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| 15604645402 | Federalism | a political system with multiple levels of government, in which each level has independent authority over some important policy areas | 0 | |
| 15604645403 | Confederation | a political system with multiple levels of government, in which lower-level governments retain full sovereignty and cannot be compelled by the national government to act | 1 | |
| 15604645404 | Dual Federlism | A political system in which each level, national and state, is a sovereignty in its on sphere of political authority | 2 | |
| 15604645405 | Cooperative Federlism | A political system in which both levels of government- national and state- are active in nearly all areas of policy and share sovereign authority | 3 | |
| 15604645406 | Intergovernmentalism | a system in which multiple levels of government are active in a given policy area | 4 | |
| 15604645407 | Intergovernmental relations | The relationship between the different levels of government. For example, it may pertain to the struggle between the national government and the states for authority over a specific policy domain, or it may pertain to the coordination of action between the levels in an effort to achieve common goals. | 5 | |
| 15604645408 | Elastics Clause (N&P Clause) | The provision in Article I, Sector 8, of the constitution that states that congress can make what whatever laws are necessary and proper. In order to provide the means to carry out its enumerated powers | 6 | |
| 15604645409 | Commerce Clause | An enumerated power listed in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution that grants Congress the power to "regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes." | 7 | |
| 15604645410 | Grant-in-aid | Money that is distributed to lower-level governments with the purpose of funding special projects | 8 | |
| 15604645411 | Categorical Grant | Grants that narrowly define how the funds are to be spent. These grants normally come with conditions that need to be satisfied in order for money to be used. | 9 | |
| 15604645412 | Revenue Sharing | a principle whereby the national government and the lower-level governments cooperate in funding a project | 10 | |
| 15604645413 | Block grants | sums of money transferred to lower-level governments such that, as long as the general purpose of the grant is met, the lower-level governments are allowed considerable freedom in deciding how the money is spent | 11 | |
| 15604645414 | Ballot initiative | an election in which citizens vote directly on a proposition raised by a group of fellow citizens | 12 | |
| 15604645415 | Referendum | an election in which citizens vote directly on whether to overturn a bill or a constitutional amendment that has been passed by the legislature | 13 | |
| 15604645416 | Recall election | an election during the term of an elected government official in which citizens vote directly on whether to remove the individual from office | 14 | |
| 15604645417 | Home rule | the constitutional or legal authority held by local governments that allows them to govern themselves with little or no interference from the state | 15 | |
| 15604645418 | Unitary system | a political system in which the national government holds ultimate authority over all areas of policy and over the actions of subunit governments | 16 | |
| 15604645419 | Reserve powers | those powers that the Constitution does not grant to the National Government and does not, at the same time, deny to the States | 17 | |
| 15604645420 | Civil rights | Rights that enable individuals to engage in activities central to citizenship or legal immigrant status. Such as voting or petitioning the government. Also ensures all individuals receive due process and equal treatment under the law. Or guarantee freedom from discriminatory actions by others that seek to deny an individual's full status as an equal member of society | 18 | |
| 15604645421 | Civil liberties | freedoms protected from interference by the government, such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion | 19 | |
| 15604645422 | Bill of rights | The first ten amendments to the Constitution which enumerate a set of liberties not to be violated by the government and a set of rights protected by the government | 20 | |
| 15604645423 | Jim Crow Laws | laws passed after the Civil War to establish a system of segregation of public facilities and private establishments that made African Americans second-class citizens | 21 | |
| 15604645424 | Civil rights Movement | a social movement of the 1950s and 1960s focused primarily on the situation of African Americans, but also promoting the goals that all people be treated as equals under the law and that discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, and place of origin be eliminated | 22 | |
| 15604645425 | Due Process | the right to legal protections against arbitrary deprivation of life, liberty, or property | 23 | |
| 15604645426 | Equal Protection | the principle that laws passed and enforced by the states must apply fairly to all individuals | 24 | |
| 15604645427 | Incorporation | the process by which rights and liberties established by the Bill of Rights are applied to state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment | 25 | |
| 15604645428 | Strict Scrutiny | The highest-level standard used by the Supreme Court to determine whether a law is compatible with the Constitution. A law subject to this standard is considered unconstitutional unless it advances a "compelling state interest" and represents the least intrusive means. | 26 | |
| 15604645429 | Rational Basis test | The lowest-level standard used by the Supreme Court to determine whether a law is compatible with the Constitution. A law subject to this standard is assumed to be constitutional as long as its goals are clearly linked to its means. | 27 | |
| 15604645430 | Intermediate scrutiny | An intermediate standard used by the Supreme Court to determine whether a law is compatible with the Constitution. A law subject to this standard is considered constitutional if it advances "an important government objective" and is "substantially related" to the objective | 28 | |
| 15604645431 | Affirmative Action | efforts to redress previous discrimination against women and minorities through active measures to promote their employment and educational opportunities | 29 |
