1. Federalism - refers to the mixed or compound mode of government, combining a general government (the central or 'federal' government) with regional governments (provincial, state, Land, cantonal, territorial or other sub-unit governments) in a single political system. Its distinctive feature, exemplified in the founding example of modern federalism of the United States of America under the Constitution of 1787, is a relationship of parity between the two levels of government established. It can thus be defined as a form of government in which there is a division of powers between two levels of government of equal status.

2. Supremacy Clause - The Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution (Article VI, Clause 2) establishes that the Constitution, federal laws made pursuant to it, and treaties made under its authority, constitute the supreme law of the land. It provides that state courts are bound by the supreme law; in case of conflict between federal and state law, the federal law must be applied. Even state constitutions are subordinate to federal law. In essence, it is a conflict-of-laws rule specifying that certain national acts take priority over any state acts that conflict with national law. In this respect, the Supremacy Clause follows the lead of Article XIII of the Articles of Confederation, which provided that "Every State shall abide by the determination of the United States in Congress Assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them." A constitutional provision announcing the supremacy of federal law, the Supremacy Clause assumes the underlying priority of federal authority, at least when that authority is expressed in the Constitution itself. No matter what the federal government or the states might wish to do, they have to stay within the boundaries of the Constitution. This makes the Supremacy Clause the cornerstone of the whole American political structure.

3. Amendment Process – Article V = The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

4. The Great Compromise o f 1787 - The Connecticut Compromise (also known as Sherman's Compromise) was an agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. It retained the bicameral legislature as proposed by Roger Sherman, along with proportional representation in the lower

house, but required the upper house to be weighted equally between the states. Each state would have two representatives in the upper house.

5. Separation of Powers - is a political doctrine originating in the writings of Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws where he urged for a constitutional government with three separate branches of government. Each of the three branches would have defined abilities to check the powers of the other branches. This idea was called separation of powers. This philosophy heavily influenced the writing of the United States Constitution, according to which the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of the United States government are kept distinct in order to prevent abuse of power. This United States form of separation of powers is associated with a system of checks and balances. Often imprecisely and metonymically used interchangeably with the trias politica principle,is a model for the governance of a state (or who controls the state). The model was first developed in ancient Greece. Under this model, the state is divided into branches, each with separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with the powers associated with the other branches.

6. Checks and Balances - Legislative Branch

Checks on the Executive o Impeachment power (House)o Trial of impeachments (Senate)o Selection of the President (House) and Vice President (Senate) in the case of no majority of electoral voteso May override Presidential vetoeso Senate approves departmental appointmentso Senate approves treaties and ambassadorso Approval of replacement Vice Presidento Power to declare waro Power to enact taxes and allocate fundso President must, from time-to-time, deliver a State of the Union address Checks on the Judiciary o Senate approves federal judgeso Impeachment power (House)o Trial of impeachments (Senate)o Power to initiate constitutional amendments o Power to set courts inferior to the Supreme Courto Power to set jurisdiction of courtso Power to alter the size of the Supreme Court Checks on the Legislature - because it is bicameral, the Legislative branch has a degree of self-checking. o Bills must be passed by both houses of Congresso House must originate revenue bills

o Neither house may adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other houseo All journals are to be published

Executive Branch

Checks on the Legislature o Veto power o Vice President is President of the Senateo Commander in chief of the militaryo Recess appointmentso Emergency calling into session of one or both houses of Congresso May force adjournment when both houses cannot agree on adjournmento Compensation cannot be diminished

7. Federalist Papers - The Federalist (later known as The Federalist Papers) is a collection of 85 articles and essays written (under the pseudonym Publius) by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788.

8. Madisonian System - The Madisonian Model a philosophy of Presidential conduct that adheres primarily to the denoted powers of the executive branch in the U.S. Constitution. First exhibited by James Madison, the model is a philosophy of the use of the presidential powers. The Madisonian model is a structure of government in which the powers of the government are separated into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. This came about because the delegates saw the need to structure the government in such a way to prevent the imposition of tyranny by either majority or by a minority. James Madison proposed this governmental scheme so that one branch would not accumulate enough power to influence the others (or, in the worst case, become dominant). The separation of powers was by function and also by personnel; this is a result of Congress passing laws, the president enforcing laws, and the courts interpreting the laws. The three branches of government will be independent from each other, yet the three will have to cooperate to govern. In the Federalist Paper No. 51, Madison illustrated his beliefs on how a balance in the power was necessary for a government to exist.

9. Theories of Pluralism - Classical pluralism is the view that politics and decision making are located mostly in the framework of government, but that many non-governmental groups use their resources to exert influence. The central question for classical pluralism is how power and influence are distributed in a political process. Groups of individuals try to maximize their interests. Lines of conflict are multiple and shifting as power is a continuous bargaining process between competing groups. There may be inequalities but they tend to be distributed and evened out by the various forms and distributions of resources throughout a population. Any change

under this view will be slow and incremental, as groups have different interests and may act as "veto groups" to destroy legislation.

10. Republicanism - Republicanism is an ideology of being a citizen in a state as a republic under which the people hold popular sovereignty. Many countries are "republics" in the sense that they are not monarchies. However, this article covers only the ideology of republicanism. Republicanism is a political ideology in opposition to monarchy and tyranny. Republicans hold that a political system must be founded upon the rule of law, the rights of individuals, and the sovereignty of the people.

11. Democracy – (literally "rule of the commoners"), in modern usage, is a system of government in which the citizens exercise power directly or elect representatives from among themselves to form a governing body, such as a parliament. Democracy is sometimes referred to as "rule of the majority". Democracy was originally conceived in Classical Greece, where political representatives were chosen by a jury from amongst the male citizens: rich and poor.

12. Traditional Democratic Theory - The traditional democratic theory emphasizes the values of liberty, equality and justice in any system of governance. It promotes the rule of majority, while protecting minority rights and maintaining the readiness to compromise. The traditional democratic rule recognizes everyone's worth and dignity. The Traditional Theory of Democracy holds that each citizen within the state is equal and their votes count equally. All citizens have the right to participate in the government and voice their opinion, and the people must receive an opportunity to set the political agenda. Finally, the people must have uninhibited and unadulterated access to information and ample time with which to contemplate and form an opinion on a matter.

13. Eras of Federalism –

Dual Federalism was the belief of having separate but equally powerful branches and levels of government, in which the state and national levels would both have a lot of power to balance each other out. Some ways in which this balance was achieved was by what is known as the concurrent powers. In these powers, the powers are shared between the state and federal government. However, as federalism and the nation evolved over time, these concurrent powers blurred and the distinction between them became less clear. This type of federalism is known as "layer cake federalism."

Cooperative Federalism was the belief of all the levels of government working together cooperatively to achieve and solve common problems. This type of federalism was most popular in the 1930’s, following the Great Depression, and lasted up until the 1970’s. In this time period, miscommunication or power struggles between state and national government could not be afforded during the nation’s time of need. The nation needed the government to take control of the situation and fix the present problems, such as the economy. Government funded programs were implemented nationwide to attempt to fix the nation, such as the WPA and REA. As the central government needed a unified plan of action for all of America, certain boundaries that had typically been reserved for the states in the past had to be crossed. Because of this, the distinction between federal and state powers became less defined, resulting in what is known as “marble cake federalism”.

Creative Federalism was the type of federalism that shifted more power towards the national government by bypassing state governments and allowing the federal government to have direct control over statewide programs. This form of federalism is also know as "picket-fence federalism", and was most prevalent during the terms of Lyndon Johnson and his Great Society. The national government began to interfere more in welfare programs in an effort to make a stride towards a better nation, and alleviate some of the problems the nation was faced with at the time. In this era, the state government was generally overlooked as the national government decreed what was to be done in the states, directly affecting the local governments and the citizens of the state. The power of the states weakened during this type of federalism. Grants were used as a way to coerce the state governments into complying with the national government's wishes.

New Federalism evolved with the election of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. In this progression of federalism, more power was returned to the state in an effort to even out the balance of strength between the national and state governments. One way this shift in balance was achieved was block grants. Block grants were essentially grants to the state governments with little description or restrictions on how to handle the money. In this way, the national government was in essence giving states funds for basically whatever they wanted.

14. Political Socialization - is the “study of the developmental processes by which people of all ages and adolescents acquire political cognition, attitudes, and behaviors”. It refers to a learning process by which norms and behavior acceptable to a well running political system are transmitted from one generation to another. It is through the performance of this function that individuals are inducted into the political culture and their orientations towards political objects are formed.

15. Legislative Process - Introduction

Anyone may draft a bill; however, only members of Congress can introduce legislation, and by doing so become the sponsor(s). There are four basic types of legislation: bills, joint resolutions,

concurrent resolutions, and simple resolutions. The official legislative process begins when a bill or resolution is numbered – H.R. signifies a House bill and S. a Senate bill – referred to a committee and printed by the Government Printing Office.

Step 1. Referral to Committee

With few exceptions, bills are referred to standing committees in the House or Senate according to carefully delineated rules of procedure.

Step 2. Committee Action

When a bill reaches a committee it is placed on the committee’s calendar. A bill can be referred to a subcommittee or considered by the committee as a whole. It is at this point that a bill is examined carefully and its chances for passage are determined. If the committee does not act on a bill, it is the equivalent of killing it.

Step 3. Subcommittee Review

Often, bills are referred to a subcommittee for study and hearings. Hearings provide the opportunity to put on the record the views of the executive branch, experts, other public officials, supporters and opponents of the legislation. Testimony can be given in person or submitted as a written statement.

Step 4. Mark Up

When the hearings are completed, the subcommittee may meet to “mark up” the bill, that is, make changes and amendments prior to recommending the bill to the full committee. If a subcommittee votes not to report legislation to the full committee, the bill dies.

Step 5. Committee Action to Report A Bill

After receiving a subcommittee’s report on a bill, the full committee can conduct further study and hearings, or it can vote on the subcommittee’s recommendations and any proposed amendments. The full committee then votes on its recommendation to the House or Senate. This procedure is called “ordering a bill reported.”

Step 6. Publication of a Written Report

After a committee votes to have a bill reported, the committee chairman instructs staff to prepare a written report on the bill. This report describes the intent and scope of the legislation, impact on existing laws and programs, position of the executive branch, and views of dissenting members of the committee.

Step 7. Scheduling Floor Action

After a bill is reported back to the chamber where it originated, it is placed in chronological order on the calendar. In the House there are several different legislative calendars, and the Speaker and majority leader largely determine if, when, and in what order bills come up. In the Senate there is only one legislative calendar.

Step 8. Debate

When a bill reaches the floor of the House or Senate, there are rules or procedures governing the debate on legislation. These rules determine the conditions and amount of time allocated for general debate.

Step 9. Voting

After the debate and the approval of any amendments, the bill is passed or defeated by the members voting.

Step 10. Referral to Other Chamber

When a bill is passed by the House or the Senate it is referred to the other chamber where it usually follows the same route through committee and floor action. This chamber may approve the bill as received, reject it, ignore it, or change it.

Step 11. Conference Committee Action

If only minor changes are made to a bill by the other chamber, it is common for the legislation to go back to the first chamber for concurrence. However, when the actions of the other chamber significantly alter the bill, a conference committee is formed to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions. If the conferees are unable to reach agreement, the legislation dies. If agreement is reached, a conference report is prepared describing the committee members recommendations for changes. Both the House and the Senate must approve of the conference report.

Step 12. Final Actions

After a bill has been approved by both the House and Senate in identical form, it is sent to the President. If the President approves of the legislation he/she signs it and it becomes law. Or, the President can take no action for ten days, while Congress is in session, and it automatically becomes law. If the President opposes the bill he/she can veto it; or, if he/she takes no action after the Congress has adjourned its second session, it is a “pocket veto” and the legislation dies.

Step 13. Overriding a Veto

If the President vetoes a bill, Congress may attempt to “override the veto.” This requires a two thirds roll call vote of the members who are present in sufficient numbers for a quorum.

16. Party Identification - refers to the political party with which an individual identifies. Party Identification is loyalty to a political party. Party identification is typically determined by the political party that an individual most commonly supports (by voting or other means).

Some researchers view party identification as "a form of social identity", in the same way that a person identifies with a religious or ethnic group. This identity develops early in a person's life mainly through family and social influences. This description would make party identification a stable perspective, which develops as a consequence of personal, family, social and environmental factors. Other researchers consider party identification to be more flexible and more of a conscious choice. They see it as a position and a choice based on the continued assessment of the political, economic and social environment. Party identification can increase or even shift by motivating events or conditions in the country.

17. Electoral Coalitions - It is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. Each of the parties within the alliance has its own policies but chooses temporarily to put aside differences in favor of common goals and ideology. On occasion, an electoral alliance may be formed by parties with very different policy goals, which agree to pool resources to stop a particular candidate or party from gaining power.

18. Iron Triangles: In United States politics, the iron triangle comprises the policy-making relationship among the congressional committees, the bureaucracy, and interest groups.

19. Interest Group Activities - Special interest groups, sometimes also described as pressure groups, advocacy groups or lobbyists, play a significant role in the political system of the United States. Such groups can shape elections by verbally endorsing candidates or contributing financially to campaigns with Political Action Committee (PAC) money. Once candidates are elected to office, members of these organizations commonly contact them to encourage support or opposition to legislation.

A more generic definition of a special interest group is a group of people that come together for a common purpose. Not all special interest groups are set up for a political cause. There are special interest groups for many purposes, and you likely belong to one without even knowing it.

20. Media Consolidation- Concentration of media ownership (also known as media consolidation or media convergence) is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media. Over time the amount of media merging has increased and the amount of media outlets have increased. That translates to fewer companies owning more media outlets, increasing the concentration of ownership.[8] In 1983, 90% of US media was controlled by fifty companies; today, 90% is controlled by just six companies - Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, News Corporation, Time Warner, Viacom, and CBS Corporation

21. Forms of Political Participation- New media and technology, such as social networking sites, blogs, online campaign donations, have provided new avenues for political organization and participation.

Citizens can participate in civil society, which is an important part of political participation, through activities like volunteering, attending events associated with causes (like a sporting event or a concert), or joining an interest group or civic organization.

Citizens can also protest, riot, or refuse to vote to demonstrate dissatisfaction with certain elements of their political system.

Citizens also participate in politics by being directly involved in campaigns. Citizens can run for office themselves, donate money or time to candidates, or discuss political issues and campaigns with friends and family.

22. Public Opinion - The desires, wants, and thinking of the majority of the people - or the collective opinion of the people of a society or state on an issue or problem - is called public opinion.

Characteristics of American Public Opinion

In order to understand what America’s national government does and why, we must consider the characteristics of American public opinion in detail.

Ideological Polarization

Ideological polarization is the effect on public opinion when many citizens move away from moderate positions and toward either end of the political spectrum, identifying themselves as either liberals or conservatives. There is no evidence of ideological polarization in public opinion, with a strong majority of Americans identifying themselves as moderates.

Strong dissent on most political issues just appears to be true, because there is no reason to gather data on issues about which a vast majority of Americans hold the same opinion. Thus, the issues that gain strong public recognition are those about which people disagree, and they comprise only a small portion of all of the issues that exist.

Evaluations of Government and Officeholders

It is also important to consider how people view their government: how well or poorly they think their government is doing, whether they trust government, and their evaluations of individual policies. Citizens’ evaluations of specific policies ultimately influence their willingness to vote for incumbent candidates.

Trends in public opinion show levels of trust in government declining steadily since the 1960s. Low levels of trust make it harder for elected officials to enact new policies, especially those that require large expenditures. Although Americans do not like their government in general, they tend to be far happier with their own representatives in Washington.

Policy Preferences

One useful summary measure of Americans’ policy preferences is the policy mood, which captures the level of public support for expanding the government’s role in society and whether the public wants government action on a specific issue. Changes in the policy mood in America have led to changes in defense spending, environmental policy, and race-related policies, and have influenced elections. Turning to specific issues, surveys conducted in the past few years show that most Americans are focused on the same set of issues: Iraq, terrorism, economic conditions, health care, immigration, global warming, and social issues (gay rights and abortion).

23. Survey Methods / Problems: Most information about public opinion generally comes from a mass survey, an in-person or phone interview with hundreds or even thousands of voters. Mass surveys aim to measure the attitudes of a particular population or group of people. Because it is often impossible to interview every member of a large group, surveys typically involve a sample of between a few hundred and several thousand individuals.

Large-scale surveys use various types of questions to measure public opinion. One type of survey question measures preferences using an issue scale, a survey response format in which respondents select their answers from a range of positions between two extremes.

Surveys are composed of random samples, small subsets of the population being studied, in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being studied. Because samples of populations are surveyed rather than every member, the survey results may not be completely accurate. A calculation that describes what percentage of the people surveyed may not accurately represent the population being studied is known as the sampling error. Increasing the number of respondents lowers the sampling error.

Problems Measuring Public Opinion

The accuracy of survey results relies strongly upon building a random sample. One method of random sampling is random digit dialing, in which the interviewers call respondents by dialing random telephone numbers in order to include those with unlisted numbers. Other techniques include selecting households at random from census data or face-to-face interviewing. All of these tactics are prone to error since, for example, not everyone has a telephone and many people are not available at their homes for face-to-face interviews if they work during the day.

In order to keep costs down, some organizations have used a robo-poll, a survey in which a computer program, rather than a live questioner, interviews respondents by telephone. Others use online surveys to collect data. Although these methods are cheaper, serious doubts exist about the randomness of the samples these techniques produce.

Another problem with surveys is that people are sometimes reluctant to reveal their opinions and instead choose to give socially acceptable answers or answers the interviewer wants to hear. In order to address this issue, pollsters often attempt to verify answers whenever possible and frame questions in a variety of indirect ways so that respondents are comfortable providing honest answers.

The Accuracy of Public Opinion

Inaccurate survey results are often attributable to poor design or misinterpretation of questions. In some cases, inaccurate results are due to the fact that people do not take surveys seriously. Furthermore, respondents may be unwilling to admit that they do not know about something, and therefore make up an answer. Studies show that a respondent’s ability to express an opinion, as well as the accuracy of her opinions, rises if the questions being asked have something to do with everyday life.

How Useful Are Surveys?

Mass opinion surveys are a powerful tool for measuring public opinion, but their results must be interpreted carefully. Surveys may ask questions regarding topics that respondents have not considered, samples may be biased, people may be reluctant to admit their opinions, and a question may be ambiguous. Thus, survey samples are only able to measure public opinion within a margin of error.

Survey results are most likely to be accurate when they are based on a simple, easily understood question about a topic familiar to most Americans. You may be even more confident in the results if multiple surveys ask about the same topic in slightly different ways but still produce similar findings. If a survey asks about a complex, unfamiliar topic, then the results may not provide much insight into public opinion.

24. Priming / Framing- Media do not tell us what to think, but rather what to think about. Priming: Media provide a context for public discussion of an issue, setting the stage for audience understanding. by giving someone a point of reference, they are more likely to think towards that point. Framing: Media provide a focus and environment for reporting a

story, influencing how audiences will understand or evaluate it. has to do with how a situation is presented

Decision Scenario 1:600 people are afflicted with a new disease. Two forms of treatment have been proposed.Type A: If program A is adopted, 200 people will be saved.Type B: If program B is adopted, there is a 1/3rd chance all 600 people will be saved, and 2/3rds chance that no one is saved.

Decision Scenario 2:600 people are afflicted with a new disease. Two forms of treatment have been proposed.Type A: If program A is adopted, 400 people will die. Type B: If program B is adopted, there is a 1/3rd chance no one will die, and a 2/3rd chance everyone will die.

25. Political Parties - A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmers, with a view to promoting the collective good or furthering their supporters' interests.

26. Political Spectrum- a system of classifying different political positions upon one or more geometric axes that symbolize independent political dimensions.

27. PACs/SuperPACS – Political Action Committees - Technically known as independent expenditure-only committees, super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, then spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates. Unlike traditional PACs, super PACs are prohibited from donating money directly to political candidates, and their spending must not be coordinated with that of the candidates they benefit. Super PACs are required to report their donors to the Federal Election Commission on a monthly or semiannual basis – the super PAC's choice – in off-years, and monthly in the year of an election.

28. Forms of Journalism

Forms of Journalism –Investigative

Investigative journalism aims to uncover the truth about a particular subject, person, or event. While investigative journalism is based on the basic principle underlying all journalism-verification and accurate presentation of facts-investigative reporters must often work with

uncooperative or recalcitrant sources who do not wish to divulge information. Renowned investigative journalism, such as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s uncovering of the Watergate scandal, can upend major institutions significantly influence public life.

News

News journalism is straightforward. Facts are relayed without flourishes or interpretation. A typical news story often constitutes a headline with just enough explanation to orient the reader. News stories lack the depth of a feature story, or the questioning approach of an investigative story. Rather, they relay facts, events and information to society in a straightforward, accurate and unbiased manner.

Reviews

Reviews are partly opinion and partly fact based. The review needs to accomplish two things: one, accurately describe or identify the subject being reviewed, and two, provide an intelligent and informed opinion of the subject, based on research and experience.

Columns

Columns are based primarily on the personality of the author, allowing him or her to write about subjects in a personal style. Column writers can take a humorous approach, or specialise in a particular subject area or topic. It’s important for columnists to develop their own voice that is recognisable by their readership. Columnists can interpret events or issues or write about their own personal experiences or thoughts. Columns are usually published weekly.

Feature Writing

Feature writing provides scope, depth, and interpretation of trends, events, topics or people. Features aim not only to thoroughly explore a topic by conducting interviews with numerous experts or the key people involved, but to offer a previously unseen perspective on an event, issue, or person. Feature writing commonly wins prestigious awards when it manages to achieve this goal. Features usually have the highest word count of all journalism types.

29. Articles of Constitution –

Article I – The Legislative Branch. The principal mission of the legislative body is to make laws. It is split into two different chambers – the House of Representatives and the Senate. Congress is a legislative body that holds the power to draft and pass legislation, borrow money for the nation, declare war and raise a military. It also has the power to check and balance the other two federal branches.

Article II – The Executive Branch. This branch of the government manages the day-to-day operations of government through various federal departments and agencies, such as the Department of Treasury. At the head of this branch is the nationally elected President of the United States.

The president swears an oath to ‘faithfully execute’ the responsibilities as president and to ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States’. Its powers include making treaties with other nations, appointing federal judges, department heads and Ambassadors, and determining how to best run the country and run military operations.

Article III – The Judicial Branch. Article III outlines the powers of the federal court system. Determines that the court of last resort is the US Supreme Court and that the US Congress has the power to determine the size and scope of those courts below it. All judges are appointed for life unless they resign due to bad behaviour. Those facing charges are to be tried and judged by a jury of their peers.

Article IV – The States. This article defines the relationship between the states and the federal government. The federal government guarantees a republican form of government in each state, protects the nation and the people from foreign or domestic violence, and determines how new states can join the Union. It also suggests that all the states are equal to each other and should respect each other’s laws and the judicial decisions made by other state court systems.

Article V – Amendment. Future generations can amend the Constitution if the society so requires it. Both the states and Congress have the power to initiate the amendment process.

Article VI – Debts, Supremacy, Oaths. Article VI determines that the US Constitution, and all laws made from it are the ‘supreme Law of the Land’, and all officials, whether members of the state legislatures, Congress, judiciary or the Executive have to swear an oath to the Constitution.

Article VII – Ratification. This article details all those people who signed the Constitution, representing the original 13 states.

30. Effects of Media - The media includes several different outlets through which people can receive information on politics, such as radio, television, advertising and mailings. When campaigning, politicians spend large quantities of money on media to reach voters, concentrating on voters who are undecided. Politicians may use television commercials, advertisements or mailings to point out potentially negative qualities in their opponents while extolling their own virtues.

The media can also influence politics by deciding what news the public needs to hear. Often, there are more potential news stories available to the media than time or space to devote to them, so the media chooses the stories that are the most important and the most sensational for the public to hear. This choice can often be shaped, at least partially, by the stories the public may find the most interesting and the ones that cause ratings or readership to rise for the media outlet.

31. Effects of Third Parties – Third-party candidates rarely win election in American campaigns. Third-party candidates can shift national attention to particular issues. Third-party candidates can take votes away from major political party candidates, influencing the outcome of elections.

32. Effects of Immigration –

While some policymakers have blamed immigration for slowing U.S. wage growth since the 1970s, most academic research finds little long run effect on Americans’ wages.

The available evidence suggests that immigration leads to more innovation, a better educated workforce, greater occupational specialization, better matching of skills with jobs, and higher overall economic productivity.

Immigration also has a net positive effect on combined federal, state, and local budgets. But not all taxpayers benefit equally. In regions with large populations of less educated, low-income immigrants, native-born residents bear significant net costs due to immigrants’ use of public services, especially education.

33. New Deal Coalition - was the alignment of interest groups and voting blocs in the United States that supported the New Deal and voted for Democratic presidential candidates from 1932 until the late 1960s. It made the Democratic Party the majority party during that period, losing only to Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1952 and 1956. Franklin D. Roosevelt forged a coalition that included banking and oil industries, the Democratic state party organizations, city machines, labor unions, blue collar workers, minorities (racial, ethnic and religious), farmers, white Southerners, people on relief, and intellectuals. The coalition began to fall apart with the bitter factionalism during the 1968 election, but it remains the model that party activists seek to replicate

34. Earmarks - An earmark is a legislative (especially congressional) provision that directs approved funds to be spent on specific projects, or that directs specific exemptions from taxes or mandated feesPork Barrel is a metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district.

35. Amicus Curiae- (literally, friend of the court; plural, amici curiae) is someone who is not a party to a case and is not solicited by a party, but who assists a court by offering information that bears on the case. The decision on whether to admit the information lies at the discretion of the court. In the United States Supreme Court, unless the amicus brief is being filed by the federal government (or one of its officers or agents) or a U.S. state, permission of the court (by means of motion for leave) or mutual consent of the parties is generally required. Allowing an amicus curiae to present oral argument is considered "extraordinary". The court can also appoint its own amicus curiae if neither party supports the decision of the lower court, which it has done at least 43 times.

36. Party Conventions - The convention cycle begins with the Call to Convention. Usually issued about 18 months in advance, the Call is an invitation from the national party to the state and territory parties to convene to select a presidential nominee. It also sets out the number of delegates to be awarded to each, as well as the rules for the nomination process. The conventions are usually scheduled for four days of business. Party Platforms are also adopted at the nominating conventions. Each party sets its own rules for the participation and format of the convention. Broadly speaking, each U.S. state and territory party is apportioned a select number of voting representatives, individually known as delegates and collectively as the delegation. Each party uses its own formula for determining the size of each delegation, factoring in such considerations as population, proportion of that state's Congressional representatives or state government officials who are members of the party, and the state's voting patterns in previous presidential elections. The selection of individual delegates and their alternates, too, is governed by the bylaws of each state party, or in some cases by state law.

37. Effects of the Populist Movement - Populist party members developed as a result of America moving from a rural to an urban society. In the 1890s crop prices fell as production rose, but getting credit for the farmer was becoming hard and interest rates were rising. Farmers wanted a system where crops could be placed in storage and use them as collateral for low interest government loans. Republicans opposed the populists while the democrats lined up with them. The farmers wanted more money in circulation. Since having more money in circulation would raise prices. Businessmen wanted gold backing of the dollar rather than silver because silver was going lower and that in turn would cheapen money as the price of silver dropped. William Jennings Bryan ran as a democratic candidate for the presidency in 1896, but lost to the Republican candidate McKinley mostly because McKinley raised and spent $3 million on his campaign. Populism lasted up to WW1, but lessened in the 1920s even though the farmer was again hurting because of the economy in rural America.The Populist program included public ownership of railroads (at that time as hated as oil companies are today) and telephone companies, and a ban on what we call today corporate welfare. Populists gave us the income tax. You may grumble about it, but most government money before that came from regressive taxes, where the poor pay higher taxes than the wealthy. Populists also supported women's right to vote and many of its leaders were women.

38. Party Platforms - A political party platform or platform is a formal set of principal goals which are supported by a political party or individual candidate, in order to appeal to the general public, for the ultimate purpose of garnering the general public's support and votes about complicated topics or issues. "Plank" is the term often given to the components of the political platform – the opinions and viewpoints about individual topics, as held by a party, person, or organization.

39. Speaker of the House - The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, which states in part, "The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker..."

The Constitution does not require that the Speaker be an elected House Representative, though every Speaker so far has been an elected Member of the House.

The Speaker is second in the United States presidential line of succession, after the Vice President and ahead of the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate. Unlike some Westminster system parliaments, in which the office of Speaker is considered non-partisan, in the United States, the Speaker of the House is a leadership position and the office-holder actively works to set the majority party's legislative agenda. The Speaker usually does not personally preside over debates, instead delegating the duty to members of the House from the majority party. The Speaker usually does not participate in debate and rarely votes.

Aside from duties relating to heading the House and the majority political party, the Speaker also performs administrative and procedural functions, and represents his or her Congressional district.

40. Committee System - a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty (rather than the general duties of Congress). Committee membership enables members to develop specialized knowledge of the matters under their jurisdiction. As "little legislatures", the committees monitor ongoing governmental operations, identify issues suitable for legislative review, gather and evaluate information, and recommend courses of action to their parent body.

Standing committees are permanent panels identified as such in chamber rules (House Rule X, Senate Rule XXV). The house appropriations committee is a standing committee and meets regularly. In this instance, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator R. David Paulson was answering questions before the committee about the 2009 budget.Because they have legislative jurisdiction, standing committees consider bills and issues and recommend measures for consideration by their respective chambers. They also have oversight responsibility to monitor agencies, programs, and activities within their jurisdictions, and in some cases in areas that cut across committee jurisdictions. Most standing committees recommend funding levels—authorizations—for government operations and for new and existing programs. A few have other functions. For example, the Appropriations Committees recommend appropriations legislation to provide budget authority for federal agencies and programs. The Budget Committees establish aggregate levels for total spending and revenue that serve as guidelines for the work of the authorizing and appropriating panels.

Select or special committees are established generally by a separate resolution of the chamber, sometimes to conduct investigations and studies, and, on other occasions, also to consider measures. Often, select committees examine emerging issues that do not fit clearly within

existing standing committee jurisdictions, or that cut across jurisdictional boundaries. A select committee may be permanent or temporary (all current select committees in the House and Senate are considered permanent committees). Instead of select, the Senate sometimes uses the term special committee (as in the Special Committee on Aging).

Joint committees are permanent panels that include members from both chambers, which generally conduct studies or perform housekeeping tasks rather than consider measures. For instance, the Joint Committee on Printing oversees the functions of the Government Printing Office and general printing procedures of the federal government. The chairmanship of joint committees usually alternates between the House and Senate. A conference committee is a temporary joint committee formed to resolve differences between competing House and Senate versions of a measure. Conference committees draft compromises between the positions of the two chambers, which are then submitted to the full House and Senate for approval.

41. Staff Agency – CRS - The Congressional Research Service (CRS), known as Congress's think tank,is a public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works primarily and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a confidential, nonpartisan basis. CRS reports are widely regarded as in depth, accurate, objective, and timely, but as a matter of policy they are not made available to members of the public by CRS, except in certain circumstances

CBO - The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress. The CBO's mandate is to provide Congress with:

Objective, nonpartisan, and timely analysis to aid in economic and budgetary decisions on a wide array of programs covered by the federal budget;

And the information and estimates required by the Congressional budget process.[2]

With respect to estimating spending for Congress, the Congressional Budget Office serves a purpose parallel to that of the Joint Committee on Taxation for estimating revenue for Congress, the Department of the Treasury for estimating revenues for the Executive. This includes projections on the effect on national debt and cost estimates for legislation.

GAO- The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a government agency that provides auditing, evaluation, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal government of the United States. The GAO was established as the General Accounting Office by the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921. The act required the head of the GAO to "investigate, at the seat of government or elsewhere, all matters relating to the receipt, disbursement, and application of public funds, and shall make to the President ... and to Congress ... reports [and] recommendations looking to greater economy or efficiency in public expenditures". According to the GAO's current mission statement, the agency exists to support

the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people.

42. Filibuster - is a parliamentary procedure where debate over a proposed piece of legislation is extended, allowing one or more members to delay or entirely prevent a vote on the proposal. It is sometimes referred to as "talking out a bill" or "talking a bill to death" and characterized as a form of obstruction in a legislature or other decision-making body. The filibuster is a powerful parliamentary device in the United States Senate, which was strengthened in 1975 and in the past decade has come to mean that most major legislation (apart from budgets) requires a 60% vote to bring a bill or nomination to the floor for a vote. In recent years, the majority has preferred to avoid filibusters by moving to other business when a filibuster is threatened and attempts to achieve cloture have failed. Defenders call the filibuster "The Soul of the Senate." On November 21, 2013, the Senate voted, in a 52 to 48 vote, to require only a majority vote to end a filibuster of all executive and judicial nominees, excluding Supreme Court nominees, rather than the 3/5 of votes previously required. A 3/5 supermajority is still required to end filibusters on legislation and Supreme Court nominees

43. Incumbency Advantage –

The incumbent is the existing holder of a political office who normally has a structural advantage over challengers during an election for multiple reasons. A race without an incumbent is known as an open seat because of the lack of incumbency advantage and they are the most contested races in an election. The anti-incumbency factor is when incumbency leads to the downfall of the incumbent. An anti-incumbent vote is one exercised against elected officials currently in power.

44. Rolls of the President - There is only one President of the United States. This one person must fill a number of different roles at the same time. These roles

are: (1) chief of state, (2) chief executive, (3) chief administrator, (4) chief diplomat, (5) commander in chief, (6) chief legislator, (7) party chief, and (8) chief citizen. Chief of state refers to the President as the head of the government. He is the symbol of all the people. In the United States, the President also rules over the government. The President is also chief executive, vested by the Constitution with broad executive powers. This power is used at home on domestic issues and also extends to foreign affairs. The executive power is limited, however, by our government’s system of checks and balances. As chief administrator, the President is in charge of the executive branch of the federal government. This branch employs more than 2.7 million civilians. The President is also the nation’s chief diplomat, the main author of American foreign policy. Everything the President says and does is closely followed, both at home and in other countries. In addition, the Constitution makes the President the commander in chief of the

armed forces. This power gives the President direct and immediate control of the military. As chief legislator, the President shapes public policy. The President may suggest, request, and insist that Congress enact laws he believes are needed. Sometimes, Congress does not agree with the President and decides against legislation. Working with Congress takes up a major part of the President’s time.

The six presidential roles you just read about are written in the Constitution. The President must also fill two other roles—chief of party and chief citizen. The President is automatically the chief of party—the leader of the political party that controls the executive branch. Political parties are not mentioned in the Constitution. Finally, the President is chief citizen. This means the President should represent all of the people of the United States. Citizens expect the President to work for their interests and provide moral leadership.

45. Cabinet – Established in Article II Section 2. The Cabinet includes the Vice President and the heads of 15 executive departments — the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Attorney General.

46. Warren Court - The Warren Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States during the period when Earl Warren served as Chief Justice. The Warren Court expanded civil rights, civil liberties, judicial power, and the federal power in dramatic ways

The court was both applauded and criticized for bringing an end to racial segregation in the United States, incorporating the Bill of Rights (i.e. including it in the 14th Amendment Due Process clause), and ending officially sanctioned voluntary prayer in public schools. The period is recognized as a high point in judicial power that has receded ever since, but with a substantial continuing impact. Brown v. Board of Education, Baker v. Carr, Gideon v. Wainwright, Miranda v. Arizona

47. Marshall Court - The Marshall Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States from 1801 to 1835, when John Marshall served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The Marshall Court played a major role in increasing the power of the judicial branch, as well as the power of the national government. Marshall's domination of the courts ensured that the federal government would retain relatively strong powers, despite the political domination of Jeffersonians after 1800. Marshall's opinions also helped to reinforce the independent power of the Supreme Court as a check on Congress, and laid some of the philosophical foundations of the Whig Party, which arose in the 1830s. Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden, Barron v. Baltimore

48. Doctrine of Incorporation - Incorporation, in U.S. law, is the process by which American courts have applied portions of the U.S. Bill of Rights to the states. Prior to 1925, the Bill of Rights was held only to apply to the federal government. Under the incorporation doctrine, most provisions of the Bill of Rights now also apply to the state and local governments.

Prior to the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment and the development of the incorporation doctrine, the Supreme Court held that the Bill of Rights applied only to the federal, but not any state governments. However, beginning in the 1920s, a series of United States Supreme Court decisions interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment to "incorporate" most portions of the Bill of Rights, making these portions, for the first time, enforceable against the state governments.

49. Brown v. Board of Education - was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education.

50. Griswold v. Connecticut - is a landmark case in the United States in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Constitution protected the use of birth control. The case involved a Connecticut "Comstock law" that prohibited any person from using "any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception." By a vote of 7–2, the Supreme Court invalidated the law on the grounds that it violated the "right to marital privacy", establishing the basis for the right to privacy with respect to intimate practices. This and other cases view the right to privacy as a right to "protect[ion] from governmental intrusion."

51. Mapp v. Ohio - was a landmark case in criminal procedure, in which the United States Supreme Court decided that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures," may not be used in state law criminal prosecutions in state courts, as well as in federal criminal law prosecutions in federal courts as had previously been the law. The Supreme Court accomplished this by use of a principle known as selective incorporation; in Mapp this involved the incorporation of the provisions, as interpreted by the Court, of the Fourth Amendment which are applicable only to actions of the federal government into the Fourteenth Amendment due process clause which is applicable to actions of the states.

52. Citizens United v. FEC - Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is a U.S. constitutional law and corporate law case dealing with the regulation of campaign spending by organizations. The United States Supreme Court held (5–4) on 21 January 2010 that freedom of speech prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by a nonprofit corporation. The principles articulated by the Supreme Court in the case have also been extended to for-profit corporations, labor unions and other associations.

In the case, the conservative non-profit organization Citizens United wanted to air a film critical of Hillary Clinton and to advertise the film during television broadcasts shortly before the 2008 Democratic primary election in which Clinton was running for U.S. President. This would violate a federal statute prohibiting certain electioneering communications near an election. The court found the provisions of the law that prohibited corporations and unions from making such electioneering communications to conflict with the U.S. Constitution.

The court, however, upheld requirements for public disclosure by sponsors of advertisements. The case did not affect the federal ban on direct contributions from corporations or unions to candidate campaigns or political parties.

53. Government Corporation - A government corporation is a state-owned entity that is created in order to pursue commercial or industrial activities on behalf of a national government. These can be completely owned or partially owned by a government. Government corporations are most common in sectors involving natural monopolies. Such sectors include energy production and exploitation of natural resources. Other forms of government corporations are common in areas of strategic interest for the government. An example of this is the Tennessee Valley Authority, a government corporation founded in 1933 to undertake a broad variety of economic development programs for the Tennessee Valley in response to the Great Depression. Broadcasting is another area of commercial activity that often attracts government corporations. For instance, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the United States and the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom are both examples of government corporations established to provide cultural and journalistic services with public financing.

54. Bureaucracy - A "a body of non-elective government officials" and/or "an administrative policy-making group". Historically, bureaucracy was government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected officials. Today, bureaucracy is the administrative system governing any large institution.

Since being coined, the word "bureaucracy" has developed negative connotations. Bureaucracies have been criticized as being inefficient, convoluted, or too inflexible to individuals. The elimination of unnecessary bureaucracy is a key concept in modern managerial theory and has been an issue in some political campaigns.

Others have noted the necessity of bureaucracies in modern life. The German sociologist Max Weber argued that bureaucracy constitutes the most efficient and rational way in which one can organize human activity, and that systematic processes and organized hierarchies were necessary to maintain order, maximize efficiency and eliminate favoritism. Weber also saw unfettered bureaucracy as a threat to individual freedom, in which an increase in the bureaucratization of human life can trap individuals in an impersonal "iron cage" of rule-based, rational control.

55. WHS – Washington Headquarters Staff or The White House Office is an entity within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The White House Office is headed by the White House Chief of Staff, who is also the head of the Executive Office of the President. The staff of the various offices are based in the West Wing and East Wing of the White House, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and the New Executive Office Building. Almost all of the White House Office staff are political appointees of the President. These aides oversee the political and policy interests of the President and do not require Senate confirmation for appointment. They can be removed at the discretion of the President.

OMB - The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the President's Budget, but OMB also measures the quality of agency programs, policies, and procedures to see if they comply with the president's policies and coordinates inter-agency policy initiatives.

EOP - The Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOPOTUS or EOP) consists of the immediate staff of the current President of the United States and multiple levels of support staff reporting to the President. The size of the White House staff has increased dramatically since 1939, and has grown to include an array of policy experts in various fields. It includes the Council of Economic Advisers, Council on Environmental Quality, Executive Residence, National Security Council, Office of Administration, OMB, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Office of the US Trade Representation, Vice Presidency, White House Office

56. Congressional Leadership

President of the Senate. The president is the principal leader of the Senate. The president typically will (1) preside over the daily sessions of the Senate, (2) preserve order in the chamber, (3) state parliamentary motions, (4) rule on parliamentary questions, (4) appoint committee chairs and members, (5) refer bills to committee, (6) sign legislation, writs and warrants and (7) act as the official spokesman for the Senate. In about 26 states, the lieutenant governor serves as the president of the Senate, and many of these duties are assumed by the president pro tem.

President pro tem of the Senate. The primary roles assigned to the president pro tem are to (1) preside over the Senate in the president's absence, (2) exercise the powers and duties of the president in his or her absence and (3) assume other duties as assigned by the president. Sometimes, this is an honorary position, with few substantive duties assigned. In states where the lieutenant governor presides over the Senate, the president pro tem usually assumes duties associated with a president.

Speaker of the House or Assembly. The speaker is the principal leader of the House or Assembly. The speaker typically will (1) preside over the daily sessions of the House or Assembly, (2) preserve order in the chamber, (3) state parliamentary motions, (4) rule on parliamentary questions, (4) appoint committee chairs and members, (5) refer bills to committee,

(6) sign legislation, writs and warrants and (7) act as the official spokesman for the House or Assembly.

Speaker pro tem. The primary roles assigned to the speaker pro tem are to (1) preside over the House in the speaker's absence, (2) exercise the powers and duties of the speaker in his or her absence and (3) assume other duties as assigned by the speaker. In some states, this is an honorary position, with few substantive duties assigned.

Majority Leader. The primary functions of a majority leader usually relate to floor duties. The majority leader (1) is the lead speaker for the majority party during floor debates, (2) develops the calendar and (3) assists the president or speaker with program development, policy formation and policy decisions.

Majority Caucus Chair. The majority caucus chair generally (1) develops the majority caucus agenda with the principal leaders, (2) presides over the majority caucus meetings and (3) assists with the development of policy.

Majority Whip. The duties of the majority whip are to (1) assist the floor leader, (2) ensure member attendance, (3) count votes and (4) generally communicate the majority position.

Minority Leader. The minority leader is the principal leader of the minority caucus. The minority leader is responsible for (1) developing the minority position, (2) negotiating with the majority party, (3) directing minority caucus activities on the chamber floor and (4) leading debate for the minority.

Minority Caucus Chair. The minority caucus chair (1) presides over caucus meetings and (2) assists the minority leader with policy development.

Minority Whip. The major responsibilities for the minority whip are to (1) assist the minority leader on the floor, (2) count votes and (3) ensure attendance of minority party members.

57. Impeachment - Article One of the United States Constitution gives the House of Representatives the sole power of impeachment and the Senate the sole power to try impeachments of officers of the U.S. national government. (Various state constitutions include similar measures, allowing the state legislature to impeach the governor or other officials of the state government. Impeachment does not necessarily result in removal from office; conviction during the second stage requires a two-thirds vote. Although the subject of the charge is criminal action, it does not constitute a criminal trial; the only question under consideration is the removal of the individual from office, and the possibility of a subsequent vote preventing the removed official from ever again holding political office in the jurisdiction where he was removed. "The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States" who may be impeached and removed only for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors"

58. Independent Regulatory Agency - Independent agencies of the United States federal government are those agencies that exist outside of the federal executive departments (those headed by a Cabinet secretary).In a more narrow sense, the term may also be used to describe agencies that, while constitutionally part of the executive branch, are independent of presidential control, usually because the president's power to dismiss the agency head or a member is limited.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) The Federal Election Commission (FEC) The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) The Federal Reserve Board of Governors The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) The General Services Administration (GSA) The International Trade Commission (ITC) The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) The National Science Foundation (NSF) The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) The Selective Service System (SSS) The Small Business Administration (SBA) The Smithsonian Institution (SI) The Social Security Administration (SSA) The Surface Transportation Board (STB) The United States Postal Service (USPS)

59. Writ of Certiorari - often abbreviated as cert. in the United States, is a writ seeking judicial review. It is issued by a superior court, directing an inferior court, tribunal, or other public authority to send the record of a proceeding for review.

60. Equal Rights Amendment - The proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) states that the rights guaranteed by the Constitution apply equally to all persons regardless of their sex. After the 19th Amendment affirming women’s right to vote was ratified in 1920, suffragist leader Alice Paul introduced the ERA in 1923 as the next step in bringing "equal justice under law" to all citizens. Currently 35 states have ratified, 3 short of the necessary.

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

61. Title IX of Education Act - Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. The principal objective of Title IX is to avoid the use of federal money to support sex discrimination in education programs and to provide individual citizens effective protection against those practices. Title IX applies, with a few specific exceptions, to all aspects of federally funded education programs or activities. In addition to traditional educational institutions such as colleges, universities, and elementary and secondary schools, Title IX also applies to any education or training program operated by a recipient of federal financial assistance.

62. Categorical / Block Grants - Block grants can include a wide range of government programs under one funding umbrella. These programs may share similar goals and funding. According to the National Council on Disability, block grants have been used by several presidents over the years to consolidate funding for domestic programs. An example of block grant funding is the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, a state block grant program that makes federal funds available to states to help families in need. Under this arrangement, each state receives a certain amount of funds and determines how to distribute it.

Categorical grants are narrower in scope and are distributed on a project-by-project basis, according to FederalFunding.net. The federal government makes funding available for a project such as highway infrastructure repair and maintenance. States compete for these funds based on criteria set by Congress. When a categorical grant is awarded, the monies must be used to fulfill the stated purpose of the grant. For instance, a state awarded highway funds cannot use it to repair state buildings.

63. Civil rights Act of 1964 - is a landmark piece of civil rights and US labor law legislation in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public (known as "public accommodations").

64. Voting Rights Act of 1965 - is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the Civil Rights Movement on August 6, 1965, and Congress later amended the Act five times to expand its protections. Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the

Act secured voting rights for racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Act is considered to be the most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever enacted in the country.

65. Suffrage Amendments – Fourteenth Amendment—Citizenship Fifteenth Amendment—Racial equality in voting Nineteenth Amendment—Suffrage for women Twenty-fourth Amendment—Poll tax abolished Twenty-sixth Amendment—The right of eighteen-year-olds to vote

66. Necessary and Proper / Elastic Clause - the Basket Clause, the Coefficient Clause, and the Sweeping Clause, is a provision in Article One of the United States Constitution, located at section 8, clause 18. The Necessary and Proper Clause is as follows:

The Congress shall have Power ... To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

67. Policy / Issue Networks - are an alliance of various interest groups and individuals who unite in order to promote a common cause or agenda in a way that influences government policy. Issue networks can be either domestic or international in scope depending on their collective goal. Issue networks, are not the same as iron triangles for several reasons. One of the main differences between iron triangles and issue networks is that issue networks are generally free-forming groups of people in the public sector who form a coalition together, not through a congressional committee, or a Federal Agency but are bound together to accomplish a task at hand. Another difference between iron triangles and Issue networks is that sometimes they can be at antagonistic with one another.

68. Equal Protection Clause - is part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction "the equal protection of the laws".

A primary motivation for this clause was to validate the equality provisions contained in the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which guaranteed that all people would have rights equal to those of all citizens. As a whole, the Fourteenth Amendment marked a large shift in American constitutionalism, by applying substantially more constitutional restrictions against the states than had applied before the Civil War.

69. Bush v. Gore - was the Supreme Court decision that resolved the dispute surrounding the 2000 presidential election. The ruling was issued on 12 December 2000. On December 9, the

Court had preliminarily halted the Florida recount that was occurring. The Electoral College was scheduled to meet on December 18, 2000, to decide the election.

In a per curiam decision, the Court ruled that there was an Equal Protection Clause violation in using different standards of counting in different counties and ruled that no alternative method could be established within the time limit set by Title 3 of the United States Code which was December 12 The vote regarding the Equal Protection Clause was 7–2, and regarding the lack of an alternative method was 5–4.

The Supreme Court decision allowed the previous vote certification to stand, as made by Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, for George W. Bush as the winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes. Florida's votes gave Bush, the Republican candidate, 271 electoral votes, one more than the required 270 electoral votes to win the Electoral College, and defeat Democratic candidate Al Gore, who received 266 electoral votes (a District of Columbia elector abstained).

70. Electoral College - a mechanism established by Article Two of the United States Constitution in the indirect United States presidential election system to select the President of the United States and Vice President of the United States. Citizens of the United States vote in each state at a general election to choose a slate of "electors" pledged to vote for a party's candidate.

The Twelfth Amendment requires each elector to cast one vote for president and another vote for vice president. In each state and the District of Columbia, electors are chosen every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and then meet to cast ballots on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. The candidates who receive an absolute majority of electoral votes among the states are elected President and Vice President of the United States when the Electoral College vote is certified by Congress in January.

There are currently a total of 538 electors, corresponding to the 435 Representatives, the 100 Senators, plus three electors for the District of Columbia as provided for in the Twenty-third Amendment. Each state chooses electors amounting to the combined total of its Senators and Representatives. The Constitution bars any federal official, elected or appointed, from being an elector.

71. Swing States - In American politics, the term swing state refers to any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican presidential candidate. These states are usually targeted by both major-party campaigns, especially in competitive elections. Meanwhile, the states that regularly lean to a single party are known as safe states, as it is generally assumed that one candidate has a base of support from which they can draw a sufficient share of the electorate. Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin

72. Bill of Rights - The first 10 amendments to the Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. Written by James Madison in response to calls from several states for greater constitutional protection for individual liberties, the Bill of Rights lists specific prohibitions on governmental power.

The Bill of Rights – Full TextAmendment ICongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.Amendment IIA well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.Amendment IIINo soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.Amendment IVThe right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.Amendment VNo person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.Amendment VIIn all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.Amendment VIIIn suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.Amendment VIIIExcessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.Amendment IXThe enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.Amendment XThe powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

73. Powers of President - The President of the United States has numerous powers, including those explicitly granted by Article II of the United States Constitution.The Constitution explicitly assigned the president the power to sign or veto legislation, command the armed forces, ask for the written opinion of his or her Cabinet, convene or adjourn Congress, grant reprieves and pardons, and receive ambassadors. The president may make treaties which need to be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate. The president may also appoint Article III judges and some officers with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate. In the condition of a Senate recess, the president may make a temporary appointment. The president can issue rules, regulations, and instructions called executive orders, which have the binding force of law upon federal agencies but do not require approval of the United States Congress. Executive orders are subject to judicial review and interpretation.

74. Powers of Congress - The Constitution specifically grants Congress its most important power — the authority to make laws. A bill, or proposed law, only becomes a law after both the House of Representatives and the Senate have approved it in the same form. The two houses share other powers, many of which are listed in Article I, Section 8. These include the power to declare war, coin money, raise an army and navy, regulate commerce, establish rules of immigration and naturalization, and establish the federal courts and their jurisdictions.

75. Articles of Confederation - The Articles of Confederation was the first written constitution of the United States. Stemming from wartime urgency, its progress was slowed by fears of central authority and extensive land claims by states before was it was ratified on March 1, 1781. Under these articles, the states remained sovereign and independent, with Congress serving as the last resort on appeal of disputes. Congress was also given the authority to make treaties and alliances, maintain armed forces and coin money. However, the central government lacked the ability to levy taxes and regulate commerce, issues that led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 for the creation of new federal laws.

76. Primary Process –

The Convention

Political parties generally hold national conventions at which a group of delegates collectively decide upon which candidate they will run for the presidency. The process of choosing delegates to the national convention is undertaken at the state level, which means that there are significant differences from state to state and sometimes year to year. The two methods for choosing delegates to the national convention are the caucus and the primary.

The Caucus

In states that hold caucuses a political party announces the date, time, and location of the meeting. Generally any voter registered with the party may attend. At the caucus, delegates are chosen to represent the state's interests at the national party convention. Prospective delegates are identified as favorable to a specific candidate or uncommitted. After discussion and debate an informal vote is taken to determine which delegates should be chosen.

The Primary

In a primary election, registered voters may participate in choosing the candidate for the party's nomination by voting through secret ballot, as in a general election.

There are two main types of primaries, closed or open, that determine who is eligible to vote in the primary. In a closed primary a registered voter may vote only in the election for the party with which that voter is affiliated. For example a voter registered as Democratic can vote only in the Democratic primary and a Republican can vote only in the Republican primary. In an open primary, on the other hand, a registered voter can vote in either primary regardless of party membership. The voter cannot, however, participate in more than one primary. A third less common type of primary, the blanket primary, allows registered voters to participate in all primaries.

In some states a combination of the primary and caucus systems are used. The primary serves as a measure of public opinion but is not necessarily binding in choosing delegates. Sometimes the Party does not recognize open primaries because members of other parties are permitted to vote.

Awarding the Delegates

The Democratic Party always uses a proportional method for awarding delegates. The percentage of delegates each candidate is awarded (or the number of undecided delegates) is representative of the mood of the caucus-goers or the number of primary votes for the candidate. For example imagine a state with ten delegates and three candidates. If 60% of the people supported candidate X, 20% supported candidate Y, and 20% supported candidate Z, candidate X would receive six delegates and candidates Y and Z would each receive two delegates.

The Republican Party, unlike the Democratic Party, allows each state to decide whether to use the winner-take-all method or the proportional method. In the winner-take-all method the candidate whom the majority of caucus participants or voters support receives all the delegates for the state. It is essential to remember that this is a general guide and that the primary system differs significantly from state to state. The best way to find information about your state is to contact your state Board of Elections.