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| Either knowledge of a defamatory statement’s falsity or a reckless disregard for the truth. |
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| A policy in educational admissions or job hiring that gives special attention or compensatory treatment to traditionally disadvantaged groups in an effort to overcome present effects of past discrimination. |
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| An individual who opposed the ratification of the new Constitution in 1787. The Anti-Federalists were opposed to a strong central government. |
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| Rule by the “best”; in reality, rule by an upper class. |
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| The first act in a criminal proceeding, in which the defendant is brought before a court to hear the charges against him or her and enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. |
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| A type of regime in which only the government itself is fully controlled by the ruler. Social and economic institutions exist that are not under the government’s control. |
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| The right and power of a government or other entity to enforce its decisions and compel obedience. |
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| A legislature made up of two parts, called chambers. The U.S. Congress, composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate, is a bicameral legislature. |
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| Federal programs that provide funds to state and local governments for general functional areas, such as criminal justice or mental-health programs. |
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| In the context of civil rights, the transportation of public school students from areas where they live to schools in other areas to eliminate school segregation based on residential patterns. |
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| An economic system characterized by the private ownership of wealth-creating assets and also by free markets and freedom of contract. |
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| Federal grants to states or local governments that are for specific programs or projects. |
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| A major principle of the American system of government whereby each branch of the government can check the actions of the others. |
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| A nonviolent, public refusal to obey allegedly unjust laws. |
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| The law regulating conduct between private persons over noncriminal matters. Under civil law, the government provides the forum for the settlement of disputes between private parties in such matters as contracts, domestic relations, and business interactions. |
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| Those personal freedoms that are protected for all individuals. Civil liberties typically involve restraining the government’s actions against individuals. |
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| Generally, all rights rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. |
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| Clear and Present Danger Test |
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| The test proposed by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes for determining when government may restrict free speech. Restrictions are permissible, he argued, only when speech presents a “clear and present danger” to the public order. |
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| The section of the Constitution in which Congress is given the power to regulate trade among the states and with foreign countries. |
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| Advertising statements, which increasingly have been given First Amendment protection. |
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| Judge-made law that originated in England from decisions shaped according to prevailing customs. Decisions were applied to similar situations and thus gradually became common to the nation. |
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| A revolutionary variant of socialism that favors a partisan (and often totalitarian) dictatorship, government control of all enterprises, and the replacement of free markets by central planning. |
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| Powers held jointly by the national and state governments. |
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| A system consisting of a league of independent states, each having essentially sovereign powers. The central government created by such a league has only limited powers over the states. |
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| A political system in which states or regional governments retain ultimate authority except for those powers they expressly delegate to a central government. A voluntary association of independent states, in which the member states agree to limited restraints on their freedom of action. |
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| The idea that governments and laws derive their legitimacy from the consent of the governed. |
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| A set of beliefs that includes a limited role for the national government in helping individuals, support for traditional values and lifestyles, and a cautious response to change. |
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| The theory that the states and the national government should cooperate in solving problems. |
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| The law that defines crimes and provides punishment for violations. In criminal cases, the government is the prosecutor because crimes are against the public order. |
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| Racial segregation that occurs because of past social and economic conditions and residential racial patterns. |
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| Racial segregation that occurs because of laws or administrative decisions by public agencies. |
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| Wrongfully hurting a person’s good reputation. The law imposes a general duty on all persons to refrain from making false, defamatory statements about others. |
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| A system of government in which political authority is vested in the people. Derived from the Greek words demos (“the people”) and kratos (“authority”). |
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| A republic in which representatives elected by the people make and enforce laws and policies. |
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| The transfer of powers from a national or central government to a state or local government. |
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| A system of government in which political decisions are made by the people directly, rather than by their elected representatives; probably attained most easily in small political communities. |
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| The values, customs, and language established by the group or groups that traditionally have controlled politics and government in a society. |
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| A system in which the states and the national government each remain supreme within their own spheres. The doctrine looks on nation and state as co-equal sovereign powers. Neither the state government nor the national government should interfere in the other’s sphere. |
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| Elastic Clause, or Necessary and Proper Clause |
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| The clause in Article I, Section 8, that grants Congress the power to do whatever is necessary to execute its specifically delegated powers. |
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| A group of persons called electors selected by the voters in each state and the District of Columbia (D.C.); this group officially elects the president and vice president of the United States. The number of electors in each state is equal to the number of each state’s representatives in both chambers of Congress. The Twenty-third Amendment to the Constitution grants D.C. as many electors as the state with the smallest population. |
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| A perspective holding that society is ruled by a small number of people who exercise power to further their self-interest. |
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| Powers specifically granted to the national government by the Constitution. The first seventeen clauses of Article I, Section 8, specify most of the enumerated powers of the national government. |
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| As a political value, the idea that all people are of equal worth. |
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| The part of the First Amendment prohibiting the establishment of a church officially supported by the national government. It is applied to questions of state and local government aid to religious organizations and schools, questions of the legality of allowing or requiring school prayers, and questions of the teaching of evolution versus fundamentalist theories of creation. |
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| A policy forbidding the admission at trial of illegally seized evidence. |
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| An international agreement between chiefs of state that does not require legislative approval. |
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| A twentieth-century ideology— often totalitarian—that exalts the national collective united behind an absolute ruler. Fascism rejects liberal individualism, values action over rational deliberation, and glorifies war. |
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| A requirement in federal legislation that forces states and municipalities to comply with certain rules. |
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| A system of government in which power is divided between a central government and regional, or subdivisional, governments. Each level must have some domain in which its policies are dominant and some genuine political or constitutional guarantee of its authority. |
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| The name given to one who was in favor of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and the creation of a federal union with a strong central government. |
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| The movement that supports political, economic, and social equality for women. |
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| The provision of the First Amendment guaranteeing the free exercise of religion. |
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| An order issued by a judge restricting the publication of news about a trial or a pretrial hearing to protect the accused’s right to a fair trial. |
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| Any practice, policy, or procedure that denies equality of treatment to an individual or to a group because of gender. |
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| The institution in which decisions are made that resolve conflicts or allocate benefits and privileges. It is unique because it has the ultimate authority within society. |
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| A device used by southern states to disenfranchise African Americans. It restricted voting to those whose grandfathers had voted before 1867. |
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| The compromise between the New Jersey and the Virginia plans that created one chamber of the Congress based on population and one chamber representing each state equally; also called the Connecticut Compromise. |
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| Someone who can claim a heritage from a Spanish-speaking country. The term is used only in the United States or other countries that receive immigrants—Spanish-speaking persons living in Spanish-speaking countries do not normally apply the term to themselves. |
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| A comprehensive set of beliefs about the nature of people and about the role of an institution or government. |
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| The view that most of the protections of the Bill of Rights apply to state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause. |
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| A procedure by which voters can propose a law or a constitutional amendment. |
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| An ongoing organization that performs certain functions for society. |
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| An agreement between two or more states. Agreements on minor matters are made without congressional consent, but any compact that tends to increase the power of the contracting states relative to other states or relative to the national government generally requires the consent of Congress. Such compacts serve as a means by which states can solve regional problems. |
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| The power of the Supreme Court or any court to declare unconstitutional federal or state laws and other acts of government. |
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| A governmental body primarily responsible for the making of laws. |
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| Popular acceptance of the right and power of a government or other entity to exercise authority. |
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| A written defamation of a person’s character, reputation, business, or property rights. |
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| A set of beliefs that includes the advocacy of positive government action to improve the welfare of individuals, support for civil rights, and tolerance for political and social change. |
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| A political ideology based on skepticism or opposition toward almost all government activities. |
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| The greatest freedom of individuals that is consistent with the freedom of other individuals in the society. |
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| The principle that the powers of government should be limited, usually by institutional checks. |
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| A test administered as a precondition for voting, often used to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote. |
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| A structure of government proposed by James Madison in which the powers of the government are separated into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. |
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| A political theory holding that in a democracy, the government ought to do what the majority of the people want. |
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| Full age; the age at which a person is entitled by law to the right to manage her or his own affairs and to the full enjoyment of civil rights. |
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| A basic principle of democracy asserting that the greatest number of citizens in any political unit should select officials and determine policies. |
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| Forced retirement when a person reaches a certain age. |
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| Rights held to be inherent in natural law, not dependent on governments. John Locke stated that natural law, being superior to human law, specifies certain rights of “life, liberty, and property.” These rights, altered to become “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” are asserted in the Declaration of Independence. |
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| In contract law, necessaries include whatever is reasonably necessary for suitable subsistence as measured by age, state, condition in life, and so on. |
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| A state of peace and security. Maintaining order by protecting members of society from violence and criminal activity is the oldest purpose of government. |
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| A model of federalism in which specific programs and policies (depicted as vertical pickets in a picket fence) involve all levels of government—national, state, and local (depicted by the horizontal boards in a picket fence). |
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| A theory that views politics as a conflict among interest groups. Political decision making is characterized by bargaining and compromise. |
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| The authority to legislate for the protection of the health, morals, safety, and welfare of the people. In the United States, most police power is reserved to the states. |
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| The collection of beliefs and attitudes toward government and the political process held by a community or nation. |
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| The process through which individuals learn a set of political attitudes and form opinions about social issues. The family and the educational system are two of the most important forces in the political socialization process. |
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| The struggle over power or influence within organizations or informal groups that can grant or withhold benefits or privileges. |
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| A special tax that must be paid as a qualification for voting. The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution outlawed the poll tax in national elections, and in 1966 the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in all elections. |
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| The concept that ultimate political authority is based on the will of the people. |
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| Restraining an action before the activity has actually occurred. When expression is involved, this means censorship. |
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| Anything that is or may be subject to ownership. As conceived by the political philosopher John Locke, the right to property is a natural right superior to human law (laws made by government). |
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| Public officials, movie stars, and other persons known to the public because of their positions or activities. |
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| A procedure allowing the people to vote to dismiss an elected official from state office before his or her term has expired. |
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| An electoral device whereby legislative or constitutional measures are referred by the legislature to the voters for approval or disapproval. |
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| A legislature composed of individuals who represent the population. |
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| A form of government in which representatives elected by the people make and enforce laws and policies; may retain the monarchy in a ceremonial role. |
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| A form of government in which sovereignty rests with the people, as opposed to a king or monarch. |
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| The charge that an affirmative action program discriminates against those who do not have minority status. |
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| Separate-but-Equal Doctrine |
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| The doctrine holding that separate-but-equal facilities do not violate the equal protection clause. |
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| The principle of dividing governmental powers among different branches of government. |
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| Unwanted physical or verbal conduct or abuse of a sexual nature that interferes with a recipient’s job performance, creates a hostile work environment, or carries with it an implicit or explicit threat of adverse employment consequences. |
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| The public uttering of a false statement that harms the good reputation of another. The statement must be made to, or within the hearing of, persons other than the defamed party. |
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| A voluntary agreement among individuals to secure their rights and welfare by creating a government and abiding by its rules. |
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| A political ideology based on strong support for economic and social equality. Socialists traditionally envisioned a society in which major businesses were taken over by the government or by employee cooperatives. |
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| A group of people occupying a specific area and organized under one government; may be either a nation or a subunit of a nation. |
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| A legal writ requiring a person’s appearance in court to give testimony. |
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| The right to vote; the franchise. |
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| The constitutional provision that makes the Constitution and federal laws superior to all conflicting state and local laws. |
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| A doctrine that asserts the priority of national law over state laws. This principle is rooted in Article VI of the Constitution, which provides that the Constitution, the laws passed by the national government under its constitutional powers, and all treaties constitute the supreme law of the land. |
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| Nonverbal expression of beliefs, which is given substantial protection by the courts. |
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| A term derived from the Greek phrase meaning “rule by God” or “rule by the deity.” In a theocracy, the governing principles are rooted in religious precepts—there is no separation of church and state. |
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| A form of government that controls all aspects of the political and social life of a nation. |
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| A legislature with only one legislative chamber, as opposed to a bicameral (two-chamber) legislature, such as the U.S. Congress. Today, Nebraska is the only state in the Union with a unicameral legislature. |
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| A centralized governmental system in which local or subdivisional governments exercise only those powers given to them by the central government. |
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| The right of all adults to vote for their representatives. |
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| A state primary election that restricts voting to whites only; outlawed by the Supreme Court in 1944. |
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| Habeas corpus means, literally, “you have the body.” A writ of habeas corpus is an order that requires jailers to bring a prisoner before a court or judge and explain why the person is being held. |
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