AP GOPO Late Start
Review Session
May 5, 2015
Top 21 Most Tested
Concepts
1. The Articles of Confederation
• Established a decentralized system of government with a
weak central government that had limited powers over
the states
• Created a unicameral Congress that lacked power to
levy taxes or regulate interstate trade
2. The Federalist Papers
• In Federalist No. 10, Madison argued that
political factions are undesirable but inevitable
• Madison believed that the excesses pf
factionalism could be limited by the system of
republican government
• Refuted the widely held belief that a republican
form of gov would work only in a small
geographically compact territory. He argued
that a large republic such as the United States
would fragment political power and thus curb
the threat prosed by bother majority and
minority factions
3. Federalism
• System of government in which power is divided by a written
constitution between a central government and regional
government
– Different from unitary or confederate system
• Supremacy clause
• Elastic clause, Commerce clause, Civil Rights Act of 1964,
categorical grants and federal mandates all increased power of
federal government over state
• Decentralizes politics, provides interest groups with multiple points of
access, and creates opportunities for experimentation and diversity
of public policy
• Examples
– Amendment process
– Majority rule vs. minority rights
– Original Constitution’s selection of Senators (prior to 17th Amendment)
4. The Fourteenth Amendment &
Selective Incorporation
• Fourteenth Amendment made African
Americans citizens, voiding Dred Scott decision
• Due Process Clause forbids a state from acting
in an unfair or arbitrary way
• Equal Protection Clause forbids a state from
discriminating against or drawing unreasonable
distinctions between persons
• Doctrine of selective incorporation uses Due
Process Clause to extend most of the
requirements of the Bill of Rights to the states
5. The Role of State Legislatures
• In original Constitution, state legislatures chose
U.S. senators. As result of 17th Amendment,
senators are now elected by voters in each
state
• State legislatures have the power to determine
the boundary lines of congressional districts
• State legislatures can ratify constitutional
amendments by a vote of three-fourths of the
states
6. Political Socialization
• Process by which political values are formed
and passed from one generation to the next
• Family is the most important agent; parents
usually pass their party identification to their
children
7. Voter Turnout
• Lower in U.S. than in most other Western democracies
• Majority of U.S. electorate does not vote in a
nonpresidential election
• People with more education are more likely to vote than
with less
• People with more income are more likely to vote than with
less
• Older people are more likely to vote than younger people
• Women are more likely to vote than men (gender-gap)
• Party dealignment and split-ticket voting
8. African American Voting Patterns
• African Americans have consistently supported
Democratic presidential candidates since
formation of New Deal coalition
• Tend to support more liberal candidates within
Democratic party
• Studies reveal that , when the effects of income
and education are eliminated, blacks have
higher voting rates than do whites
• Voting Rights Act of 1965 significantly increase
voter participation of minorities
9. Divided Government
• Occurs when presidency and Congress are
controlled by different parties
• Heightens partisanship and polarization, slows
legislative process, contributes to decline in
public trust in government
• President attempts to overcome problems by
using media to generate public support,
threatening vetoes, increasing executive
orders/agreements, building coalitions with key
interest groups
10. Critical Elections
• Takes place when groups of voters change their
traditional patterns of party loyalty
• Trigger a party realignment in which the minority
party displaces the majority party, thus ushering
a new party era
• The presidential elections of 1800, 1860, 1896,
and 1932 were all critical elections that
transformed U.S. politics
11. Presidential Primaries/Caucuses
• Presidential primaries have weakened party control over
the nomination process
• In a closed primary, voters are required to identify party
preference before election and not allowed to split ticket
• Democratic Party now uses a proportional system that
awards delegates based on the percentage of votes a
candidate receives
• Primary voters tend to by party activists who are older
and more affluent than the general electorate
• Frontloading is the recent pattern of states holding
primaries in February and March to capitalize on media
attention and maximize influence on nomination process
12. The Electoral College
• President and VP are not elected directly by the people
• Winner-take-all system in which the candidate who wins a
plurality of the vote, wins all of that state’s electoral votes
• Makes third party candidates unsuccessful (proportional
representation system)
• Swing state vs safe states
• Candidates focus on most populous states
• Benefits the small states
• If no ticket sees majority of votes, House elects Pres,
Senate elects VP
13. The Mass Media
• Plays a key role in affecting which issues the
public thinks are important. These issues usually
reach the government’s policy agenda
• Horse-race journalism refers to the media’s
tendency to focus on polls, personalities, and
sound bites rather than on in-depth analysis of
key issues
14. The Incumbency Advantage
• Most important factor in determining in outcome
of congressional elections
• House higher reelection rate than Senate
• Able to use various tactics that serve constituents
and claim credit
– Pork barrel
– Casework
– Media exposure
– Fund-raising abilities
15. Campaign Finance Reform &
Expansion
16. Standing Committees & Seniority
System
• Standing committees—permanent bodies that focus on
legislation in a particular area—promotes specialized
policy expertise
– Divided into subcomittees, where details of legislation are defined
• All bills are referred to standing committees, where they
can be amended, passed or killed
• Particularly important in House. Rules Committee plays a
pivotal role.
• In the past, committee chair chosen with seniority system
in which majority party members with longest service.
Now elected, but still tend to be senior members
17. The Veto Power
• Check on Congressional power (Congress can
override w/ 2/3 vote)
• Pocket veto occurs when Congress adjourns
within ten days of submitting bill. Pres can let bill
die by neither signing nor vetoing
• Often threaten in order to persuade
modification of bill
18. The President & the Cabinet
• President appoints cabinet heads subject to
Senate confirmation. However, pres can fire
without Senate approval
– Cabinet heads serve at pleasure of president
• Cabinet members often have divided loyalties.
Loyalty to pres can be undermined by loyalty to
institutional goals of their own department
• President often experience difficulty in
controlling cabinet departments because they
form iron triangles with interest groups and
congressional committees
19. Selection of Supreme Court Justices
• Appointed by president and confirmed by
majority vote of Senate
• Process illustrates checks and balances
• Selected for impressive credentials, possess
needed racial, ethnic and gender characteristics
• Selected based of philosophy of judicial restraint
vs activism
20. The Selection of SCOTUS Cases
• Most cases on the Supreme Court’s docket are
derived from the High Court’s appellate
jurisdiction
• Nearly all appellate cases now reach the
Supreme Court by a writ of certiorari
• According to the Rule of Four, at least for of the
nine justices must agree to hear a case
• SCOTUS refuses to hear most of the lower court
appeals
21. Compare and Contrast Presidential
and Congressional Powers
Top 10 Most Tested
Legislative Acts
1. The Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Enforced by 14th Amendment
• Ended Jim Crow segregation in hotels, motels, restaurants,
and other places of public accommodation
• Prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of
race, color, national origin, religion or gender
• Created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
to monitor and enforce protections against job
discrimination
• Prohibited discrimination in employment on grounds of
race, color, religion, national origin, or sex
• Upheld by the Supreme Court on the grounds that
segregation affected interstate commerce (Commerce
Clause)
2. The Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Outlawed literacy tests and other discriminatory
practices that had been responsible for
disenfranchising African American voters
• Provided for federal oversight of voter
registration in areas with a history of
discriminatory voting practices
• Improved the voter registration disparity
between whites and African Americans
3. The Clean Air Act of 1970
• Increased the power of the federal government
relative to the power of state governments
• Established national air quality standards
• Required states to administer the new standards
and to appropriate funds for their
implementation
• Included a provision allowing private citizens to
bring lawsuits against individuals and
corporations that violated the act
4. The War Powers Resolution (1973)
• Enacted to give Congress a greater voice in
presidential decision committing military forces
to hostile situations overseas
• Requires that the president notify Congress
within 48 hours of deploying troops
• Requires the president to bring troops home
from hostilities within 60 to 90 days unless
Congress extends the time
5. The Budget and Impoundment
Control Act of 1974
• Enacted to help Congress regain powers
previously lost to the executive branch
• Created the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
to evaluate the president’s budget
• Established a budget process that includes
setting overall levels of revenues and
expenditures
6. The Federal Election Campaign
Act of 1974
• Created the Federal Election Commission
• Tightened reporting requirements for campaign
contributions
• Provided full public financing for major party
candidates in the general election
7. Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990
• Increased the power of the federal government
relative to the power of the states
– Good example of an unfunded mandate
• Requires employers and public facilities to make
“reasonable accommodations” for people with
disabilities
• Prohibits discrimination against people with
disabilities in employment
• Extends the protections of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 to people with physical or mental
disabilities
8. Welfare Reform Act of 1996
• Increased the power of the states relative to the
federal government
• Replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent
Children program with block grants to the states
• Illustrated the process of devolution by giving
states greater discretion to determine how to
implement the federal goal of transferring
people from welfare to work
9. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
• Required the states to set standards and
measureable goals that can improve individual
outcomes in education
• Requires the states to develop assessments in
basic skills to be given to al students in certain
grades
• Represents a dramatic expansion of the federal
role in education
10. USA Patriot Act of 2001
• Expands the definition of terrorism to include
domestic terrorism
• Authorized searches of a home or business
without the owner’s or the occupant’s
permission or knowledge
• Increases the ability of law enforcement
agencies to search telephone, email
communications, medical, financial or other
records