Midterm review Pols 155

• Why did the Articles of Confederation fail?

  -the national government could not regulate foreign trade or interstate commerce(each state had it's own currency)

  -the national government could not raise an army

  -The national government could not impose taxes on citizens

  -No taxes, no power, no Federal government
• What significance does Shays' Rebellion hold?

  -proved that the Federal Government and the Articles of Confederation were too weak and a stronger national government was needed.

  -The rebellion failed but revealed the Articles' weaknesses
• Compare the Virginia and New Jersey Plans.

  Virginia Plan

  • Edmund Randolph
  • Legislative representation based on population(and for other large states)
  • Bicameral legislature (consisting of two houses)
  • the number of a state's representatives in each house was to be based on the state's population

  New Jersey Plan

  • William Paterson
  • Each state to have equal representation in the national legislature(and for other small states)
  • Unicameral legislature ( had one house)
  • State-based( each state equally represented)
• What was established by the Great Compromise?

  -Congress would consist of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

  -Representation in the House would be based on population

  -the Senate was for states with equal representation regardless of population
• What was the outcome of the Three-Fifths Compromise?

  -How to count slaves(for the purposes of determining representation in the House of Representatives)

  -Every slave would be counted as three-fifths of a free person

  -Seats in the House would be apportioned by "population", which involved counting five slaves as three free persons.

  Northern states vs Southern states

  -Southern states used the three-fifths compromise to increase their population in order to have representation in the House.
• The framers of the Constitution had three major goals in crafting the document:

  1. To increase the power of the national government;

  Discuss the mechanisms incorporated into the Constitution to achieve these goals.

  To increase the power of the national government

  -congress became stronger and more powerful

  -congress could now levy taxes

  -could regulate interstate, international trade

  -Only national government can issue money

  -independent executive and judicial branches

  -congress had simple majorities(subject to veto)
• The framers of the Constitution had three major goals in crafting the document:

  1. To curb “excessive democracy”

  Discuss the mechanisms incorporated into the Constitution to achieve these goals.

  -Bicameralism

  -Senate's staggered 6-year terms

  -State legislatures chose Senators(changed to popular vote through the 17th Amendment, 1913)

  -Electoral college(Indirect presidential election)

  -life tenure of federal judges
• The framers of the Constitution had three major goals in crafting the document:

  1. To limit the potential for government abuse.

  Discuss the mechanisms incorporated into the Constitution to achieve these goals.

  -Separation of powers, checks and balances

  -Divided constituencies: officeholders are accountable to different elements of the public

  -Federalism and Bill of Rights
• Why were the Anti-Federalists against the ratification of the Constitution?

  -Favored retaining power in state governments

  -small farmers, debtors, and shopkeepers
• What did the Anti-Federalists demand in relation to the ratification of the Constitution?

  The Bill of Rights(the 10 amendments, this guaranteed individual liberties and protection from the governments)
• What is Dual Federalism?

  -A system of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres, each responsible for some policies

  -the states and the national government preside over mutually exclusive spheres of sovereignty

  -national side and state side
• what is sovereignty?

  -Political authority(ultimate political authority)
• where is sovereignty in Federalism?

  -it's shared/divided(a central government and regional governments)

  -3 systems of government( Unitary, Confederal, & Federal)
• What is Cooperative Federalism?

  -Both levels of government coordinated their actions to solve national problems( the Great Depression and the Civil Rights movement)

  -authority was mixed among national, state, and local governments
• What is devolution?

  -transferring responsibility from the federal government to state or local governments

  -the passing down of authority from national government to the state/local governments
• Commerce clause (Article 1)

  -commerce power became the major source of national government

  -was used to justify the expansion of the national government

  -protect rights of workers

  -Extend low-interest credit to farmers and small businesses

  -restrict activities of corporations with dealings in stock market
• Necessary and proper clause/elastic clause (Art. I)(implied powers)

  -Provides Congress with authority to make all laws that are "necessary and proper" to carry out its enumerated powers
• Expressed/Enumerated powers

  -Specific powers granted by the Constitution to Congress
• Full faith and credit clause (Art. IV)

  -States are expected to honor the public acts and judicial decisions that take place in another state
• Privileges and immunities clause/comity clause (Art. IV)

  -A state cannot discriminate against someone from another state or give privileges to its own residents only.
• Supremacy clause (Art. VI)

  -The constitution and national laws are the supreme law of the land

  -national laws and treaties are the "Supreme law of the land"
• Reserved powers(10th Amendment)

  -Powers not specifically delegated to the national government or denied to the states

  -state powers

  -Police powers: powers reserved to state government to regulate the health, safety, and morals of it's citizens
• Where in the Constitution can we find state powers?

  -Not in the articles, but in the 10th Amendment
• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)(national law)

  -Established the principle of implied powers(necessary and proper clause)

  -Affirmed the supremacy of federal law over state law(supremacy clause/"supreme law of the land")

  -The Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Congress had, through its implied powers, the legal right to charter a national bank

  -implied powers, national supremacy(supremacy clause)
• Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)(state law)


  -Ogden and the steamboat industry

  -Interstate commerce (transportation)

  -Established the principle of federal supremacy in matters of interstate commerce(commerce clause)

  -The Supreme Court established the supremacy of the national government in all matters affecting interstate commerce
• United States v. Lopez (1995)

  -Gun-free School Zones Act (1990)

  -ban possession of handguns near schools

  -For the first time since the New Deal, the US Supreme Court set limits to Congress's power under commerce clause

  -Struck down Gun-Free school Zones Act(1990)
• United States v. Windsor (2013)


  -Federal estate tax exemption

  -Struck down section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act(DOMA), a federal law that defined marriage as the union between one man and one woman

  -recognization of same-sex marriage by the federal government

  -Federal benefits became available to same-sex married couples
• Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)

  -this legal case struck down section 2 of DOMA

  -Ohio not recognizing same-sex marriage lawfully performed in other states

  -sec 2: states do not have to recognize same-sex marriages that were performed in other states

  -legalized same-sex marriage nationwide

  -Recognition of same-sex marriage as a fundamental right under the U.S. Constitutuion
• what was DOMA?

  -Defense of Marriage Act(1996)

  -Federalism and Same-sex marriage
• What is eminent domain?

  -the power to take away private property for public use(as long as properly compensated)
• Define civil liberties and civil rights.

  Civil liberties- are protections of citizens from unwarranted government action(freedom)-referring to what government must not do

  Civil rights- describe the government's responsibility to protect citizens(equality)- referring to what governments must do
• Which group of people strongly supported adding a bill of rights to the Constitution?

  Anti-Federalists
• What were the Anti-Federalists concerned about regarding tyranny?

  -feared that the new national government would be too powerful and threaten individual liberties

  -the tyranny of minority
• What were the Federalists concerned about regarding tyranny?  

  -tyranny of the majority

  -feared "excessive democracy"
• In their argument against the need for a bill of rights, Alexander Hamilton pointed to rights already contained within the original text of the Constitution, such as _____ (protection against unlawful detention or imprisonment).

  Habeas corpus
• What is the constitutional problem relating to the nationalization of the Bill of Rights?

  -the Supreme Court found that the Bill of Rights limited only the national government and not state governments

  -however, the language in the 14th Amendment suggested that the protections of the Bill of Rights apply to state government as well
•  Explain the concept of selective incorporation.

  -The process by which different protections in the Bill of Rights were incorporated in the 14th Amendment, thus guaranteeing citizens' protection from state as well as national governments.
• Which civil liberty was first incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment as a limitation on state government power?

  -As of the 1960s only the 1st Amendment and one clause of the 5th Amendment (eminent domain).
• Which clause in the First Amendment protects the right to believe in one’s religion of choice?

  -the Free exercise clause
• true or false: Religious practices conflicting with secular law can be regulated?

  true (establishment clause)