Practice Quiz 3

Categorical grants

Congressional grants given to states and localities on the condition that expenditures be limited to a problem or group specified by law

Unitary system

A centralized government system in which lower level of government have a little power independent of the national government

Devolution

A policy to remove a program from one level of government by delegating it or passing it down to a lower level of government, such as from the national government to the state and local governments

Federalism

A system of government in which power is divided, by a constitution, between the central (national) government and the regional (state) goverments

Federal system

A system of government in which the national government shares the power with lower levels of government such as states

Cooperative federalism

A type of federalism existing since the New Deal era in which grants-in-aid have been used strategically to encourage states and localities (without commanding them) to pursue nationally defined goals; also known as "intergovernmental cooperation"

Commerce clause

Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution, which delegates to Congress the power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nation, and among the several States and with the Indian Tribes"; this clause was interpreted by the Supreme Court in favor of national power over the economy

New Federalism

Attempts by presidents Nixon and Reagan to return power to the states through block grants

Concurrent powers

Authority possessed by both state and national governments, such as the power to levy taxes

Block grants

Federal grants-in-aid that allow states considerable distinction in how the funds are spent

Which term describes the sharing of powers between the national government and the state governments?

Federal system

Which constitutional clause has been central in debates over the same-sex marriage because it requires that states normally honor the public acts and judicial decisions of other states?

Full faith and credit clause

Home rule

Power delegated by the state to a local unit of government to manage its own affairs

Police power

Power reserved to the state government to regulate the health, safety, and morals of its citizens

Implied powers

Powers derived from the necessary and proper clause of Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution; such powers are not specifically expressed, but are implied through the expansive interpretation of delegated powers

Reserved powers

Powers, derived from the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, that are not specifically delegated to the national government or denied to the states

Grants-in-aid

Programs through which Congress provides money to state and local governments on the condition that the funds be employed for purposes defined by the federal government

Necessary and proper clause

Provision from Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution providing Congress with the authority to make all laws necessary and proper to carry out its expressed powers

Full faith and credit clause

Provision from Article 4, Section 1 of the Constitution requiring that the states normally honor the public acts and judicial decisions that take place in another state

Privileges and immunities clause

Provision, form Article 4, Section 2 of the Constitution, that a state cannot discriminate against someone from another state or give its own residents special privileges

Unfunded mandates

Regulations or conditions for receiving grants that impose costs on state and local governments for which they are not reimbursed by the federal government

Expressed powers

Specific powers granted by the Constitution to Congress (Article 1, Section 8) and to the president (Article 2)

Which amendment to the to the Constitution stated that the powers not delegated to the national government or prohibited to the states were "reserved to the states"?

Tenth Amendment

Preemption

The principle that allows the national government to override state or local actions in certain policy areas; in foreign policy, the willingness to strike first in order to prevent an enemy attack

States' rights

The principle that the states should oppose the increasing authority of the national government; this principle was most popular in the period before the Civil War

Dual federalism

The system of government that prevailed in the United States form 1789 to 1939 in which most fundamental government powers were shared between the federal and state governments

When state and local government must conform to costly regulations or conditions in order to receive grants but do not receive reimbursements for their expenditures from the federal government it is called

an unfunded mandate.

the process of returning more of the responsibilities of governing from the national level to the state level is known as

devolution.

The system of federalism that allowed states to do most of the fundamental governing from 1789-1937 was

dual federalism

To what does the term New Federalism refer?

efforts to return more policy-making discretion to the states through the use of block grants

Many states have amended their constitutions to guarantee that large cities will have the authority to manage local affairs without interference from state government. this power is called

home rule.

Beginning in 1937 the Supreme Court laid the groundwork for a stronger federal government by

issuing a number of decisions that dramatically expanded the definition of the commerce clause.

The form of regulated federalism that allows the federal government to take over areas of regulation formerly over-seen by states or local government is called

preemption.

One of the most powerful tools by which the federal government has attempted to get the states to act in ways that are desired by the federal government is by

providing grants-in-aid.

A state government's authority to regulate the health, safety, and morals of its citizens is frequently referred to as

the police power.

General revenue sharing

the process by which one unit of government yields a portion of its tax income to another unit of government, according to an established formula; revenue sharing typically involves the national government providing money to state governments