Government 2305 Williams
After reading Chapters 1,2,3,4, and 5 in your text and attending the lectures you should be able to:
Chapter 1: The American Heritage
Describe politics, and the conditions that contribute to political conflict in society.
Define government.
Describe public policy.
Describe political culture, and what the author of
your text refers to as “
Describe the other
principles that your author includes in the core ideals: individualism,
unity, and diversity.
Define power, and the impact of the competition for power within American politics.
Define authority.
Describe what is meant by limited government, and how it is incorporated into our system of government.
Describe the characteristic of the extreme fragmentation of governing authority within the American political system.
Define democracy.
Define constitutionalism
Define capitalism.
Define sovereignty.
Define legitimacy.
Describe the four theories of power as stated in the text:
1) majoritarianism
2) pluralism
3) elitism
4) bureaucratic
rule
Understand the model of the American political system as shown in the textbook.
Chapter 2: Constitutional Democracy
Describe what is meant by a “social contract”.
Understand the influence of John Locke on the framers of the Constitution, and his ideas for limited government, individual rights, and natural law.
Know who Baron de Montesquieu was, and the impact of his ideas in the creation of our political system.
Understand the changing nature of life (economic, social, and political) in the colonies, and how this was having an impact on political forces in America.
Describe the objectives of the framers of the constitution: limited government and self-government, and how framers sought to balance these competing objectives.
Describe the significance of the Declaration of Independence.
Describe how the Articles of Confederation organized
the first government of the
Describe what the original purpose of the 1787 Constitutional Convention was to be.
Describe separation of powers, and how the framers of the Constitution set about to put this in place.
Describe checks and balances
Describe why the framers were concerned with the tyranny of the majority.
Describe the difference between the Framers' use of the terms "republic" and "democracy".
Describe the Bill of Rights, and what conditions led to the inclusion of these in the Constitution.
Describe constitutional democracy.
Describe the “Great Compromise”.
Describe the “North-South (3/5’s) Compromise”.
Describe what is meant by inalienable (natural) rights.
Differentiate between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists on the question of constitutional ratification.
Differentiate between “direct democratic government” and “indirect representative government”.
Explain the significance of the Supreme Court's decision in Marbury v. Madison (1803) and the concept of judicial review.
Describe how the framers’ sought to limit government power through specific grants of power and denials of power.
Describe Jeffersonian democracy.
Describe Jacksonian democracy its direct impact on democracy in the United States.
Describe the impact of the progressive era on democracy in the United States.
Chapter Three: Federalism
Define federalism.
Describe how federalism differs from confederacy and a unitary structure of government.
Describe the impact of the Supreme Court case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819).
Describe sovereignty.
Differentiate between enumerated, implied, and reserved powers as provided for in the U.S. Constitution.
Describe the necessary and proper (elastic) clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Describe the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Distinguish between dual and cooperative federalism.
Describe fiscal federalism and distinguish between federal grants-in-aid, categorical grants, and block grants.
Describe devolution.
Chapter Four: Civil Liberties
Describe and be able to give examples of civil liberties.
Describe the liberties guaranteed of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Describe how freedom of expression is so essential to a democratic government.
Describe how the Supreme Court uses tests to determine the constitutionality of laws, and be able to define the following tests: clear-and-present-danger test; imminent-lawless-action test.
Describe symbolic speech.
Describe prior restraint.
Define slander and libel and how it relates to freedom of expression.
Describe the “due process of law” clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Describe the effect of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Gitlow v. New York (1925).
Define selective incorporation.
Describe the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment and how it is interpreted.
Describe the concept of a “wall of separation”.
Describe the “free exercise clause” of the First Amendment and how it differs from the “establishment clause”.
Identify what the right of privacy is, what it protects, and how it was created and defined by the Supreme Court.
Define due process.
Describe procedural due process, the procedural rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and how the Supreme Court has altered those rights through its rulings.
Define exclusionary rule.
Chapter Five: Equal Rights
Describe civil rights, and be able to distinguish it from civil liberties.
Describe the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.
Explain what "equality under the law" means.
Describe the “equal protection of the laws” clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Describe the provisions of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968.
Describe the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Distinguish between de jure and de facto segregation.
Describe the intentions of equality of result policies.
Define affirmative action, describe what it was designed to achieve, and how the Supreme Court has viewed it.