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Bill of Rights
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Key Terms
Term
Definition
Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, drafted in response to some of the Anti-Federalist concerns. These amendments define such basic lib...
blanket primaries
Elections to select party nominees in which voters are presented with a list of candidates from all the parties. Voters can then select some Democrats...
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 s...
Blue Dog Democrats
Fiscally conservative Democrats who are mostly from the South and/or rural parts of the United States.
Brown v. Board of Education
The 1954 Supreme court decision holding that school segregation in Topeka, Kansas, was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the Fourteenth ...
budget
A policy document allocating burdens (taxes) and benefits (expenditures). See also balanced budget amendment.
Related Flashcard Decks
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Bill of Rights | The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, drafted in response to some of the Anti-Federalist concerns. These amendments define such basic liberties as freedom of religion, speech, and press and offer protections against arbitrary searches by the police and being held without talking to a lawyer. |
blanket primaries | Elections to select party nominees in which voters are presented with a list of candidates from all the parties. Voters can then select some Democrats and some Republicans if they like. See also primaries. |
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. compare categorical grants. |
Blue Dog Democrats | Fiscally conservative Democrats who are mostly from the South and/or rural parts of the United States. |
Brown v. Board of Education | The 1954 Supreme court decision holding that school segregation in Topeka, Kansas, was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. This case marked the end of legal segregation in the United States. See also Plessy v. Ferguson. |
budget | A policy document allocating burdens (taxes) and benefits (expenditures). See also balanced budget amendment. |
budget resolution | A resolution binding Congress to a total expenditure level, supposedly the bottom line of all federal spending for all programs. |
bureaucracy | According to Max Weber, a hierarchical authority structure that uses task specialization, operates on the merit principle, and behaves with impersonality. Bureaucracies govern modern states. |
cabinet | A group of presidential advisers not mentioned in the Constitution, although every president has had one. Today the cabinet is composed of 14 secretaries and the attorney general. |
campaign contributions | Donations that are made directly to a candidate or a party and that must be reported to the FEC. As of 2012, individuals were allowed to donate up to $2,500 per election to a candidate and up to $30,800 to a political party. |
campaign strategy | The master game plan candidates lay out to guide their electoral campaign. |
capitalism | An economic system in which individuals and corporations, not the government, own the principal means of production and seek profits. Pure capitalism means the strict noninterference of the government in business affairs. Compare mixed economy. |
casework | Activities of members of Congress that help constituents as individuals; cutting through bureaucratic red tape to get people what they think they have a right to get. See also pork barrel. |
categorical grants | Federal grants that can be used only for specific purposes, or 'categories.' of state and local spending. They come with strings attached, such as nondiscrimination provisions. Compare block grants. |
caucus | A system for selecting convention delegates used in about a dozen states in which voters must attend an open meeting to express their presidential preference. |
caucus (congressional) | A group of members of congress sharing some interest or characteristic. Most are composed of members from both parties and from both houses. |
caucus (state party) | A meeting of all state party leaders for selecting delegates to the national party convention. Caucuses are usually organized as a pyramid. |
censorship | Governmental regulation of media content. |
census | A valuable tool for understanding demographic changes. The constitution requires that the government conduct an 'actual enumeration' of the population every ten years. See also demography. |
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) | An agency created after World War II to coordinate American intelligence activities abroad and to collect, analyze, and evaluate intelligence. |
chains | Groups of newspapers published by media conglomerates and today accounting for over four-fifths of the nation's daily newspaper circulation. |
checks and balances | Features of the Constitution that limit government's power by requiring each branch to obtain the consent of the others for its actions, limiting and balancing power among the branches. |
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission | A 2010 landmark Supreme Court case that ruled that individuals, corporations, and unions could donate unlimited amounts of money to groups that make independent political expenditures. |
city manager | An official appointed by the city council who is responsible for implementing and administrating the council's actions. More than one-third of U.S. cities use the council-manager form of government. |
civic duty | The belief that in order to support democratic government, a citizen should always vote. |