Praxis 5087 flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Judicial review

The power of courts to declare legislative or executive acts unconstitutional. Established in Marbury v. Madison (1803) when Chief Justice Marshall ruled a section of the Judiciary Act invalid.

Federalism

A system dividing power between a national government and state governments. In the U.S., the 10th Amendment reserves undelegated powers to the states or the people.

Checks and balances

Constitutional mechanisms letting each branch limit the others: presidential veto, congressional override and impeachment, Senate confirmation, and judicial review of statutes.

Commerce Clause

Article I, Section 8 grants Congress power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce. It has been the main constitutional basis for broad federal economic and civil rights legislation.

Supremacy Clause

Article VI provides that the Constitution and federal laws made under it are the supreme law of the land, binding state judges even when state law conflicts.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments, ratified in 1791, protecting freedoms of speech, press, religion, assembly, and rights of the accused against federal action.

Fourteenth Amendment

Ratified 1868, it grants citizenship, requires due process and equal protection of the laws by states, and provides the basis for applying most Bill of Rights protections to states.

Electoral College

The body that formally elects the president. Each state gets electors equal to its congressional delegation; most states award all electors to the statewide popular vote winner.

Marbury v. Madison

1803 case in which the Supreme Court held that it may review acts of Congress and strike down unconstitutional ones, establishing judicial review.

Brown v. Board of Education

1954 unanimous decision holding racial segregation of public schools unconstitutional, overturning Plessy v. Ferguson's separate-but-equal doctrine and energizing the civil rights movement.

Reconstruction amendments

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, ratified 1865-1870, abolishing slavery, guaranteeing due process and equal protection, and protecting voting rights regardless of race.

Manifest Destiny

Nineteenth-century belief that U.S. expansion across North America was inevitable and justified, motivating annexation of Texas, the Oregon settlement, and the Mexican-American War.

New Deal

Programs from 1933 onward under Franklin Roosevelt that expanded federal regulation and social welfare, including Social Security, the FDIC, and public works employment, in response to the Depression.

Cold War

Geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union from roughly 1947 to 1991, marked by nuclear deterrence, proxy wars, alliances like NATO, and ideological competition.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after 1492, which reshaped diets, populations, and economies worldwide.

Industrial Revolution

The shift beginning around 1750 from hand production to machine manufacturing in factories, driving urbanization, new social classes, and eventually labor and reform movements.

Primary source

A document or artifact created at the time by a participant or witness, such as a letter, photograph, law, or diary. Historians analyze it for authorship, purpose, and bias.

Secondary source

A work that interprets or synthesizes primary evidence, such as a textbook, biography, or scholarly article, produced after the events by someone who did not witness them.

Sourcing a document

Identifying a source's author, date, audience, and purpose before using its content, so its reliability, perspective, and possible bias can be judged.

Corroboration

Comparing multiple sources for agreement and conflict about the same event, which strengthens or weakens claims and reveals differences in perspective.

Latitude and longitude

Latitude measures distance north or south of the equator in degrees, shaping climate; longitude measures east or west of the prime meridian and determines time zones.

Push-pull factors

Conditions that drive migration: push factors such as war, famine, or persecution drive people out; pull factors such as jobs or freedom attract them elsewhere.

Demographic transition

A model describing population change as societies industrialize: death rates fall first, then birth rates fall, shifting from high growth to low growth and aging populations.

Opportunity cost

The value of the next-best alternative given up when a choice is made. It underlies the principle that scarcity forces trade-offs among competing uses of resources.

Supply and demand

Demand generally falls as price rises while supply rises with price; their intersection sets equilibrium price and quantity, and shifts in either curve move equilibrium.

Price floor and ceiling

A price ceiling set below equilibrium causes shortages; a price floor set above equilibrium causes surpluses. Minimum wage is a floor; rent control is a ceiling.

Gross domestic product

The total market value of final goods and services produced within a country in a given period, used to measure economic output and growth.

Inflation

A sustained increase in the general price level that reduces purchasing power. Central banks often respond by raising interest rates to slow demand.

Federal Reserve tools

The U.S. central bank manages money supply and credit mainly through open market operations, reserve requirements, and the discount rate, influencing interest rates and economic activity.

Absolute vs comparative advantage

Absolute advantage means producing more with the same resources; comparative advantage means a lower opportunity cost, which is the basis for gains from trade.

Separation of powers

Dividing governmental authority among legislative, executive, and judicial branches so no single branch holds all power, as outlined in the first three articles of the Constitution.

Political cartoon analysis

Interpreting a cartoon by identifying its subject, symbols, exaggeration, caricature, and caption, then inferring the artist's viewpoint and intended audience.