Government Honors Review – Flashcards
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What role does a president play when celebrating a national holiday?
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Cheif of State
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What is logrolling?
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the practice of exchanging favors, especially in politics by reciprocal voting for each other's proposed legislation.
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What was the turning point that gave rise to the modern institutional presidency?
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the economic and social turmoil of the Great Depression
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How does the White House staff differ from the president's Cabinet?
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They have more influence on the president
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What type of due process protects citizens from arbitrary or unjust state or federal laws?
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Judicial Interpretation
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What government entity has the power to settle disputes between the states?
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Supreme Court
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On average, how many people does each member of the House represent?
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700,000
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How might presidents use their powers of persuasion in the legislative process?
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in leading public opinion to support their policy agendas
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What amendment limits the president to two terms?
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22nd Amendment
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What is cloture?
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a procedure for ending a debate and taking a vote
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What first lady acted as a surrogate for her partially paralyzed husband?
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Eleanor Roosevelt
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What amendment gave women the right to vote?
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19th Ammendment
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How can the Congress change a decision of the Supreme Court?
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Constitutional Convention or an Amendment
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What is the Full Faith and Credit Clause?
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addresses the duties that states within the United States have to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state."
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In what court do cases generally begin?
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Trial
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What do proponents of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility call its prisoners?
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enemy combatants
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What agency examines the cost implications of a proposed bill?
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Office of Management and Budget
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What is jurisdiction?
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the official power to make legal decisions and judgments.
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What type of legislature did the United States have under the Articles of Confederation?
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Unicameral
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Nullification was particularly prominent during what era in American history?
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Civil war era
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What amendment sets out the basic requirements for procedural due process?
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5th amendment
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According to the Constitution, how is the president supposed to be elected?
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Electoral College
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What clause in the Constitution requires states to return criminals to states where they have been convicted of a crime?
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Article 4
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What is an amicus curiae brief?
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Legal briefs submitted by a "friend of the court" for the purpose of raising additional points of view and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties. These briefs attempt to influence a court's decision.
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Why was the War Powers Resolution (1973) adopted by Congress?
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to reinvigorate the role of Congress in the conduct of war
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Who was the author of the Declaration of Independence?
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Thomas Jefferson
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Selective incorporation makes the protections from the Bill of Rights applicable to the states through what amendment?
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14th amendment
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How many citizens did the Constitution initially mandate that each member of the House of Representatives should represent?
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30,000
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What is an oligarchy?
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a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution.
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Who represents the federal government in the Supreme Court?
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Solicitor General
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What institutional resource is closest to the president?
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White House Staff
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Aside from the First Amendment, what portion of the U.S. Constitution deals with the relationship between the state and religion?
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Article 6
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What was the main purpose for the March on Washington?
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Jobs and Freedom in the nation's capital.
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How many amendments have been made to the Constitution since its ratification?
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27 Amendments
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How does "pork" legislation aid the district of a member of Congress?
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Increasing jobs and revenue with federally funded projects.
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What is a conference committee?
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A committe that resolves disagreements on a particular bill.
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What are civil liberties?
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individual rights protected by law from unjust governmental or other interference.
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What is the major function of the Cabinet?
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To help the president exicute laws
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What type of court is the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veteran's Claims?
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Legislative
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What do proponents of judicial activism believe?
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believe that the federal courts must correct injustices when the other branches of the federal government, or states, refuse to do so.
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Who presides over trials for presidential impeachment?
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Cheif Justice
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How is a vice presidential vacancy filled?
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Presidential Nomination
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What is an unfunded mandate?
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a statute or regulation that requires a state or local government to perform certain actions, with no money provided for fulfilling the requirements
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Of the fifty-five delegates who attended some portion of the Constitutional Convention, how many ultimately signed it?
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39
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What did the Supreme Court determine was unconstitutional in Brown v. Board?
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Segregation of schools
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Why do incumbents have such a huge advantage?
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name recognition, access to media, and franking privilege
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What president is arguably the first modern president?
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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What did Abington School District v. Schempp find to be unconstitutional?
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Prayer in Public Schools
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How are the Fourteenth Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 similar?
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Equal rights for african americans
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What did Jim Crow laws mandate?
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racial segregation in all public facilities in southern states of the former Confederacy
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What rule bars the use of illegally seized evidence at a trial?
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Exclusionary rule
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What Amendment guarantees citizens the right to vote regardless of race?
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15th amendment
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What is mercantilism?
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belief in the benefits of profitable trading; commercialism.
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What is the current legal status of American Indian tribes?
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They are sovereign nations
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What was the primary focus at the Seneca Falls Convention?
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Women's rights
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In order to prevent tyranny, what did Benjamin Franklin think had to be included in the Constitution?
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Impeachment
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What is nullification?
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a legal theory that a state has the right to invalidate any federal law which that state has deemed unconstitutional.
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How has the Equal Rights Amendment affected women's civil rights?
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It has had little effect because it was not formally adopted
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What is direct democracy?
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a form or system of democracy giving citizens an extraodinary amount of participation in the legislation process and granting them a maximum of political self-determination.
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In the House of Representatives, who is second in authority to the Speaker of the House?
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Majority Leader
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Congressional whips serve what main function?
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persuade party members to the party line
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What is executive privilege?
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the privilege, claimed by the president for the executive branch of the US government, of withholding information in the public interest.
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In what year was the Constitution ratified?
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1787
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In what system of government do local and regional governments derive authority from the national government?
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Unitary System
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In what Article can the necessary and proper clause be found?
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Article 1
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What Plan proposed proportional representation in both the House and the Senate?
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Virginia Plan
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What is the principle that each branch of the federal government has the means to thwart or influence actions by other branches of government?
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Checks and Balances
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How might a bill become a law if it has been pocket vetoed?
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The bill must be reintroduced in the next session of Congress.
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What Amendment allowed voting for citizens who were eighteen or older?
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26th amendment
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What is a writ of certiorari?
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orders a lower court to deliver its record in a case so that the higher court may review it.
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What is apportionment?
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measures the population so that seats in the U.S. House of Representatives can be correctly apportioned among the states.
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What type of grants typically allocate federal dollars based on population?
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Categorical Grants
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Amendment Process Method 1
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Proposed by CONGRESS by a 2/3 Vote in both houses. Ratified by state LEGISLATURE in 3/4 of states.
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What plan called for a one-house legislature and multi-person executive?
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New Jersey Plan
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What Amendment provides for direct election of Senators?
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17th Amendment
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For a case to be heard in the Supreme Court, a minimum of how many justices must vote to hear the case?
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4
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What law created the basic three-tiered structure of the federal court system?
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The Judiciary Act
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The rights of what groups were enhanced in Lawrence v. Texas?
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Lesbian and Gays
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In what article can the procedure for amending the Constitution be found?
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Article 4
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What is the purpose of the Council of Economic Advisers?
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to advise the president on economic policy
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What for was required from the states for ratification under the Articles of Confederation?
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13 states had to agree to ratify
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In what federal courts are trials conducted?
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Trial courts of General Jurisdiction
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What occurs during the appropriations process?
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Congress grants funds to federal agencies and programs.
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In the United States, the government derives its power from whom?
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The people
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Historically, how are vice-presidential candidates chosen?
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Politically Balance the ticket
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What is libel
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a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation.
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What is slander?
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the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation.
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What are reserved powers?
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The powers that remain with the states after other powers were delegated to the national government by the Constitution.
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What cause prevents the national government from sanctioning an official religion?
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Free Excersize Clause
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What Supreme Court case developed the exclusionary rule?
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Weeks v. United States
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What Supreme Court case established judicial review?
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Marbury v. Madison
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What party favored a strong national government?
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Federalist party
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What is original jurisdiction?
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power to hear a case for the first time
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What strategy did the NAACP use most effectively to advance civil rights for African Americans?
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Litigation
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What Article of the Constitution created the federal judiciary?
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Article 3
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What are concurrent powers?
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powers in nations with a federal system of government that are shared by both the State and the federal government.
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Under the Constitution, who elects the president?
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Ellectoral college
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What was the three-fifths compromise?
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Allowed the south more representation in the government by making 3 out of 5 slaves 1 american
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On what is indirect democracy based?
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Representation
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In what year was the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution?
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1789
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Amendment Process Method 2
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Proposed by CONGRESS by a 2/3 Vote in both houses. Ratified by state LEGISLATURE in 3/4 of states.
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Amendment Process Method 3
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Proposed at NATIONAL CONVENTION called by congress when requestion by 2/3 of State Legislatures. Ratified by the State LEGISLATURE in 3/4 of the states.
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Amendment Process Method 4
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Proposed at NATIONAL CONVENTION called by congress when requestion by 2/3 of State Legislatures. Ratified by CONVENTIONS held in 3/4 of states.