AP®︎ US History: Topic 9.2 Flashcards

Conservative Republican president elected in 1980 who promoted tax cuts, deregulation, reduced domestic spending, traditional values, and a stronger military

The post-1980 rise of conservatism that shifted national policy toward lower taxes, deregulation, market solutions, and traditional social values

Former liberals who became critical of Great Society programs and favored a more forceful foreign policy

Traditionally Democratic working- and middle-class voters attracted to Reagan by taxes, crime, patriotism, and social issues

The 1964 Republican nominee whose campaign opposed expanding federal power and trained activists who later reshaped the Republican Party

The 1970s combination of high inflation, weak economic growth, and elevated unemployment that weakened confidence in liberal economic management

A 1978 California ballot measure that sharply limited property taxes and demonstrated the electoral strength of the tax revolt

Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter amid economic and foreign-policy troubles, giving conservatives the presidency and enough support to enact major policy changes

Nickname for Reagan reflecting his optimistic style and effectiveness at presenting conservative ideas through television

Reagan's economic program of tax reduction, deregulation, slower domestic-spending growth, and tight control of inflation

Theory that lower marginal tax rates encourage work, saving, investment, and production; critics argued its benefits flowed mainly to the wealthy

Law that cut individual income tax rates about 25 percent over three years and created incentives for business investment

Bipartisan law that broadened the tax base, removed deductions, and lowered top individual and corporate tax rates

Reagan's effort to transfer domestic responsibilities and decision-making from the federal government to the states, often through block grants

Block grants give states flexibility over broad policy areas; categorical grants fund narrowly defined federal purposes

Federal Reserve chair who restricted the money supply and allowed high interest rates, helping break inflation but contributing to the 1981–1982 recession

Reagan's 1984 reelection theme portraying declining inflation and economic recovery as a return to prosperity and confidence

Reduction of federal rules and enforcement to promote competition and market decisions, with possible costs to environmental, workplace, consumer, and financial safety

1980s wave of financial-institution failures caused by loose rules and inadequate supervision, leading to a costly federal rescue

A 1999 law that removed major Glass-Steagall barriers separating commercial banking, investment banking, and insurance

A 2010 response to the financial crisis that increased financial regulation and created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

In 1981 Reagan fired more than 11,000 striking federal air traffic controllers, encouraging employers to confront unions more aggressively

The tendency of established policies to persist because they have administrators, beneficiaries, legal protections, and organized political support

Bipartisan reform that raised payroll taxes, gradually increased retirement age, and taxed some benefits to strengthen Social Security's finances

Conservative movement that made abortion, religion, schools, sexuality, family structure, and public morality central political issues

Intense conflicts over the moral values public institutions should recognize, including abortion, religion, gender, sexuality, education, and family structure

The 1973 decision protecting abortion rights that became a central target of social conservatives and a lasting partisan dividing line

Reagan's 1981 Supreme Court appointee and the first woman to serve on the Court

Reagan's rejected 1987 Supreme Court nomination that produced a bitter debate over privacy, civil rights, and constitutional interpretation

The approach of interpreting constitutional provisions according to their original public meaning

The principle that courts should hesitate to create rights or policies not clearly grounded in constitutional text or history

Policies considering race to address inequality; conservatives emphasized color-blind merit, while supporters argued neutral rules could preserve past discrimination

Expanded federal enforcement against illegal drugs that emphasized punishment and contributed to mass incarceration and racial disparities

Law imposing severe mandatory minimums and a 100-to-1 powder-to-crack cocaine quantity disparity that worsened racial inequalities in incarceration

Epidemic first recognized in 1981 whose slow federal response exposed conflicts over sexuality, stigma, public health, and government responsibility

AIDS activist organization that used protest to demand research, faster drug approval, treatment access, and an end to discrimination

Law that legalized about three million qualifying undocumented immigrants while penalizing employers who knowingly hired unauthorized workers and strengthening enforcement

The 1996 welfare law that replaced AFDC with state-run TANF block grants and imposed work requirements and time limits

Removal of trade barriers to increase competition and growth, opposed by those concerned about job losses, wages, labor standards, and local industries

The 1994 agreement reducing trade barriers among the United States, Canada, and Mexico, praised for growth and criticized for encouraging job relocation

International trade organization created in 1995 that promoted global economic integration and intensified disputes over globalization's gains and losses

A 1996 law defining federal marriage as between one man and one woman and permitting states to reject same-sex marriages from elsewhere

The 2015 Supreme Court decision recognizing a nationwide constitutional right to same-sex marriage

Government programs providing economic and health security, with broad support for Social Security and Medicare but greater vulnerability for means-tested aid

A 2010 law expanding health coverage through subsidies, insurance rules, Medicaid expansion, and initially an individual mandate

Conservative activist who led the campaign against ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment

Movement led by Phyllis Schlafly that helped prevent ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment before its 1982 deadline

Evangelical leader who founded the Moral Majority and mobilized religious conservatives in Republican politics

Organization founded in 1979 that mobilized religious conservatives around abortion, school prayer, and traditional family values

Proposed constitutional guarantee of equal rights regardless of sex that fell short of ratification after conservative opposition

Evangelical and other religious conservatives mobilized around abortion, school prayer, LGBTQ rights, and traditional family values

First lady associated with the Just Say No campaign against illegal drug use

Nancy Reagan’s campaign encouraging young people to reject illegal drug use

Republican president who accepted tax increases in a 1990 budget despite his campaign pledge against new taxes

George H. W. Bush’s 1988 campaign pledge, broken when he accepted tax increases in the 1990 budget agreement

Democratic president who adopted some market-oriented conservative ideas while defending a limited social safety net

Centrist Democratic approach that accepted some market-oriented and fiscally conservative policies while retaining a limited safety net

Republican leader who promoted the Contract with America and helped the GOP win control of Congress in 1994

The 1994 Republican campaign program calling for lower spending, welfare reform, and smaller government