CHAPTER 4: THE U.S. CONSTITUTION: ORIGINS, PRINCIPLES, AND DEVELOPMENT
What was FDR's New Deal? How did the Supreme Court initially react to FDR's efforts?
25 major acts aiming at economic relief, recovery, and/or reform. Sided w/the business challenging the New Deal and declared the policies unconstitutional.
What is federalism?
A sharing of power between states and national government
Why did American's protest the Stamp Act ? What did the British argued as a counter?
Americans protested because the act amounted to unconstitutional taxation without representation The British responded with, the Americans were actually represented through virtual representation, Americans views, and interests were represented in parliament
What is the general subject matter of Article I of the Constitution? What is the subject matter of Article II? How about Article III?
Article I : legislative branch. Section 1; creates the United States Congress. Section 2 & 3 set forth details about the two houses in congress. (the house of representatives & the senate. Other sections of article I, spell out the procedures for making laws, list the types of laws Congress may pass, and specify the powers congress does not have. Article II: executive branch to carry out laws passed by Congress. Article II, section 1 follows detail and the powers and the duties, of the presidency, describes qualifications for the office and procedures for electing the president, and provide for a vice president. Article III: establishes a supreme court to head the judicial branch. the section gives the national government the power to create lower federal courts. Section 2 outlines the jurisdiction or the authority of the supreme court and other courts to rule on cases. section 3 defines treason against the United States.
Where in the Constitution are most of Congress' enumerated powers listed?
Article I, Section 8.
What is the difference between a direct democracy and representative democracy? Which of those two kinds of democracy did the Founders create with the U.S. Constitution?
Direct: the people directly making and/or enforcing laws themselves. Representative: where a relatively small number of public officials in government make and enforce laws on behalf of the majority of citizens who are outside of government.
Be sure to understand these five arguments made by proponents of greater state government authority: Learning from Policy Experimentation ("Laboratories of Democracy")
Federalism allows states to conduct their own policy experiments, and this allows everyone to learn what works best and what does not work. Federalism promotes progress toward better approaches to public policy by allowing us to learn from the state laboratories of democracy.
How does Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution protect the territorial independence of states? Why does this render the United States a federal system rather than a unitary national government?
Federalism differs from confederacy in that the Constitution, House of Representatives, and President have always been held accountable by people rather than to state governments (Central government is not controlled by state governments). Differ from unitary national government b/c of reserved powers, areas of exclusive state government authority.
Which group—the Federalists or the Anti-federalists—supported ratification of the U.S. Constitution? Which opposed ratification?
Federalists: A group of people in the early United States who favored the establishment of a strong national government and who worked for ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Anti-federalists: A group of people in the early United States who opposed ratification of the U.S. Constitution because they feared a strong national government and a lack of protection for individual rights.
Great Britain responded to the Boston Tea Party with several repressive policies. What was created in 1774 by Americans as a unified front of resistance to these new British policies?
Great Britain responded with a set of repressive laws called the coercive acts /intolerable act among other things, parliament ordered the closing of the port of Boston and took control of governance of the colony of Massachusetts The First continental congress was created in 1774 by Americans
What are the key differences between a federal system and unitary national government?
In a federal system, some powers are given to the central government and other powers are given to the lower levels of government (provinces or states). In a unitary system, the central government gets to decide what powers, if any, to give to the lower levels of government.
Small list of civil liberties
Legal rights designed to protect individuals from abuse of power by government.
Experience with the original state constitutions led the Founders to seek ways to control the power of legislatures. This led them to conceive the idea of "checks and balances" between branches of government, a principle that would eventually be instituted in the U.S. Constitution. Make sure to understand this discussion in the textbook.
No one could stop the legislature from acting unlawfully and thus these governments were not livings up to the ideals of rule of law and constitutional government, hence the idea of checks and balances
Be sure to know and understand the arguments made by pro-unionists. Why do they see a united country as better than a disunited country?
Pro-unionist: Problem w/disunion is that it makes it more difficult for governments to resolve conflicts peacefully. Disunited countries at best relate diplomatically and, at worst, relate to each other militarily (war). United countries relate to each other through political and legal processes; Despite there being no guarantee of fair outcome and no escape of a power struggle, but one option (disunited) is far more prone to violence and non-cooperation than the other Also point out numerous difficulties separate governments face in seeking to forge fair and mutually beneficial economic arrangements, immigration policies, and environmental pollution controls. Governments can better achieve those goals when together in a political union than when disunited.
Did the federal system created by the U.S. Constitution give state governments more or less power and independence compared to what they had under the Articles of Confederation?
The Articles of Confederation created a Nation that was "a league of friendship and perpetual union," but it was the state governments that had most of the power under the Articles, with little power given to the central government.
How does the Constitution's Preamble reflect the principle of "popular sovereignty."
The Preamble, with its talk of "We the people," reflects a revolutionary new idea: that a government gets its authority from the people. This principle, known as popular sovereignty states that the people have the right to alter or abolish their government.
What is the name of the clause in the Constitution that grants federal laws superior authority over state laws?
The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution of the United States (Article VI, Clause 2), establishes that the Constitution, federal laws made pursuant to it, and treaties made under its authority, constitute the "supreme Law of the Land", and thus take priority over any conflicting state laws.
What does "reserved" power entail in terms of state authority in the U.S. federal system?
The Tenth Amendment reserves powers to the states, as long as those powers are not delegated to the federal government. Among other powers, this includes creating school systems, overseeing state courts, creating public safety systems, managing business and trade within the state, and managing local government.
Article V establishes four pathways for the sovereign people to amend the Constitution. Two ways constitutional amendments can be proposed Two ways amendments can be ratified.
The two ways in which an amendment to the Constitution can be proposed is by the Congress proposing an amendment by a two-thirds vote in both houses. The second way is the legislatures of two-thirds of the states - 34 out of 50 - can ask Congress to call a national convention to propose an amendment. The two ways in which an amendment may be ratified is the proposed amendment can be sent to the state legislatures for approval. All but one of the amendments to the Constitution were approved this way. The second way is the proposed amendment can be sent to state conventions for consideration.
What purposes were the system of checks and balances intended to serve?
This system of checks and balances was designed to try and keep the branches truly separate from one another by, somewhat paradoxically, giving them a bit of power over one another. But the system was designed, above all else, to uphold the rule of law and, especially, to make sure that each branch obeyed the fundamental law of the Constitution.
Why did the Founders choose a bicameral legislature instead of a unicameral one?
To make sure everyone was represented evenly. The Senate was intended to be more aristocratic and favorable toward property rights, as well as to protect the interests and rights of small states and of the state governments as governments. The House, by contrast, was intended to be more democratic and favorable towards the rights and interests of the people / persons.
What is the key feature of a confederacy? How does this feature contrast with federalism and unitary national government?
Unlike in a confederacy, the central government in a federal system claims direct authority over individual persons. (Contrast with Confederacy.)
What were the Federalist Papers and why were they written?
a series of essays written to explain and defend the proposed U.S. Constitution.
Be sure to understand these five arguments made by proponents of greater state government authority: Fostering Democratic Citizenship
a. A great advantage of leaving significant authority to the state and local level is that it increases the number of opportunities for citizens to participate in democratic government and thereby practice and develop the skills, habits, and dispositions essential for democratic citizenship.
Be sure to understand these five arguments made by proponents of greater state government authority: Benefiting from "Foot Voting"
a. If individuals or businesses dislike the package of policies enacted by their state or city governments, they can "vote with their feet" by moving to states or cities with policies they find more acceptable. Even better, the argument goes, the mere possibility that people and business might relocate can serve as a powerful deterrent against state governments enacting unjust or inefficient public policies in the first place.
Be sure to understand these five arguments made by proponents of greater state government authority: Protecting Liberty
a. If power were fully centralized in the national government, that government would become highly oppressive. National gov. would need to develop the capacity to enforce all of the laws that are currently enforced by state and local governments. If state governments don't retain a certain amount of independence and autonomy, then they can't serve as a check on the power and influence of the national government. Without state governments serving as a check on the national government's power, the argument goes, the national government will dominate the people and strip them of their freedom.
Be sure to understand these five arguments made by proponents of greater national government authority: Preventing Races to the Bottom
a. Large business corps. use threat of relocating to different states to try to lead state and local governments to enact laws they want, such as special tax breaks and favorable regulatory standards. State/local gov. have hard time resisting b/c state/local economies can be severely damaged if large corps. decide to relocate their headquarters and/or large manufacturing factories to other states. Race to the bottom: When economic competition between states leads them to try to outdo one another by enacting socially suboptimal regulations to attract or retain business investment. Strong national government playing a leading role in regulating large corps. is that it can uphold higher standards than the states can be due to its not being caught up in the interstate competition that leads to races to the bottom. U.S. gov. not involved in competition across states, so it is thought to be better positioned than states to enact socially optimal regulations.
Be sure to understand these five arguments made by proponents of greater national government authority:Protecting Minority Rights
a. More likely to protect minority rights than will state governments (James Madison).
Be sure to understand these five arguments made by proponents of greater state government authority: Representing the Diversity of Local Community Values and Interests
a. The diversity of local community values and interests around the country can often make uniform national standards undesirable. According to this argument, since there is much diversity in values and interests throughout the country, it can be better to allow decisions to be made at the most local level possible.
Be sure to understand these five arguments made by proponents of greater national government authority:Providing National Public Goods and Reducing Negative Externalities
a. The national government is more likely than state governments to identify and provide nationwide public goods. The states are too limited in their views and/or too selfish in their motives to overcome the temptation to free ride. The reduction of negative externalities (pollution or infectious disease) is a type of public good that the national government is better positioned to provide than state governments.
Be sure to understand these five arguments made by proponents of greater national government authority:Reducing Compliance Costs Through Standardization and Uniformity of Rules
a. Uniform national rules and standards can reduce the costs associated with complying with laws and regulations. Argument made for greater national government authority is that the national government is best positioned to create these uniform national rules and standards and, thus, to provide the benefit of reduced compliance costs.
Be sure to understand these five arguments made by proponents of greater national government authority:Preserving the Union
a. When states are allowed to have too much independent authority and power, they can threaten the stability of the union. Since the union is the basis of peace, prosperity, cooperation, and so on, it follows that a strong national government (and weaker, subordinated states) is necessary for attaining all of those benefits.
What were the two most heated points of contentions at the Constitutional Convention that made it difficult to create a constitution acceptable to the people of every state in the union?
o (1) between the interests of states with large population sizes and those with small population sizes o (2) between the northern states and southern slave states
What is strict scrutiny? It is applied to "suspect classes." What examples of suspect classes are discussed in the textbook?
o (1) highest standard of review/ the court presumes a law to be unconstitutional unless the government can make a convincing case that the law is narrowly tailored to advance a compelling government interest o Suspect class examples: race, skin color, ethnicity, religion, and national origin
Be able to match each amendment to its impact on American federalism: 17th, 18th, and 19th amendments:
o 17th: Required popular election of U.S. senators, stripping state gov's. of direct control over who served in the U.S. Senate o 18th: Nationwide ban on "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors" meant that states were disallowed from using their police power to regulate alcoholic beverages however they saw fit. o 19th: Disallowed states from ever again choosing to prevent someone from voting simply for being a woman. 13th. Amendment: This amendment freed all slaves without compensation to the slaveowners. It legally forbade slavery in the United States. 14th amendment: This amendment declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were entitled equal rights regardless of their race, and that their rights were protected at both the state and national levels. 15th amendment: citizens cannot be denied the right to vote because of race, color, or precious condition of servitude.
What was the "Great Society"? Which president proposed it?
o A set of domestic programs proposed or enacted in the United States on the initiative of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and racial injustice.
What is the "actual malice standard" and what is its relevance for speech that allegedly defames public figures?
o Actual malice is the legal standard established by the Supreme Court for libel cases to determine when public officials or public figures may recover damages in lawsuits against the news media.
What is meant by "affirmative action"?
o Affirmative action was the remedy to past discrimination by assuring inclusion of under-represented groups through goals, quotas, and timetables.
While the LGBTQ+ community is diverse, what common goals hold the coalition together?
o All groups face cultural, social, and or legal oppression on account of their sexuality and or gender identities
What is meant by standards of review? What are the three standards?
o Analytical framework for reviewing the constitutionality of laws that appear to infringe upon civil rights. o (1) strict scrutiny, (2) intermediate scrutiny, (3) rational basis
What does judicial review have to do with how civil liberties are enforced in practice?
o Authority of courts to decide whether an act of government is constitutional or unconstitutional. Allows courts decide if govt. is infringing on rights of an individual in a case.
Why did most Americans believe standing armies to be the end of liberty?
o Because they were the way that executives are able to consolidate all government power and rule controlled by the people or other branches of government
Did civil liberties listed in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution apply to actions taken by state governments prior to the Civil War? Did they apply to actions taken by the federal government prior to the Civil War?
o Before the civil war, the bill of rights only applied to federal governments not state governments
Beginning with Roe v. Wade (1973), what part of the Constitution has the Supreme Court claimed to be the source of protection for the right to privacy?
o Bill of rights
What are block grants? And what is meant by "devolution"? How are these terms related to Richard Nixon and the conservative backlash against the liberal federalism of FDR and LBJ?
o Block grant: A federal grant-in-aid that provides states and/or local gov's. with significant freedom to decide how to spend the money. Devolution: The process of the federal gov. returning functions and powers to state and local governments that had been assumed by the federal gov. since the New Deal and Great Society. Nixon wanted states to have more rights again, this desire and the acts he put in place to achieve it changed the American federalist system by taking power away from the federal government.
Be sure to know and understand the definition of civil liberties.
o Civil liberties are rights guaranteed by the Constitution (primarily from the First Amendment). They have been described as natural rights which are inherent to each person. Civil liberties are constitutionally protected freedoms.
The textbook highlights three acts of Congress that were the most influential acts of civil rights legislation of the 1960s. What were those three acts?
o Civil rights act o Voting rights act o Fair house act
Which act of Congress (passed in 1964) bans discrimination by public accommodations? Is discrimination by public accommodations prohibited by the U.S. Constitution or by legislative statutes?
o Civil rights act of 1964 o the federal government prohibits discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of the following: race, color, religion, national origin, and disability
How does the textbook define "civil rights"? Civil rights and civil liberties are both types of legal rights. How are they different from each other?
o Civil rights: rights that aim at eliminating or remedying various forms of unequal treatment in American society o Civil liberties: rights designed to protect individuals from abuse of power by govt o Different: liberties protect from govt, rights aim at eliminating discrimination and promote equality
What is principled federalism? According to the textbook, is either political party committed to principled federalism today? If so, which one?
o Commitment to states' rights even when they expected most states to enact policies they disapproved of. It does not apply today.
What act of Congress requires the federal government to pass the Sherbert Test whenever it passes laws or enacts policies that infringe on religious activities?
o Congress passed the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to reinstate the Sherbert Test as a statutory right.
Be sure to know and understand the differences between cooperative federalism and dual federalism.
o Cooperative federalism: Increased intermingling of federal and state functions- with the federal government using categorical grants to induce states to implement national policy priorities in areas that had previously been handled solely by the states. Known as marble cake federalism to highlight how the functions and roles of federal and state gov's. under it are less clearly demarcated and involve much more intermingling, Dual federalism: Federalism marked by a clear division of authority and responsibility between the federal and state governments. States focused on providing social services, regulating individual behaviors, etc. Fed gov. focused on foreign affairs, regulating relations between the states, and coordinating efforts an internal improvements. (Layer cake federalism).
What is meant by "heteronormativity"? How does this relate to homophobia and the oppression of LGBTQ+ people?
o Culturally reinforced belief that the only natural and appropriate form of sexual relationships a heterosexual and cisgender (those persons whose gender identity corresponds with their biological birth sex) o Leads to homophobia (fear or hatred toward LGBTQ+ persons
On what ground did the U.S. Supreme Court, in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), declare unconstitutional a Texas statute that made it a crime to engage in sodomy "with another individual of the same sex."
o Discrimination, right to privacy, consenting adults
According to the U.S. Supreme Court, what part of the U.S. Constitution is violated if state or local governments deprive same sex couples of the right to marry?
o Due process clause.
According to the textbook, what is the most important provision of the U.S. Constitution with respect to civil rights?
o Equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment ▪ "nor shall any state... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection laws
What is the difference between the concepts of "separation of church and state" and "accommodationism"?
o Everson v. Board of Education (1947), Justice Hugo L. Black wrote that separatism asserts a "high and impregnable wall of separation" between church and state. o Separatists find any law regarding religion in violation of the First Amendment. Accommodationist rests on the belief that government and religion are compatible and necessary to a well-ordered society.
Be sure to know and understand the Eighth Amendment and how it came to be interpreted throughout Supreme Court history. Are there instances when the death penalty cannot be applied?
o Excessive bail shall not be required, no excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted o There were no rational standards or procedures in place to determine when it was imposed or not imposed. o 2008 court affirmed that even especially appalling crimes involving sexual assault of young children cannot be punished by the death penalty unless the crime results in the death of the victim/ prohibits certain kinds of defendants from being excepted most notably those who are under the age of 18
How does the textbook define "religious freedom"? What is the name of the first two clauses of the First Amendment that are the constitutional basis of religious freedom in the United States?
o Freedom to develop and live according to one's own religious beliefs as long as it doesn't affect freedom of other people. Establishment and Free Exercise Clause.
What is meant by "grants-in-aid"? What are categorical grants? And what kind of impact did they have on the growth of the federal government?
o Grants in the form of money or land provided by the federal gov. to stat and/or local gov's. on the condition that the funds be used for purposes defined by the federal gov. Categorical grants: A type of federal grant-in-aid that provided relatively strict and specific guidelines on how the state or local gov. Receiving the money must spend it. By accepting these funds in the 60s, states allowed the fed gov. to define and oversee implementation of many aspects of public policy that had previously been carried out with little or no federal government involvement.
What is meant by the "state action doctrine"?
o Holds the constitutions protections for civil rights do not apply to private conduct but rather only apply to government actions. Legislatures can enact statutes that ban private discrimination • Be sure to understand what public accommodations are. (Remember, they are privately owned, and thus discrimination by them is private discrimination.) o Hotels, motels, restaurants, theater etc.
The Sixth Amendment provides six separate rights, all of which pertain to defendants in criminal trials.
o If someone goes a full year after being charged with a crime before having a trial, would this necessarily result in charges being dropped on account of the person being deprived of their right to a speedy trial? ▪ No o According to the Supreme Court, what exactly is required by the 6th Amendment command that criminal trials must be by an "impartial jury"? ▪ Randomly drawn, remove anyone potentially bias o What did the Supreme Court declare about the 6th Amendment right to an attorney in Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)? What specific impact (discussed by the textbook) did this decision have on the criminal justice system? ▪ Required an attorney be present for any criminal defendant who requests. One ▪ state governments employ 15000 public defenders
Why has judicial review been important for the development of federalism over time?
o Important because it allows Supreme Court to interpret laws of Government.
How did the Supreme Court rule on the male-only military draft?
o In 1981, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of mail only draft registration law. Stating that the exclusion of women from the draft was not an accidental byproduct of traditional way of thinking about women.
In 1996, the Supreme Court heard a case regarding admission into the Virginia Military Institute. What was decided in this case? What was the impact of that decision?
o In this case the court ruled that the VMI, and all mail state run military college, had to except woman cadets. Saying that the state of Virginia had to advance an exceedingly persuasive justification for the exclusion of women, the court rejected the states argument that admitting woman would undermine the special character of the institution. The VMI ruling was the final nail in the coffin for mail only public institutions of higher education in the United States
These two concepts are closely tied to the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment: (1) Incorporation and (2) Unenumerated Constitutional Rights. What's the difference between those two constitutional sources of civil liberties?
o Incorporation is a conscious decision to incorporate Bill of Rights liberties into protection against the state. Unenumerated rights are not stated but are understood to be there.
What do the different letters of "LGBTQ+" stand for?
o Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, polygamous, kink
How were these used to deter African Americans from voting?
o Literacy tests - high-level constitutional tests rather than simple tests of reading ability; whites weren't required to demonstrate similar levels of literacy a. Poll taxes - fee for the privilege of voting b. White primary - only white voters were allowed to vote in a primary, leaving AAs out of the process
What was the convict-leasing system? And what is meant by "peonage"?
o Loophole in the13 amendment, Was a system of penal labor practiced in the Southern United State, beginning with the emancipation of slaves at the end of the American Civil War in 1865. It was a way of cheap labor with terrible working conditions, basically a legal form of slavery. o Peonage illegal method of re enslavement by which individuals were forced or deceived into signing contracts that obligated them to work for no pay with demeaning labor conditions in exchanged for their employed paying off their debt.
What is meant by "rational basis"?
o Lowest standard of review. The court presumes a law to be constitutional unless it is show that the law is not rationally related to a legitimate government interest o Applies to cases of discrimination based on age, disability, and economic status.
Be sure to know the correct chronological order of these events as well as what specific date they occurred on, according to the textbook
o May 1776 -Congress urged the colonies to begin writing new constitutions o June 1776-Congressional committee drafting decision to declare independence o July 2,1776-Congressional vote for independence o July 4,1776-The Declaration of Independence
What is intermediate scrutiny? How is it different from strict scrutiny? To what form(s) of discrimination is intermediate scrutiny applied?
o Middle level standard of revies. A law is presumed to be unconstitutional unless the government can demonstrate it is substantially related to the promotion of an important government interest ▪ Differs because the goal of the law must be merely important rather than compelling and it need only be substantially regulated rather than narrowly tailored. o Sex based discrimination.
The Supreme Court has affirmed that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment, but it has found it difficult in practice to determine when expression is obscene. What test has the Court established for determining whether expression is obscene?
o Miller test for a work to be considered obscene, it must be determined that the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest, the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically denied by the applicable law, the work taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
What did the Supreme Court declare about the right of self-incrimination in Miranda v. Arizona (1966)? Specifically, according to the Court in Miranda, what must police tell criminal suspects before they question them?
o Miranda rights: if these rights or warnings are not read/issued at the time of arrest statements made by a suspect may not be used against him or her at trial.
Do constitutions protect civil liberties against infringement by private individuals (or businesses) or do constitutions only protect against infringement by government?
o Only protect against government infringement
What did Congress do in 1988 to compensate Japanese Americans for their internment during World War II?
o Paid each survivor $20,000.
Be able to match the modern liberal, conservative, and libertarian perspective on FDR's New Deal.
o People on the left think it was wise and proper, though some, particularly social democrats and democratic socialists, regret that it did not go further in securing what FDR called the Second Bill of Rights. Conservatives tend to think parts of the New Deal were beneficial and necessary (at least at the time), but they tend to lament the fact that it put the federal government on a long-term path to the modern welfare state. And libertarians think the whole thing was unnecessary, ineffective, improper, and harmful.
The police power is the other Supreme Court doctrine fundamental to American federalism. What is meant by "the police power"? (HINT: It is not about police officers.) What does it have to do with the constitutional law of American federalism? Are there any constitutional limits on the police power of the state governments?
o Police power: The idea that a government has inherent authority to make laws and regulations to promote the health, safety, welfare, and morals of the people. (10th amendment says gov. doesn't have inherent police power). The only limits on the police power of state governments are the limits placed on them by the U.S. Constitution and/or their own state constitutions; other than that, they may do whatever they choose to promote the health, safety, welfare, and morals of the people.
The European conquest of North America, in particular, decimated the indigenous peoples' populations by 90%. How did the long-term effects of this extreme population loss impact the rise of the American Indian Movement?
o Pressure from AIM and other groups helped bring about the passage of the American Indian self determination and educational assistance act of 1975. Indigenous Americans demanded increased aid to the impoverish reservations in an increased say in how the aid would be spent.
Which kind can only be prohibited by laws passed by legislatures or regulatory agencies?
o Private
Which kind of discrimination (public or private) is prohibited by the Constitution?
o Public
What is meant by the terms "public discrimination" and "private discrimination"?
o Public discrimination is discrimination by the govt. while private is discrimination by a private citizen
What is the concept of reparations? And what does it have to do with the racial wealth gap in the U.S.
o Reparations is the concept of whether and how the federal, state, and local government in the United States should come and say African-American citizens today with the deprivation of integration of us accumulation they suffer on account of slavery in the discrimination in the past. Because of the slavery in discrimination they suffered the wealth gap between white and black families is huge and only growing
o In 1896, in Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court established the doctrine of separate but equal. What was this doctrine? What was its significance for the Jim Crow system of segregation?
o Separate but equal - allowed separate facilities for African Americans as long as they were considered "equal" o Deflated any hope that American political institutions would confront racial injustice
What is meant by the term "patriarchy"?
o Social order in which men are predominant and status, authority, and power. As well as ideas, structures, and institutions that can be tracked back for thousands of years around the world
How did Ronald Reagan try to reign in the size and influence of the federal government? Were these measures successful? Why, after three decades of decline, did the national debt double during the 1980s (when Reagan was president)?
o Starve the beast: Drastically reducing taxes and thereby forcing the federal gov. to cut spending. Reduce fed gov. spending on grants-in-aid. Converted categorical grants to block grants. Ended Nixon's general revenue sharing program, which left states w/choice of either ending the programs that had been finance by those grants or financing them with their own state tax revenues. Tax cuts reduced revenue but spending actually increased during Reagan's presidency. o Reagan's tax cuts reduced federal revenue and therefore increased federal spending; increase in military spending to defeat Soviet Union and could easily borrow money to pay for spending programs
Since 1937, the Supreme Court has applied the "substantial effects doctrine" for interpreting the Commerce Clause. This has greatly expanded the federal government's authority to regulate the economy and society more broadly. What is this doctrine?
o Substantial effects doctrine: The federal government may regulate any economic activity that has a substantial effect on interstate commerce. Presumption of constitutionality: If Congress claims that an economic activity has a substantial effect on interstate commerce, then the Court presumes that it does have a substantial effect and almost always declares a regulation of that activity constitutional under the authority of the Commerce Clause.
What were the goals of the Chicano Movements of the 1960s and how do they relate to the UFW?
o The Chicano movement of the 1960s stood for a number of civil rights issues which affected Mexican-Americans. one of the major leaders of the Chicano movement was Cesar Chavez, a labor organizer who how to create the united farmworkers of America a labor union which organize strikes on Latin X farmworkers to force growers to concede to better working conditions in the field, leading to an ultimately successful California group strike.
What standards were set by the Supreme Court's 1993 ruling on sexual harassment lawsuits?
o The Supreme Court stated that it was not necessary for plaintiff in a sexual harassment case to show severe psychological injury. It is enough that the work environment would be perceived as a reasonable person as being hostile or abusive
What was "the Great Compromise"? Why was the Constitutional Convention in a stalemate before it? What were the names of the two main plans that were being debated before the Great Compromise broke the stalemate? What was the scheme of representation in each plan?
o The Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan o The Virginia Plan proposed having the number of representatives allocated to each state in Congress be based on the size of each state's population (proportional representation) o The New Jersey Plan proposed retaining the Articles of Confederation's scheme of representation wherein each state had an equal number of votes (equal state representation) o They understood that whoever had the most votes in Congress would be able to determine the laws and policies that affected everyone else o Citizens in small states did not want to be outvoted in Congress by large states and the same for large states o The stalemate between large and small states was finally broken when Roger Sherman of Connecticut proposed a compromise arrangement o By his proposal, the Great compromise, there would be a bicameral legislature
What is strict scrutiny? What does it have to do with the Sherbert Test?
o The approach taken by courts when reviewing potentially unconstitutional govt. actions. It is the second phase of the Sherbert Test to see if the actions are actually unconstitutional.
During the Critical Period, many political leaders contended Americans would be much better off if the states remained united rather than separate and isolated. Be sure to know and understand the reasons why unification was desired and argued for by these political leaders.
o The argument made by political leader during the era was that no matter how difficult it was for the states to remain together in a single union, things would be worse if they disunited. o They were much better able to defend themselves from common security threats if they were united than if they were disunited. o If these and other conflicts made for intense political struggles when they were bound together in a single union, they had a good reason to think these conflicts could become intense military struggles if they were no longer united under a common government and constitution. o If they disunited the states found themselves often at war with each other or merely apprehensive of war with each other- the result would be a creation of large standing armies.
What is judicial review?
o The authority of courts to decide whether acts of government are constitutional or unconstitutional.
Generally speaking, has the power and authority of the national government increased or decreased over time?
o The authority of the national government has increased. 1.)Changes in What the people want the federal gov. to do. 2.)Changes in the federal govs. constitutional authority 3.)Changes in the power of the purse 4.)Changes in the number and power of federal bureaucratic agencies
The state constitutions drafted during the Revolution expanded voting rights compared to previous democratic systems, but they still excluded a majority of the population. Some states excluded more than others, but no state had anything close to universal adult enfranchisement, which is the baseline expectation in democracies today. Make sure to know which social groups (based on race, gender, and property ownership) could vote in all of the states and which social groups could not vote in any of the states.
o The constitutions shared certain features, (1) tightly democratically controlled legislatures, (2) separation of powers in theory but legislative dominance in reality, (3) declarations of individual rights COULD VOTE: White Men COULD NOT VOTE: Women Slaves
What was the Critical Period?
o The critical period (1783-1789) was a time when America's revolutionary experiment in democratic government was on the verge of ending in disaster.
What was the primary obstacle to amending the Articles of Confederation? And how did the Founders get around this obstacle in order to establish the U.S. Constitution in 1787- 88?
o The obstacle was that in the Articles of Confederation, the only lawful way to amend the Articles was by unanimous consent of the state legislatures o The solution was that the Founders decided to submit the Constitution to a special popularly elected ratifying conventions in each state o And to make things easier, instead of requiring all thirteen states to ratify they only required that nine out of thirteen state conventions ratify.
What does the "right to privacy" have to do with "unenumerated constitutional rights"?
o The right to privacy for an individual isn't stated in the constitution but is understood to be present for everyone.
What caused the Supreme Court to adopt a new interpretation of the federal government's constitutional authority from 1937 onwards?
o The threat of the court-packing plan created by FDR in his second term.
What is the Lemon Test and why is it associated with the Establishment Clause?
o The three-part test enunciated in Lemon v. Kurtzman is used to assess whether a law violates the Establishment Clause.
In Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), the Supreme Court replaced the "trimester framework" (from Roe v. Wade) with something called the "undue burden standard"? What according to the textbook did the "undue burden standard" open the door for pro- life leaders to successfully implement?
o The trimester framework limited the free choice, the undue burden standard allows for laws that intend to inform the woman but not unduly burden the free choice. o Tighter restrictions on abortion at the state level.
Be sure to know and understand the sources of the ideas that influenced the Founders as they drafted constitutions during and after the Revolutionary War. For example, who was Montesquieu and what was his significance? And what was the Age of Enlightenment?
o They made some genuine innovations; they also drew from a lot of preexisting materials. o They drew from their own experiences under their colonial systems of government o They sought guidance from the leading writers on what the founders called "the science of politics" o The revolution occurred during a period in history called "the Age of Enlightenment" (1685-1815), which was a period marked by a high-level of optimist about the capacity for human beings to use reason to better understand their world and to thereby improve the human condition o Montesquieu was one of the great philosophers of the enlightenment period. He conceived the idea of separating government authority into the three major branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. This perspective significantly influenced the authors of the constitution in establishing laws and division of duties, and also in the inclusion of provisions to preserve individual liberties.
The "marriage law doctrine of coverture" is just one example of historical barriers faced by women in the U.S. What does this term mean? And what are some other examples of historical barriers faced by women according to the textbook?
o Under this, women sacrifice most of their rights and very legal existence to their husband upon being right. According to this long-standing legal conception of marriage, married woman could not on property, enter to contracts, or earn a salary in their own name.
Among other things, changes in how the Supreme Court interpreted the Constitution beginning in 1937 paved the way for the modern welfare state. What is meant by "welfare state"? How has it impacted American federalism?
o Welfare state: Federal gov. has responsibility to secure rights to a good education, decent home, adequate medical care, and protection form the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment."
According to the textbook, what are the central issues today surrounding the deportation of illegal immigrants
o What are their children are deemed citizens or illegal immigrants as well
There are two phases in the Sherbert Test. Which questions are asked are in each phase?
o has two phases. replaced the Belief-Action Distinction as the Court's primary approach to deciding Free Exercise Clause cases. requires the application of "strict scrutiny review" if it is shown that (1) a person has a claim involving a sincere religious belief, and (2) the government action in question is an actual burden on the person's ability to act on that belief. became the Court's primary approach to deciding Free Exercise Clause cases in the early 1960s. was (temporarily) abandoned by the Court in the early 1990s when it decided that the Free Exercise Clause requires "strict scrutiny review" only if a law in question is not neutral toward religions and does not aim at restricting religious practice.
According to the textbook, looking ahead to the future of federalism, why are population aging and the rising costs of healthcare increasingly putting pressure toward greater federal government spending? Unless something is changed, the national debt will continue to grow. How are Republicans and Democrats currently differing in their approaches to this challenge?
o the reason for this is partly our aging population (i.e., an increasingly high percentage of the population older than retirement age) and partly the rising cost of healthcare. Government health insurance programs (e.g., Medicare) account for such a large percentage of the federal budget because healthcare is so expensive in the United States. o Consequently, reducing the debt (or at least halting its growth) will require reducing spending and/or increasing taxes
The U.S. Constitution "delegates" powers to the federal government in two ways:
through enumerated powers and implied powers.
Fighting words and obscenity?
• According to the Supreme Court, which of the following forms of expression are entitled to less First Amendment protection than ordinary forms of political expression: flag burning; slander of public figures; obscenity; student speech (in public schools); hate speech; the spending of money on political campaigns; "fighting words;" expression that merely promotes (but is unlikely to actually produce) lawless action; content-neutral restrictions on the time, place and/or manner in which ideas are expressed; expression that promotes, and is likely to incite or produce, imminent lawless action; libel of public figures
Is it liberals or is it conservatives who tend to favor gun rights more than gun control? How do proponents of gun rights differ from proponents of gun control in how they interpret the Second Amendment?
• Conservative • Gun rights promote the people having the right to keep and bear arms. Gun control promote the militia being able to have guns
Has the U.S. Supreme Court incorporated the Second Amendment under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment.
• Yes
According to recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, does the Second Amendment protect a right for individuals to own firearms for self-defense? Or does it only instead protect the right for persons to own guns for purposes of serving in a "well-regulated militia"?
• Yes for self-defense, and in the homes
According to the Declaration, what is the source of government's legitimate authority?
▪ "instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed"
What does the Declaration claim about human equality?
▪ "that all men are created equal"
What does the Declaration claim about natural rights?
▪ "that they are endowed by their creater with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"
What does the Declaration say about the legitimate ends (i.e., purpose) of government?
▪ "that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed"
According to the Declaration, what do the people have the right to do when confronted with a government that is destructive of the ends which governments should serve?
▪ "that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness
What are the two important principles found in the Tenth Amendment?
▪ 1.) The authority of the federal government is limited to only those legal powers that are delegated to it by the U.S. Constitution ▪ 2.) Unless the U.S. Constitution (or state's constitution) prohibits a state from exercising a particular power, then the state is presumed to have that power.
What do these terms—enumerated / implied powers—mean?
▪ A complete, ordered listing of all the items in a collection. Implied: Understood by the text of the constitution but not specifically listed.
Be sure to know and understand how the 16th amendment impacted American federalism in these ways: What is meant by "progressive income tax"?
▪ A fairer tax that would reduce economic inequality
How did this and other riots and massacres impact the civil rights movement and African American rights?
▪ Allowed whites to inflict violence on african americans with no fear of legal consequence
What does Oliver Wendell Holmes' notion of a "marketplace of ideas" have to do with the Court's insistence that content-based restrictions are almost always in violation of the constitutional right to free expression?
▪ Because expressions change and should not be regulated by the govt. rather the marketplace. The people will decide which expressions are wrong and which are right.
The Original Constitution protected slavery in at least four different ways. o Why did anti-slavery delegates want slaves to NOT be counted at all for purposes of calculating each state's number of representatives? Why did slave- state delegates want each slave to be counted as at least three-fifths of a person (if not as a whole person)? What's the name of the compromise that was reached over how to count slaves?
▪ Because the Constitution's protections for slavery were an embarrassment that should be concealed as much as possible ▪ Delegates from slaves states were of the view that state population should recounted as a total number of inhabitants-i.e including slave. ▪ The idea was that this would guarantee slave states majority of seats in the House of Representatives. ▪ When measuring population sizes for purposes of apportioning representatives in the House, each slave would count as three fifths of a person
In what case did the Supreme Court declare that the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place in public education?
▪ Brown vs board of educations
What is the Necessary and Proper Clause? What are "amendment-enforcing provisions"? How are they sources of implied powers?
▪ Congress has authority to make laws that are necessary and proper for executing the enumerated powers. Amendment-enforcing provisions: Implicate that Congress have power to enact laws that are "appropriate" for assuring an amendment is being upheld.
What is meant by "content-neutral regulations" and what do they entail?
▪ Content neutral refers to laws that apply to all expression without regard to the substance or message of the expression. Such laws generally regulate only the time, place, and manner of speech in contrast to content-based laws, which regulate speech based on content.
Be sure to know and understand the current status of these discriminatory laws or practices that have impacted the LGBTQ+ community (see the table in the textbook):
▪ Discrimination against LGBTQ+ persons in housing is illegal under state law in 23 states and DC due. To supreme court decision in 2020 the federal fair housing act now protects LGBTQ+ persons from discrimination in buying or leasing homes in taking out mortgages.
What is the Electoral College? How did it work? And how did the Electoral College give slave states extra voice in the selection of the President?
▪ Electoral College-the number of Electors in each state would be equal to the number of representatives each state had in the House of Representatives and in the Senate ▪ States would get more or fewer Presidential Electors depending on the number of representatives allocated to them in the House of Representatives. ▪ Since the number of seats in the House was to be based on population, it followed that states with smaller populations would get fewer Electors to vote for President and larger states would get more Electors
What is the Supremacy Clause?
▪ Establishes that all federal laws-including those of the U.S. Constitution, congressional statutes, executive orders, and treaties-are supreme over state and local laws.
What happened during the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906?
▪ Five day rampaged, within blocks of GSU atlanta Campus, estimated 10000 whites stormed through atlanta beating every black person insights killed 22-25 african americans, injured over 100 more and burned black homes and businesses to the ground
Using the power of the purse, how has the federal government influenced state governments?
▪ Got state gov's. to implement national programs that the federal gov. couldn't feasibly (or constitutionally) implement on its own.
Make sure to know and understand the first five design principles of the Articles of Confederation : 1. confederal structure (i.e., the "great radical vice in the construction of the ... Confederation")
▪ In confederacies, there is a central government and state government, but the system is designed such that the states maintain as much sovereignty and independence as possible ▪ States in a confederacy cede only as much power to the central government as is absolutely necessary for the government to maintain good relations between the states and for coordinating collective action to achieve common purposes especially conducting diplomacy and fighting wars ▪ Most importantly in a confederacy the central government does not claim direct authority, or directly exercise power, over individual persons, instead it only claims authority, and seeks to exercise power, over the state governments.
What is the exclusionary rule? What is its purpose? Why are a growing number of constitutional scholars, lawyers and judges questioning its wisdom?
▪ Inability to use evidence that was acquired against the law. ▪ To prevent law enforcement abuse to citizens. ▪ Because it allows criminals to get away and doesn't necessarily inhibit the police from doing illegal things
What role did white supremacist terror organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan, play in perpetuating the Jim Crow system?
▪ Intimidated anyone into not making a change in the system.
Generally speaking, how do liberals and conservatives tend to differ in how they interpret civil liberties pertaining to the criminal justice system?
▪ Liberals tend to be more concerned with protecting rights of criminal suspects and convicts, Conservatives tend to be more concerned with the empowerment of the enforcement.
The Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination protects just about everyone when they are being officially questioned, but it is more strongly protected for criminal defendants.
▪ Miranda rights
What, according to the textbook, is "the primary purpose" of the 4th Amendment?
▪ Most law enforcement activities are conducted by state and local police departments and most criminal trials take place in state courts and pertain to state criminal laws.
Why, according to the textbook, is the incorporation of criminal justice rights under the 14th Amendment "especially important"?
▪ Most law enforcement activities are conducted by state and local police departments and most criminal trials take place in state courts and pertain to state criminal laws.
How did the NAACP help end the peonage system?
▪ Multifaced campaign of resistance ▪ They were able to convince President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his attorney general to crack down on the peonage system. in 1941 the attorney general ordered the department of justice to aggressively prosecute peonage cases, which finally brought the illegal and unjust practice to an end.
What impact did this have on voting in the South?
▪ Only whites were voting
What does the term "requisition" mean? How did it function under the Articles of Confederation? Why did the central government's reliance on requisitions for raising revenue contribute to the weakness of the government?
▪ Requisition- request that the state governments pay money to congress. ▪ Under the article it could not levy taxes directly on the people, it could only levy requisitions on state governments.
What does "reasonable expectation of privacy" have to do with how the Supreme Court has interpreted the 4th Amendment?
▪ Search may not be unreasonable. Search warrants require probable cause. Warrants must come from judge. Warrants need to be specific
What's the difference between "selective incorporation" and "total corporation"? Which approach has the U.S. Supreme Court used?
▪ Selective is gradual, total is all at once. Selective.
What has the impact of the progressive income tax been in the U.S. since 1894?
▪ Shifted tax burden from falling hardest on low income citizens to high income citizens. Declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court in 1895. Ratified as 16th amendment in 1913 by Congress.
In what state did the most lynchings occur between 1877-1950? How many lynchings occurred across the nation during this period?
▪ Southern states, and in no state more than Georgia ▪ Over 4000 African Americans
Make sure to know and understand the first five design principles of the Articles of Confederation : 3. Lack of clear supremacy of treaties and other national laws:
▪ States often passed laws that contradicted the terms of treaties entered into by the U.S with foreign countries. ▪ This in turn tensions with foreign countries and rendered it difficult to cooperate for mutual benefits
Make sure to also know and understand the sixth design principle of the Articles of Confederation discussed in the textbook. (See all below with additional guiding questions) 6. No Direct Control by the People over Congress
▪ The Articles of Confederation gave the people no direct control over Congress. ▪ That is, the people did not elect their representatives in Congress, ▪ Instead, every members of Congress were appointed by the state legislatures.
Make sure to know and understand the first five design principles of the Articles of Confederation : 5. Super majority voting in congress
▪ The Articles of Confederation stated that for Congress to enact any important policy, the support of a supermajority of nine states (70%) was required.
What did the Original Constitution establish about the Atlantic Slave Trade?
▪ The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person ▪ This clause guaranteed that Congress would not ban the slave trade prior to 1808, which was twenty years after the they expected the constitution to be ratified
What was "the great and radical vice" in the design of the Articles of Confederation according to Alexander Hamilton? Why did this "vice" contribute so greatly to the weakness of the Articles of Confederation?
▪ The confederal structure was the vice, and the reason for the weakness of the articles was that it created a government that was too weak by extension, allowed the states to have too much power and independence
Make sure to know and understand the first five design principles of the Articles of Confederation : 4. Tight control of congressional delegates by state legislatures:
▪ The delegates who served in the Congress were tightly controlled by the state legislatures. ▪ Legislatures were required to select delegates every year but were also allowed to recall any delegate at any time and replace that person with a new delegate. ▪ This alone gave state legislatures extensive leverage over delegates
What, according to the textbook, is the purpose (or "aim") of these rules and procedures?
▪ To prevent and punish crime while also leading government to respect the rights of the innocent, the accused, and even the guilty.
Make sure to know and understand the first five design principles of the Articles of Confederation : 2. No district branches of government (simply a unicameral legislature).
▪ With no executive branch, there were no permanent government departments or agencies committed to carrying out public policy. ▪ And this also meant there was no branch constitutionally dedicated to engaging in diplomacy, meeting with ambassadors from foreign countries, or with commanding the military during times of war.
Is income tax a major revenue source for the federal government or is it less important?
▪ Yes, revenue from income tax has allowed the gov. to spend than state and local combined since 1940
What did the Fugitive Slave Clause do?
▪ granted slave owners a constitutional right to recapture runaway slaves who had fled to other states, including states where slavery was illegal ▪ it took away the right of states to pass laws to protect and/or emancipate runaway slaves
What is "Incorporation"? What does it have to do with the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment?
▪ incorporation is the name for when the U.S. Supreme Court holds that a civil liberty from the Bill of Rights applies to state governments (rather than only the federal government) through the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause's
