Introduction to American Government

Midterm #1 Review Sheet

This is supposed to serve as a starting point as you study for the midterm. This is not an exhaustive
list of terms. Also, it is not enough to simply know the definitions of these terms, but to understand
the larger implications of these terms and context in which these terms were discussed.

Social Contract
Republic
Separation of Powers
Checks and Balances
Ideology
Trustee vs. Delegate Models
Public vs. Private Goods
Home Rule During Colonial Period
The Boston Massacre
Articles of Confederation
Constitutional Convention
o Virginia Plan
o New Jersey Plan
o Connecticut Compromise
o 3/5 Compromise
The Necessary and Proper Clause
The Electoral College
o Election of 1800
Judicial Review
o Marbury vs. Madison
The Federalist Papers
Federalism
o Confederal and Unitarian
Systems
The Interstate Commerce Clause
Layer Cake vs. Marble Cake
Federalism
Grants in Aid
Laboratories of Change

Civil Liberties vs. Civil Rights

The Bill of Rights
o Incorporation
The Establishment Clause
o The Lemon Test
Free Exercise Clause
Schenck v. United States (1919)
Texas v. Johnson (1989)
Prior Restraint
o Near v. Minnesota (1931)
o The Pentagon Papers
District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)
Sedition Act
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
Reconstruction Amendments
Civil Rights Cases (1883)
Smith v. Allwright (1944)
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Bradwell v. Illinois (1873)
The 19th Amendment
Equal Protection Cases
o Strict Scrutiny
o Quasi-Suspect Classification