criteria Established
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) – Reversed Plessy Case/Led to Public School Desegregation
(Eventually)/Controversial Warren Court Case/Ike Enforced Verdict at Little Rock
Engle v. Vitale (1962) – Banned Formal Public School Prayer
Mapp v Ohio (1961)/Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)/Escobedo v. Illinois (1964)/Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
- “Rights of the Accused” Cases Which Critics Say Aided Criminals and Hindered Law Enforcement
New York Times v. United States (1971) – Pentagon Papers Case/NY Times Allowed to Publish Classified
Government Documents Because they DID NOT Compromise National Security
Roe v. Wade (1973) – Controversial Case which Legalized 1st Trimester Abortions
United States v. Nixon (1974) – Case Involving “Executive Privilege,” Nixon’s Tapes, and the Watergate
Scandal/Supreme Court Upheld Senate’s Subpoena of Nixon’s Case for Watergate Investigation
Bakke v. University of California (1978) – Affirmative Action Case/Reverse Discrimination
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) and New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985) – Cases Involving Student’s Rights/”Tinker”
Allowed Students to Protest Vietnam War/”TLO” Said Student’s Lockers and Possessions Can be Searched
Texas v. Johnson (1989) – Flag Burning Case/Flag Burning is Protected Free Speech
Bush v. Gore (2000) – Supreme Court Decided by a 5-4 Margin that the FLA Recounts Must Stop/Original
Results Certified/Bush Became President
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IMPORTANT PEOPLE/NOTABLE INDIVIDUALS
(as determined by inclusion on past Regents exams)
United States Presidents:
George Washington – strengthened power of federal government/Farewell Address (Neutrality)/1st Cabinet
Thomas Jefferson – Louisiana Purchase/Strict Constructionist/Anti-Elastic Clause (Don’t Use Implied Powers)
James Monroe (Monroe Doctrine) – Warned European Countries to Stay Out of Western Hemisphere
Andrew Jackson – Expanded Democracy/Spoils System/Trail of Tears (Indian Mistreatment)
Abraham Lincoln – President During Civil War/Preserving Union Top Priority/Emancipation
Proclamation/Expansion of Presidential Powers (Suspending Habeas Corpus, etc.)
Andrew Johnson – First President Impeached/Clashed with Radical Republicans over Reconstruction
Theodore Roosevelt – Conservationist/Big Stick Policy/Trustbuster/Progressive/Bull Moose Party
Woodrow Wilson – President During WWI/League of Nations/Fourteen Points/Versailles Treaty
Herbert Hoover – President when Great Depression began/Rugged Individualism/Pro-Business/Trickle-Down
Franklin Delano Roosevelt – President During Depression (New Deal)/WWII/Four Terms/Court Packing Plan
Harry Truman – Atomic Bomb/Desegregated the Military/Truman Doctrine (Containment)
John F. Kennedy – Peace Corps/Space Program/Bay of Pigs Fiasco/Cuban Missile Crisis/Assassinated
Lyndon B. Johnson – Great Society/War on Poverty (Big Government)/Philosophy Similar to FDR/Vietnam
War/Civil Rights Act
Richard Nixon – Watergate Scandal/Restored Diplomatic Relations with Communist China
Ronald Reagan – Reaganomics/Trickle-Down and Supply Side Theories/1980s Military Buildup/Deficit
Bill Clinton – President During Prosperous 1990s/2nd President Impeached (Scandal)/Humanitarian Military
Deployments (Haiti, Bosnia, Somalia, etc.)
Political Figures (Non-Presidents):
Alexander Hamilton – Federalist/Loose Constructionist/Washington’s Treasury Secretary/Created National Bank
John Marshall – Marshall Court/Chief Justice during early 1800s/decisions strengthened federal government
Henry Clay – Great Compromiser (Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850)/American System
Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner – Radical Republicans/Wanted to Punish South for Civil War/Wanted to
Grant Political Rights to Blacks in South/Wanted to Weaken Democratic Party Influence in South
William Marcy “Boss” Tweed – Corrupt City Boss/Tammany Hall
Eleanor Roosevelt – FDR’s Wife/Great Humanitarian/”Eyes and Ears” of the President
Joseph McCarthy – “McCarthyism”/Senate Investigation of Alleged Communist Influence in Government
Thurgood Marshall – Won “Brown v. Board of Education” Case for NAACP/First Black Supreme Court Justice
Earl Warren – Chief Justice During 1950s and 60s/Brown Case/Rights of the Accused (Miranda, etc.) Cases
Sandra Day O’Connor – First Woman Supreme Court Justice
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Journalists/Authors/Publishers/Literary Figures:
Thomas Paine – Common Sense (1776) – Series of Essays/Pamphlets Supporting the American Revolution
Alexander Hamilton/James Madison – The Federalist Papers (1787) – Series of Essays Supporting Ratification
of the Constitution
William Lloyd Garrison – Publisher of The Liberator (abolitionist newspaper)
Harriet Beecher Stowe – Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) – Popular Book During Pre-Civil War Era Which Depicted
the Hardships of Slavery/Stowe was an Abolitionist Author
Helen Hunt Jackson – A Century of Dishonor (1881) – Book Which Chronicled US Government’s Mistreatment
(Treaty Violations, Massacres, etc.) of Native American Indians/Called the Indian’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin
William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer – Rival Publishers of New York Journal and New York World
- Their Yellow Journalism Encouraged Support for the Spanish-American War and Imperialism
Thomas Nast – Progressive Political Cartoonist – Almost Single-Handedly Brought Down the Tweed Ring/
First to Depict the Democrats as Donkeys and the Republicans as Elephants
Upton Sinclair – The Jungle (1906) – Progressive Muckraker Who Exposed Unsanitary Conditions in the
Meatpacking Industry/Also Exposed Unsafe Working Conditions/Helped Bring About the F.D.A.
Ida Tarbell – A History of the Standard Oil Company (1904) – Progressive Muckraker Who Portrayed John D.
Rockefeller as a Ruthless Monopolist
Jacob Riis – How the Other Half Lives (1890) – Progressive Muckraker Whose Book of Photos Depicting Harsh
Living Conditions for the Urban Poor Led to Housing Ordinances and Building Codes
Langston Hughes – Black Poet/Author (associated with the Harlem Renaissance)
John Steinbeck – The Grapes of Wrath (1939) – Classic American Depression Era Novel Which Chronicled the
Plight of the Okies (Who Fled to California Looking for Work as Migrant Laborers) During the Dust Bowl
Betty Friedan – The Feminine Mystique (1963) – Book Credited With Starting the Modern Women’s Liberation
Movement/Argued That Not All Women Were Content Being Wives and Mothers/Deserve Career Opportunities
Ralph Nader – Unsafe at Any Speed (1965) – Book Credited With Starting the Consumer Rights Movement/
Pointed Out Lax Production Methods, Unsafe Features of US Cars/Pointed Out Corporate Abuse of Consumers
Rachel Carson – Silent Spring (1962) – Book Credited With Starting the Modern Environmentalism Movement/
Argued That Pesticides (DDT) Were Seeping Into Our Ground Water and Causing Pollution Problems
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein – Washington Post Reporters who Exposed Watergate Scandal (1973)
Reformers (Other/Non-Authors):
Jane Addams – Progressive Movement/Founded “Hull House”/Settlement House Movement (an Alternative to
Tenements) to Help Immigrants/Improved Living Conditions
Dorothea Dix – Reformer who Pioneered Improvements in Treatment of Mentally Ill
Margaret Sanger – Founder of Movement Which Developed into Planned Parenthood/Advocated Birth Control
for Women (Especially Immigrant Women) to Cut Down on Unwanted Pregnancies During Early 1900s
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Some Other Popular Figures (Famous and Infamous, Willing or Otherwise):
Sacco and Vanzetti – Italian Immigrant Anarchists Who Were Victims of 1920s Red Scare Hysteria (Maybe?)
John Scopes – Tennessee Biology Teacher who was Tried for Teaching Darwinian Evolution During 1920s
Charles Lindbergh – First Solo Trans-Atlantic Flight During 1920s/Popular Hero of Roaring Twenties
Jackie Robinson – First Black Player in Major League Baseball (Brooklyn Dodgers) in 1947
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg – Husband and Wife Team of Atomic Scientists Who Were Executed For Selling
Atomic Secrets to the Soviets During the McCarthy Era (He was Guilty, She was Innocent)
Industrialists/Inventors:
Benjamin Franklin – Renaissance Man (Inventor, Scientist, Writer, Diplomat, Publisher) During Colonial Era
Thomas Edison – Famous American Inventor During Gilded Age (Age of Industry)
Andrew Carnegie – Founded US Steel During the Age of Industry/Captain of Industry/Robber Baron
John D. Rockefeller – Founded Standard Oil Company During the Age of Industry/Monopolist
Henry Ford – Auto Manufacturer who Developed and Perfected the Assembly Line/Mass Production
Union Figures/Labor Leaders:
Terrence Powderly – Founded Knights of Labor (Unskilled and Skilled Workers)/No Longer Exists
Samuel Gompers – Founded American Federation of Labor (Skilled Workers Only)/Still in Existence
Eugene V. Debs – Socialist Labor Union Leader/Defendant in Two Supreme Court Cases (Debs. V. U.S. and In
Re Debs)/Opposed WWI and Refused to Comply with Injunction In Pullman Rail Strike/Two Prison Terms
John Lewis – Founder of Congress of Industrial Organizations/Left AFL Because of Ban on Unskilled Workers
Cesar Chavez – Formed Union (United Farm Workers Organization) For Mostly Hispanic Migrant
Workers/Hunger Strikes for Better Conditions/Part of “Brown Power” Hispanic Rights Movement
Military Figures:
Ulysses S. Grant – Leader of Union Forces During Civil War/18th President (Corrupt Administration)
Robert E. Lee – Leader of Confederate Forces During Civil War
Alfred Thayar Mahan – Wrote Importance of Sea Power in World History/American Imperialist Who Favored
American Involvement in Spanish-American War/Argued that US Should Have Naval Bases and Strong Navy
Dwight D. Eisenhower – Supreme Commander of Allied Forces During WWII/President During 1950s
Douglas MacArthur – World War II and Korean War General/Led Post-War Occupation of Japan/Clashed with
Truman During Korean War/Wanted to Invade China/Fired for Insubordination
Colin Powell – Gulf War General/Former Secretary of State in Bush Administration
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Civil Rights Leaders:
Frederick Douglas – Former Slave/Escaped North/Became Outspoken Abolitionist
Harriet Tubman – Former Slave who Helped Slaves Escape North on the Underground Railroad
Booker T. Washington – Former Slave/Wrote Up From Slavery/Founded Tuskegee Institute/Said Blacks Should
Learn a Vocation (Trade, Skill) and Focus on Economic Independence From Whites in South After Civil War
W.E.B. Dubois – First Black Graduate From Harvard University/Helped Found the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)/Said Blacks Should Insist on Full Equality/Said Progress had to be
Made on Behalf of Blacks by the Few Educated Blacks (the “Talented Tenth” such as himself)/Disagreed with
Booker T. Washington Regarding the Pace of Change and What Black Americans Could Expect
Marcus Garvey – Founded a “Back to Africa” Movement for Blacks in the 1920s
Rosa Parks – Wouldn’t Give Up Seat on a Bus to a White Man in Montgomery, Alabama During the 1950s/Her
Arrest Led to a Successful Bus Boycott Led by Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King, Jr. – Leader of the Non-Militant Civil Rights Movement During 1950s and 1960s/Member of
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLS) – an Organization of Black Baptist Preachers Who
Advocated Nonviolence and Civil Disobedience/Gave “I Have A Dream” Speech During March On
Washington/Assassinated in 1968
James Meredith – First Black Man to Attend the All White Univ. of Mississippi
Medgar Evers – Jackson, Mississippi NAACP Leader who was Assassinated in 1963
Malcom X – More Militant Black Leader/Head of the Nation of Islam (a Black Muslim Separatist Movement)
During the 1960s
Women’s Rights Leaders
Susan B. Anthony
Lucretia Mott
- Early Suffragettes/Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls (1848)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Gloria Steinem – 1960s Women’s Lib/Feminism/Founded Ms. Magazine and N.O.W.
KEY DOCUMENTS/LEGISLATION/EVENTS/GOVERNMENT ACTIONS/ETC.
Establishment of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1619) and the Mayflower Compact (1620)
Stamp Act (1765)
Declaration of Independence (1776)
Articles of Confederation (1781 - 1789) and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787
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Constitution/Constitutional Convention (1787)
Virginia and New Jersey Plans (1787)
3/5 and Great Compromise (1787)
Bill of Rights (1789)
Washington's Farewell Address (1797)
Louisiana Purchase (1803)
Seneca Falls Convention (1848)
Fugitive Slave Act (1850)
Missouri Compromise (1820)/Compromise of 1850
Homestead Act (1862)
Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (1865 - 1868)
Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws (1880s and 1890s)
Westward Movement (1803 - 1890)
Hawaiian and Philippine Annexations (1898)
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Open Door Policy (1899)
Interstate Commerce Act/Interstate Commerce Commission (1887)
Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) and Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)
Dawes Act (1887)
Pendleton Act/Civil Service Reform Act (1883)
Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
Federal Reserve System Act (1913)
Versailles Treaty/League of Nations (1919)
18th and 21st Amendments (1920 and 1933)
19th Amendment (1920)
National Origins Act (1924)
Sacco-Vanzetti Trial (1921 - 1927)
Scopes Monkey Trial (1925)
Great Depression (1929 - 1941)
Social Security Act (1935)
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Wagner Act/National Labor Relations Act (1935)
Court Packing Plan (1936)
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945)
Japanese Internment (early 1940s)
Serviceman’s Readjustment Act/G.I. Bill (1945)
Marshall Plan (1948)
22nd Amendment (1951)
Establishment of the Peace Corps (1960)
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
Civil Rights Act of 1964/Voting Rights Act of 1965
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)
War Powers Act/War Powers Resolution (1973)
Ford Pardon of Nixon (1974)
Equal Rights Amendment (1977)
Camp David Accords (1977)
Americans With Disabilities Act (1990)
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GENERAL PERIODS OF AMERICAN HISTORY
Colonial Period
Revolutionary Period
Critical Period
Federalist Era
Jeffersonian Era
Antebellum Period
Civil War and Reconstruction
Age of Industry (Gilded Age)
Age of American Imperialism
Progressive Era
Roaring 20s
Great Depression
World War II Era
Cold War Era
Post 9/11 Era
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UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICIES
Mercantilism
Neutrality (Washington's Farewell Address)
Isolationism (Monroe Doctrine)
Manifest Destiny
Roosevelt Corollary (Big Stick Policy)
Dollar Diplomacy (Taft)
Good Neighbor Policy (FDR)
Imperialism
Open Door Policy (1899)
Isolationism (1920s)
Appeasement
Neutrality
Collective Security (NATO)
Containment/Truman Doctrine
Domino Theory
Peaceful Coexistence/Détente
FreeTrade/Globalization
Humanitarian Peace-Keeping Missions
War on Terror
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PHASES OF IMMIGRATION
Colonial
Old
New
Recent
POLITICAL SCANDALS/CONTROVERSIES
Alien and Sedition Acts
Johnson Impeachment
Credit Mobilier (Taft)
Disputed Election of 1876
Teapot Dome Scandal (Harding)
FDR’s Court Packing Plan
Truman-MacArthur Dispute
JFK Assassination/Warren Commission
Watergate
Iran – Contra Affair
Clinton Impeachment
Disputed Election of 2000
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AMERICAN WARS
French and Indian War
Revolutionary War (American Revolution)
War of 1812
Mexican – American War
Civil War
Indian Wars
Spanish – American War
World War I (Great War)
World War II
Cold War
Korean War
Vietnam War
Persian Gulf War
War on Terror
POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND ECONOMIC MOVEMENTS
Abolition Movement
Women’s Suffrage Movement
Westward Movement
Progressive Movement
Labor Union Movement
Grange Movement/Populism/Greenback Movement
20s Red Scare
Nativism
Black Northern Migration
New Deal
50s Red Scare/McCarthyism
Civil Rights Movement
Anti – War Movement (Vietnam)
Feminist Movement/Women’s Liberation
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IMPORTANT GOVERNMENT TERMS
Natural Rights Theory (John Locke)
- Enlightenment idea (which Jefferson borrowed from when he wrote the Declaration of Independence)
arguing that men are born with natural rights to life, liberty, and property with which governments cannot
interfere
“Consent of the Governed”/Social Contract Principle (John Jacques Rousseau)
- Enlightenment idea which states that governments rule only with the consent (permission/approval) of
the governed
- If governments interfere with one’s natural rights, then the social contract (agreement) is broken and the
people have the right to overthrow the government
Separation of Powers
- concept where power is divided within the federal level of government between three equal and independent
branches of government
- the Legislative Branch/Congress (Senate and House) makes federal laws
- the Executive Branch/President enforces laws and runs the country on a day to day basis
- the Judicial Branch/Supreme Court and lower federal courts (Circuit Courts, District Courts) interprets the
law and applies the law to specific cases (Supreme Court can declare laws unconstitutional)
Unwritten Constitution
- American governmental practices that are based on custom and tradition rather than any explicit
constitutional instructions or procedures
- examples: political parties, the president’s cabinet, Judicial Review, Congressional Committees, the
filibuster in the Senate, and the original two-term tradition as established by George Washington (before the
22nd Amendment was ratified)
- the Cabinet refers to the president’s advisors who are the various secretaries of the fourteen executive
departments such as State, Defense, Treasury, etc. which is not mentioned in the Constitution, part of the
Unwritten Constitution (a tradition/custom that originated with George Washington when he appointed
experts to assist him during his first term as president)
- Judicial Review refers to the Supreme Court’s power to determine whether federal, state, and local
laws/acts/policies are constitutional or unconstitutional when interpreting laws, treaties, executive orders,
etc. and is therefore part of the Unwritten Constitution (not specifically mentioned in the Constitution)
Antifederalists
- group who refused to support the ratification of the Constitution unless the Bill of Rights was added
- they feared a strong central government which might resort to tyranny the way the British had during the
colonial period
Electoral College
- controversial way in which presidents are elected in the US which specifies that presidents are selected not
by direct popular vote but rather on a winner take all basis within each of the 50 states
- the Founding Fathers included this system in the Constitution because they didn’t fully trust popular
majorities to select the best candidates
- the Founding Fathers (Framers) created the Electoral College because they didn’t trust the common man
(mostly consisting of uneducated farmers and city workers) to pick the best candidate, and also because
they didn’t want “too much democracy.”
- the way the Electoral College functions today is that presidents are chosen by state on a winner-take-all
basis, and electors are chosen ahead of time by the political parties
- The Electoral College was supposed to be a system where common voters would choose well-educated,
well-traveled elites would be chosen within each state, and then meet with other state elector and choose a
president/it was meant to function without political parties in an era when mass media didn’t exist
- It would take an amendment to the Constitution to abolish the Electoral College, but even though many such
amendments have been proposed (usually because of freak elections where the popular vote winner was
not elected president), none has ever been ratified
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Lobbying (Special Interest Groups)
- Lobby groups are well-connected Washington professionals who petition elected officials to pass or oppose
laws/policies/etc. which are favorable to their narrow interests
- Examples include the National Rifle Association, Senior Citizens lobby, Unions, Big Business groups, etc.
- Based on the 1st Amendment idea that citizens have the right to petition their government, but has become
associated with corruption in recent history
Original and Appellate Jurisdiction
- original jurisdiction is the Federal Court where the case is heard first (one of the 94 Federal District Courts)
- appellate jurisdiction is the Federal Court where the case may be appealed upward to (one of the 12 Circuit
Courts of Appeal)
- the Supreme Court is unique because it has BOTH ORIGINAL AND APPELATE JURISDICTION!
Amendment Process and Function
- formal change in the Constitution whereby 2/3 of both houses and ¾ of state ratifying conventions must
approve any addition or alteration to the original Constitution
- very difficult process/only 27 amendments have been ratified over the 200+ year history of the Constitution
Term Limits
- this is the idea or practice that says that elected officials must be prevented from serving too long in
government and that elected officials should NOT make a career out of being elected to office
- presently, only the President is subject to term limits (by the 22 nd Amendment which limits the President to
two terms)/members of Congress may serve as long as their constituents (voters) reelect them
Checks and Balances
- system by which each branch of government can check/limit/obstruct the other two
- this prevents any one branch from becoming too powerful/limited government/no tyranny permitted
- the president can check Congress by vetoing their laws and pressuring them to pass legislation; the
president can check the Supreme Court by nominating justices who agree with the president’s judicial
philosophy and refusing to enforce court orders
- Congress can check the president by impeaching him, overriding his veto (by a 2/3 majority/very rare), and
refusing to pass laws the president recommends; Congress can check the Supreme Court by proposing
amendments to get around Supreme Court decisions and by refusing to confirm justices and judges (Senate
only)
- the Supreme Court checks both the president and Congress by using their power of Judicial Review which
permits them to declare any congressional law or presidential act unconstitutional
- because both houses of Congress must approve legislation in order for a bill to become a law, Congress
can essentially check itself if one house approves of a law but the other does not
Bicameralism
- a two house legislature
- our system/structure of Congress: the House of Representatives is based on population (the Virginia Plan)
and our Senate is based on two per state (essentially the New Jersey Plan) based on the Great
Compromise at the Constitutional Convention
Federalism
- system of government where power is divided between the federal/central/national government (who
handles duties such as defense, foreign relations, printing money, etc.) state governments (who are
responsible for their own local affairs), and even local county/city/etc. governments
- in our American system of federalism, there are delegated (federal only), reserved (state only), concurrent
(both federal and state), implied (based on the elastic clause), and denied powers (powers not permitted)
- delegated powers are powers given exclusively to the federal government such as printing money, raising
an army, regulating interstate and foreign commerce, and conducting foreign relations (powers that states
don’t have)
- reserved powers are powers set aside for the states such as traffic laws, marriage and divorce laws,
education requirements, etc.
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Elastic Clause (Strict and Loose Construction)
- section of the Constitution which says that Congress may make all laws “necessary and proper” to carry out
their delegated powers
- this gives the federal government the ability to stretch their power by expanding on their delegated powers
- example: government has the delegated power to raise an army; using the elastic clause, government may
raise an army by use of a draft (even though the draft is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution – the
power is implied)
- Strict Constructionists say that the Elastic Clause should not be overly utilized and that the Constitution
should be interpreted narrowly (“If the Constitution doesn’t allow something, then it is forbidden”); a Strict
Constructionist would not have supported Hamilton’s plan for National Bank because it was not explicitly
mentioned in the Constitution
- Loose Constructionists say the Elastic Clause was included for a reason, therefore the Constitution can be
interpreted loosely (or broadly – “If the Constitution doesn’t specifically forbid something, then it is
permitted); a Loose Constructionist would have supported Hamilton’s National Bank (indeed, Hamilton was
a Loose Constructionist) because it was “necessary and proper” in order for government to print money and
regulate its value
State of the Union Address
- Constitutional requirement that the president inform Congress (and the nation) at least once a year
regarding the
condition of the country
Census/Reapportionment
- constitutional requirement that the US population must be accurately counted every ten years so as to
ensure accuracy in determining representation in the House of Representatives
- Reapportionment is the redrawing of districts within states to reflect changes in population as determined by
the outcome of the census/for example: if a state loses significant population from one census to the next,
then that state loses representatives, and their districts will be drawn larger
Limited Government
- principle where the government’s power in the US has many limits placed upon it so as to avoid tyranny,
such as:
the Constitution spreads power out through different levels of government (Federalism) such as federal,
state, and local
Separation of Powers limits government’s power by creating three independent branches of government
Checks and Balances prevent one branch from becoming too powerful, thus preventing tyranny
the Constitution spells out “Denied Powers” which forbid government from performing certain functions
the Bill of Rights protects citizen’s civil liberties from government abuse
- the Constitution creates a strong central/federal/national government capable of declaring war, raising an
army, printing money, preventing states from printing their own money, regulating interstate commerce,
taxing, etc. BUT also specifically safeguards people’s rights and contains checks against tyranny such as
Separation of Powers, Federalism, Checks and Balances, Denied Powers, and a Bill of Rights
Line-Item Veto
- presidential power to veto part of a bill rather than accept it in its entirety (for example, if the president had
the line
item veto, he could sign 9/10 of a bill into law and delete the 1/10 to which he objects
- ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court
Popular Sovereignty
- concept which states that people are the ultimate source of power in American democracy/summed up in
the first three words of the Constitution: “WE THE PEOPLE”
Bill of Rights
- first ten amendments to the Constitution which were added at the insistence of the Anti-Federalists
(opponents of the Constitution as originally written) for the purpose of safeguarding individual’s civil liberties
from possible government abuse
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POLITICAL ISSUES/PROBLEMS/TOPICS OF DEBATE IN AMERICA
Abortion
Affirmative Action
AIDS and AIDS Funding
Campaign Finance Reform (Public Financing)
Capital Punishment (Death Penalty)
Cloning/Human Stem Cell Research
Corporate Downsizing (Changing Business Patterns)
Crime/Juvenile Crime (Law and Order)
Defense Spending
Disabled Access to Public Facilities (Americans with Disabilities Act)
Education
English as an Official Language
Environmental Protection
Euthanasia (Doctor-Assisted Suicide)
Gun Control
Health Care Crisis (Socialized Medicine)
Homelessness
Immigration Policy
Line Item Veto
Minimum Wage
National Debt (Federal Deficit)
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
Prayer in Public Schools
Segregated Housing Patterns
Social Security Reform
Term Limits
Trade Deficit (Japan)
Voter Apathy (Low Election Turnout)
Welfare Reform
Women in Combat
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MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
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