Civics, Government, and Political Science
Civics, Government, and Political Science covers the foundations of American constitutional government, federalism, civil liberties and rights, political behavior and institutions, comparative government, and international relations. Questions often require you to trace a power to its constitutional source.
Core rules and concepts
- Separation of powers with checks and balances: Congress legislates and confirms, the president vetoes and appoints, courts review. Each check is specific and limited.
- Federalism: delegated (enumerated) powers, reserved powers (Tenth Amendment), concurrent powers, and implied powers via the necessary and proper clause. The Supremacy Clause makes federal law supreme over conflicting state law.
- Judicial review was asserted in Marbury v. Madison (1803); McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) upheld implied powers and denied states the power to tax a federal instrumentality.
- Civil liberties vs. civil rights: liberties are protections from government overreach; rights are claims to equal treatment.
- Political science: public opinion, interest groups, parties, media, and elections; American elections use single-member districts with plurality winners, which tends toward two parties, unlike proportional representation.
- Oregon is notable for its early adoption of the initiative and referendum in 1902, direct-democracy tools that remain central to state politics.
Worked example
A state taxes the local branch of a national bank, arguing the bank's charter is federal. Reasoning: under McCulloch, Congress may charter a bank under implied powers, and because the power to tax is the power to destroy, a state may not tax the instrument the federal government uses to carry out a legitimate power. The correct principle is implied federal power plus state immunity from taxing federal instrumentalities - not the Commerce Clause alone.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing the House (revenue, impeachment initiation) with the Senate (advice and consent, ratification, trial).
- Treating the Bill of Rights as applying to states before incorporation.
- Assuming initiatives, referenda, and recalls are nationwide rather than state-level tools.