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A.P. Government Study Guide

Constitutional Underpinnings of United States Government

Chapter 2

What were the differences between the Federalists and Anti-federalists?

Know the differences between the Virginia and New Jersey plans. What was the compromise that settled the differences between the two?

What were the problems with the Articles of Confederation?

Know the methods to amending the Constitution What were the steps/documents that led to the Constitution?

What were the Federalist Papers? Know your articles and amendments!Chapter 3

What is federalism? Know the difference between cooperative and dual federalism and the eras of each.

Know the court cases McCulloch v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden, and Dred Scott v. Sandford. What are the necessary and proper clause, full faith and credit clause, privileges and immunities clause, and the supremacy clause?

What are the differences between enumerated, reserved, and concurrent powers? What are categorical and block grants? What are they used for?Political Beliefs and BehaviorsChapter 11:Public Opinion and Political Socialization

-What factors determine who will vote versus who will not vote? What is the #1 factor in determining if a person is going to vote?- What is Public Opinion?

- How does political socialization and other factors influence opinion formation? What is the #1 factor that will determine how a person forms their political opinion?

Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Mass Media

Chapter 13: Voting and Elections-What were some of the many changes in the focus of campaigns (after the 1968 Election)?

-What are primaries & caucuses? How does this system work? How are presidential candidates chosen/how is the field narrowed to one in each major party?

-What is the Federal Election Commission? What rules have they established and what do effect they have on current elections?

-How does the Electoral College choose our President?

-What is hard money and what is soft money? Explain how the use of each has changed.

- What is the role of money in campaigns? What campaign finance reforms have been adopted? What effects have they had?

- What are the positive and negative features of Political Action Committees? How might they affect politicians and policymaking?

- How do campaign images and issues conflict, or do they? What is the role of the media in shaping both?

Chapter 14: Nominations & Campaigns-How is a candidate nominated for the presidency? What functions do national party conventions perform? What criticisms have been raised about the nomination process? Is it a representative process?-What is the role of money in campaigns? What campaign finance reforms have been adopted? What effects have they had?

-What are the positive and negative features of Political Action Committees? How might they affect politicians and policymaking?- What is soft and hard money?

- What influence did Buckley v. Valeo have on personal contributions?Chapter 16: Interest Groups

-What are Interest Groups? How do they fulfill their roles of representation, participation, education, program monitoring and agenda building?

-What is a Political Action Committee? What does a PAC do?

-What is the free rider problem? Be able to supply examples.

-What are the various tactics that lobbyists use? Know that their most important resource is information (even more than money or the threats they may hint at).

-What are iron triangles?Institutions of National GovernmentChapter 7Congress

-Where did our bicameral legislature form/get its start?

-What is reapportionment and how does it affect the House? What is the national trend of population growth? - What is gerrymandering and who does it benefit? How has race become an important factor and what has the Supreme Court ruled about gerrymandering?

-What are the various aspects of the Incumbency Effect? Be sure to know the concepts as well as the vocabulary (incumbent, casework, the franking privilege)?

-How does a bill become a law? Study the Y-chart (which is similar to whats on page 348) and familiarize yourself with committees (leadership and membership in, types of and work that they do). - Once legislation goes to the president, what are his/her options with a bill? If the president signs a bill, what does Congress do once it has become law?

-What are the leadership positions in each house? What role do they play in the process?

-What are the differences between rules of debate in the House & Senate? What is a filibuster and how is this used? How does cloture play a role in this special power?

-What are the various roles members of Congress play to represent their constituents.- What does pork barrel refer to?Chapter 8: The Presidency-What are inherent and constitutional powers of the president?- What checks and balances does the president have over Congress and the Supreme Court?

- Which article established the Executive Branch?

- What is the line of succession after the President of the United States?

- Which amendment established the term limits for the president?

Chapter 9: The Federal Bureaucracy

- How does one become a bureaucrat? What myths surround the bureaucracy in the U.S.?

- How is the United States bureaucracy organized? What policymaking roles do the different federal agencies play?

-What is policy implementation and what are its main features? What factors facilitate and what factors hinder successful implementation of a public policy? Use specific examples of implementation to illustrate your points.

- What is needed for an agency to perform its regulatory role? What are the pros and cons of deregulation?- What is a coalition? Coalition building?Chapter 10: The Judiciary-Explain the structure of the American judicial system. What are the differences between the federal district courts, courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court?

-What is the process by which members of the Supreme Court are chosen? How does the appointment process for other federal courts differ?- What is judicial review and in which court case was it given to the Supreme Court?- How do courts shape public policy in their decisions and in the opinions by judges used to justify decisions? What effect have the courts had on the policy agenda?-How do court decisions become public policy? What is involved in judicial implementation?

-What has the Supreme Court ruled on the issue of capital punishment? Abortion? Public PolicyChapter 17: Social Welfare Policymaking

- What are the different types of social welfare programs in the U.S. and how do they compare to social welfare programs in other countries?

- What are the major problems facing social welfare programs today?

- Describe the debate concerning the causes of poverty and whether social welfare policies really work.

Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

Chapter 5: Civil Liberties

-What is the relationship between the national government and the states in the protection of civil liberties? How was the issue of protecting civil liberties at the state level resolved?

-How has religious freedom been interpreted by the Supreme Court? Be sure to include a discussion of the establishment clause and the free exercise clause.

-Identify the various types of speech. Categorize the different types of speech according to the extent to which they are protected by the Constitution. Give examples of court cases that have helped to establish these protections.

-What are the constitutional protections of persons accused of crimes, and where are they found? How has the Supreme Court interpreted and shaped these protections? - Know the cases: Plessey v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education.Chapter 6: Civil Rights-What does the U.S. Constitution say about equality?

-What have been the different eras in the struggle for racial equality? What public policy achievements were made in each era?

-Explain how the right to vote has been extended in the United States to include both African Americans and women. How was the struggle for suffrage among these two groups similar and different?

-What policies have resulted from the struggle for equal rights for women? Explain the controversy over the issue of comparable worth.

-What is meant by affirmative action? What are the pros and cons of affirmative action? How has the Supreme Court dealt with the issue of affirmative action?