Advanced US Government & Politics
Mid-Term Study Guide
Chapter 1: Government
Systems of Government: Unitary, Federal, Confederal
Liberal vs. Illiberal democracy
Power distribution: pluralist, power elite, bureaucratic, participatory
Chapter 2: Constitution
Enlightenment thinkers and ideas: Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau
American Revolution
Articles of Confederation
Constitutional Convention and Constitution
o Key Principles: Separation of Powers and Federalism
o Compromises, structure of House and Senate, presidency, Electoral College, 17th
Amendment, etc.
o Enumerated, Reserved, and Concurrent powers
Federalist Papers and Anti-Federalist Papers
Chapter 3: Federalism
Federalism
10th Amendment
Nullification
Commerce Clause
Supremacy Clause
Necessary and Proper Clause
Key Cases: McColloch v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden, Heart of Atlanta Motel v. US, US v.
Lopez, US v. Morrison, Printz v. US, Roe v. Wade, NFIB v. OSHA
Categorial Grants, Block Grants, Mandates
Devolution
Cooperative Federalism
14th Amendment and incorporation doctrine, Due Process Clause, McDonald v. Chicago
2nd Amendment
Chapter 4: Political Culture
Key Characteristics: Liberty, Democracy, Equality, Civic Duty, Individualism
Equality of Opportunity vs. Equality of Results
Religion
Political Realignment
Generational differences
Voting Behaviors of American people
Culture wars: orthodox/traditionalists vs. progressives
Rust Belt, Bible Belt, Frost Belt, Sun Belt, Blue Wall
Key Cases: Roe v. Wade, Dobbs v. Jackson, Obergefell v. Hodges
Government mistrust, anti-establishment politics, credibility gap
Chapter 7: Public Opinion
Public opinion polls
Random sampling, sampling error, exit polls
Presidential approval ratings
Political socialization
Party identification
Motor Voter Act, Voter ID laws, split-ticket vs. straight ticket (party-line) voting practices
Types of elections: primaries, general, mid-term, special
American political ideologies: liberal, conservative, libertarian, moderates (not really an
ideology, but pragmatists)
Chapter 8: Political Participation
Voting Age Population
Voting Eligible Population
Registered Voters
Voter Fatigue
Strategies for increasing voter turnout
Amendments: 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24th, 26th
Voting Rights Act (1965)
Shelby County v. Holder
Chapter 12: Media
State-owned media v. public broadcasters v. private media
Selective exposure, horse-race journalism, yellow journalism, agenda-setting, sound-bite
politics
Broadcast media and print media
1st Amendment
Federal Communications Commissions
Chapter 9: Political Parties
Purposes
Big-Tent/catch-all parties
Two-party vs. multi-party systems
Platforms
Weak American parties
Decreasing party identification (party dealignment) in US
Third parties: Green, Libertarian
Campaign financing: PACs, SuperPACs, McCain-Feingold Act, soft money v. hard money,
Citizens United v. FEC
Presidential elections
o Primaries v. caucuses
o Super Tuesday
o Frontloading
o Pledged/bound delegates vs. unbound delegates
o Superdelegates
o Proportional voting vs. winner-take-all
Chapter 10: Elections and Campaigns
Single member districts (winner-take-all) vs. proportional representation
Electoral College
22nd Amendment
Incumbent advantage
Gerrymandering: racial gerrymandering, safe seats, majority-minority districts, Shaw v.
Reno, Miller v. Johnson
