Political Institutions and Public Policy
What to know
The exam treats institutions as a system of competing authorities. Know colonial legacies (charters, town meetings, colonial assemblies, royal governors), the Articles of Confederation (unicameral Congress, no taxing or commerce power, requisitions, unanimity for amendment), and the Constitutional Convention's compromises: Virginia Plan (population-based), New Jersey Plan (state equality), Connecticut Compromise (bicameral), Three-Fifths Compromise, and the slave-trade clause. Understand federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and ratification: Federalist Papers (Madison, Hamilton, Jay), Bill of Rights, and Anti-Federalist fears of centralized power. Follow the Marshall Court's nationalism (Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden), Jacksonian party politics, nullification, and the Reconstruction amendments.
Traps
Questions often test labels, not just facts. A dispute between Congress and the president is checks and balances; a dispute between a state and the federal government is federalism; a dispute between the House and Senate is bicameralism/separation. Do not assume judicial review is spelled out in Article III-Marbury established it. The Bill of Rights initially restrained the federal government, not the states. "Necessary and proper" supports implied powers; "strict construction" opposes them.
Worked example
A law requires states to enforce a federal regulation. Is the issue federalism or separation of powers? Because the conflict is national vs. state authority, answer federalism. Rule of thumb: identify the two actors first-branch vs. branch, state vs. nation, or majority vs. minority.