AP Government Midterm Review

Terms

Chapter 1:

1. Democracy – A system of selecting policy makers and of organizing government

so that policy represents and responds to the public’s preferences.
2. Elite & class theory – Theory of government and politics contending that societies
are divided along class lines and that upper-class elite will rule, regardless of the
formal niceties of governmental organization.
3. Government – The institutions and processes through which public policies are
made for a society.
4. Hyperpluralism – Theory of government and politics contending that groups are
so strong that government is weakened. Extreme, exaggerated, and perverse form
of pluralism.
5. Individualism – Belief that individuals should be left on their own by the
government. Prominence of this belief in America is one reason for the
comparatively small scope of American government.
6. Linkage institutions – Channels through which issues and people’s policy
preferences get on the governments policy agenda.
7. Majority rule – Fundamental principle of traditional democratic theory; choosing
among alternatives requires that majority’s desire be respected.
8. Minority rights – Guarantees rights to those who do not belong to majorities and
allows that they might join majorities through persuasion and reasoned argument.
9. Pluralist theory – Politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one
pressing for its own preferred policies
10. Policy agenda – John Kingdon: “the list of subjects or problems to which
government officials, and people outside of government closely associated with
those officials, are paying some serious attention at any given time.”
11. Policy gridlock – Condition that occurs when no coalition is strong enough to
form a majority and establish policy. Nothing may get done.
12. Policy impacts – Effects of a policy on people and problems.
13. Policymaking institutions – Branches of government charge weth taking action on
political issues. Congress, presidency, courts and bureaucracy.
14. Policymaking system – Process by which political problems are communicated by
the voters and acted upon by government policymakers. Begins with people’s
needs and expectations for governmental action.
15. Political issue – An issue that arises when people disagree about a problem and a
public policy choice.
16. Political participation – All the activities used by citizens to influence the
selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. Voting, protest and civil
disobedience.
17. Politics – Harold Lasswell: “who gets what, when, and how.”
18. Public goods – Goods, such as clean air and clean water, that everyone must
share.
 19. Public policy – Choice that government makes in response to a policy issue.
Policy is a course of action taken with regard to some problem.
20. Representation – Relationship between the few leaders and many followers
21. Single-issue groups: Groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike
compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics.
22. Traditional democratic theory – Theory about how a democratic government
makes its decisions. Cornerstones are equality in voting, effective participation,
enlightened understanding, final control over the agenda, and inclusion.

Chapter 2:

1. Anti-federalists – Opponents of the American Constitution.

2. Articles of Confederation – first Constitution of the U.S. adopted by Congress in
1777, enacted in 1781. Established a national legislature, the Continental
Congress, but most authority rest with state legislatures.
3. Bill of Rights – First 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, drafted in response
to some of the Anti-Federalist concerns. Define such basic liberties as freedom of
religion, speech, and press and guarantee defendants’ rights.
4. Checks & Balances – features of Constitution limiting government’s power by
requiring power to be balanced among different governmental institutions.
Institutions check each others activities.
5. Connecticut Compromise – compromise reached at Constitutional Convention
that established two houses of Congress: House of Representatives (based on
population) and Senate (each state has only two representatives).
6. Consent of the governed – idea that government derives its authority by sanction
of the people.
7. Constitution – nation’s basic law. Creates political institutions, assigns or divides
power in government, and provides certain guarantees to citizens. Written or
unwritten.
8. Declaration of Independence – document approved by representatives of
American colonies in 1776 that stated their grievances against the British
monarch and declared their independence.
9. Factions – interest groups arising from the unequal distribution of property or
wealth that James Madison attacked in Federalist Paper #16.
10. Federalist Papers – collection of 85 articles written by Alexander Hamilton, John
Jay and James Madison under penname “Publius” to defend Constitution.
11. Federalists – supporters of the U.S. Constitution.
12. Judicial review – power of the courts to determine whether acts of Congress, and
by implication the executive, are in accord with the U.S. Constitution.
Established by John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison.
13. Limited government – idea that certain restrictions should be placed on
government to protect the natural rights of citizens.
14. Marbury v. Madison – 1803 case in which Chief Justice John Marshall and his
associates first asserted the right of the Supreme Court to determine the meaning
of the U.S. Constitution.
 15. Natural Rights – rights inherent in human beings, not dependent on governments,
which include life, liberty and property.
16. New Jersey Plan – proposal at Constitutional Convention calling for equal
representation of each state in Congress regardless of state’s population.
17. Republic – government in which people select representatives to govern them and
make laws.
18. Separation of powers – Power of government is shared between executive,
legislative, and judicial branches; each is relatively independent of the others.
19. US Constitution – document written in 1787 - ratified in 1788 - that sets for the
institutional structure of U.S. government and the tasks these institutions perform.
Replaced Article of Confederation.
20. Virginia Plan – proposal at Constitutional Convention calling for representation of
each state in Congress in proportion to that state’s share of the U.S. population.
21. Writ of habeas corpus – court order requiring jailer to explain to a judge why they
are holding a prisoner in custody.

Chapter 3:

1. Block grants – Federal grants given more or less automatically to states or

communities to support broad programs in areas such as community development
and social services.
2. Categorical grants – Federal grants that can be used only for specific purposes, or
“categories,” of state and local spending. They come with strings attached, like
nondiscrimination provisions.
3. Cooperative federalism – System of government in which powers and policy
assignments are shared between states and the national government. Share costs,
administration, and even blame for programs that work poorly.
4. Dual federalism – System of government in which both the states and the national
government remain supreme within their own spheres, each responsible for some
policies. Layered cake.
5. Elastic clause – Authorizes Congress to pass all laws “necessary and proper” to
carry out the enumerated powers.
6. Enumerated powers – Powers of the federal government that are specifically
addressed din the Constitution; for Congress, these include the power to coin
money, regulate its value, and impose taxes.
7. Extradition – Legal process whereby an alleged criminal offender is surrendered
by the official of one state to officials of the state in which the crime is alleged to
have been committed.
8. Federalism – Way of organizing a nation so that two levels of government have
formal authority over the same land and people. It is a system of shared power
between unites of government.
9. Fiscal federalism – Pattern of spending, taxing, and providing grants in the federal
system it is the cornerstone of the national government’s relations with state and
local government.
10. Formula grants – Federal categorical grants distributed according to a formula
specified in legislation or administrative regulations.
 11. Full faith and credit – Clause in Constitution requiring each state to recognize the
official documents and civil judgments rendered by the courts of other states.
12. Gibbons v. Ogden – Landmark case decided in 1824 in which the Supreme Court
interpreted very broadly the clause in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution
giving Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce, encompassing
virtually every form of commercial activity. Commerce clause has been the
constitutional basis for much of Congress’s regulation of the economy.
13. Implied powers – Powers of the federal government that go beyond those
enumerated in the Constitution. The Constitution states that Congress has the
power to “make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution”: the
power enumerated in Article I.
14. Intergovernmental relations – The working of the federal system – the entire set of
interactions among national, state, and local government.
15. McCulloch v. Maryland – 1819 Supreme Court decision that established the
supremacy of the national government over state governments. Chief Justice John
Marshall and his colleagues held that Congress had certain implied powers in
addition to the enumerated powers found in the Constitution.
16. Privileges and immunities – Clause in Constitution according citizens of each
state most of the privileges of citizens of other states.
17. Project grants – Federal grants given for specific purposes and awarded on the
basis of the merits of applications. Type of categorical grant.
18. Supremacy clause – Article VI of Constitution which makes the Constitution,
national laws, and treaties supreme over state laws when the national government
is acting within its constitutional limits.
19. Tenth Amendment – “The powers not delegated to the United Sates by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states
respectively, or to the people.”
20. Unitary government – A way of organizing a nation so that all power resides in
the central government. Most governments today, including Great Britain and
Japan, are unitary governments.

Chapter 4:

1. Bill of Rights –
2. Civil Liberties –
3. Commercial Speech –
4. Cruel and unusual punishment –
5. Eighth Amendment –
6. Establishment clause –
7. Exclusionary rule –
8. Fifth Amendment –
9. First Amendment –
10. Fourteenth Amendment –
11. Free exercise clause –
12. Incorporation doctrine –
13. Libel –
 14. Plea bargaining –
15. Prior restraint –
16. Probable cause –
17. Right to privacy –
18. Search warrant –
19. Self-incrimination –
20. Sixth Amendment –
21. Symbolic Speech –
22. Unreasonable search and seizures –

Chapter 5:

1. Affirmative action –
2. American with Disabilities Act of 1990 –
3. Civil Rights –
4. Civil Rights Act of 1964 –
5. Comparable worth –
6. Equal protection of the Laws –
7. Equal Rights Amendment –
8. Fifteenth Amendment –
9. Fourteenth Amendment –
10. Nineteenth Amendment –
11. Poll Taxes –
12. Suffrage –
13. Thirteenth Amendment –
14. Twenty-fourth Amendment –
15. Voting Rights Act of 1965 –
16. White Primary –

Chapter 6:

1. Census –
2. Civil disobedience –
3. Demography –
4. Exit poll –
5. Gender gap –
6. Melting pot –
7. Minority majority –
8. Political culture –
9. Political ideology –
10. Political participation –
11. Political socialization –
12. Protest –
13. Public opinion –
14. Random digit dialing –
15. Random sampling –
 16. Reapportionment –
17. Sample –
18. Sampling error –

Chapter 7:

1. Beats –
2. Broadcast media –
3. Chains –
4. High-tech politics –
5. Investigative journalism –
6. Mass media –
7. Media event –
8. Narrowcasting –
9. Policy agenda –
10. Policy entrepreneurs –
11. Press conferences –
12. Print media –
13. Sound bites –
14. Talking head –
15. Trial balloon –

Chapter 8:

1. Blanket primaries –
2. Coalition –
3. Coalition government –
4. Closed primaries –
5. Critical election –
6. Linkage institutions –
7. National chairperson –
8. National committee –
9. National convention –
10. New Deal coalition –
11. Open primaries –
12. Party competition –
13. Party dealignment –
14. Party eras –
15. Party identification –
16. Party image –
17. Party machines –
18. Party neutrality –
19. Party realignment –
20. Patronage –
21. Political party –
22. Proportional representation –
 23. Rational-choice theory –
24. Responsible party model –
25. Third parties –
26. Ticket-splitting –
27. Winner-take-all system –

Chapter 9:

1. Campaign strategy –
2. Caucus –
3. Direct mail –
4. Federal Election Campaign Act –
5. Federal Election Commission –
6. Frontloading –
7. McGovern-Fraser Commission –
8. National party convention –
9. National primary –
10. Nomination –
11. Party platform –
12. Political Action Committee –
13. Presidential primaries –
14. Regional primaries –
15. Selective perception –
16. Soft money –
17. Superdelegates –

Chapter 10:

1. Civic duty –
2. Elector College –
3. Initiative petition –
4. Legitimacy –
5. Mandate theory of elections –
6. Motor Voter Act (1993) –
7. Policy voting –
8. Political efficacy –
9. Referendum –
10. Retrospective3 voting –
11. Suffrage –
12. Voter registration –