Politics of the United States in the context of "First hundred days (United States)"

In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the Tenth Amendment. The enumerated powers that are listed in the Constitution include exclusive federal powers, as well as concurrent powers that are shared with the states, and all of those powers are contrasted with the reserved powers—also called states' rights—that only the states possess. Since the 1940s, the term "states' rights" has often been considered a loaded term, a euphemism, or a dog whistle because of its use in opposition to federally-mandated racial desegregation and, more recently, same-sex marriage and reproductive rights.

In the politics of the United States, the process of initiatives and referendums allow citizens of many U.S. states to place legislation on the ballot for a referendum or popular vote, either enacting new legislation, or voting down existing legislation. Citizens, or an organization, might start a popular initiative to gather a predetermined number of signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. The measure is placed on the ballot for the referendum, or actual vote.

Initiatives and referendums, along with recall elections and popular primary elections, were signature reforms from the Progressive Era (1896–1917) when people sought to moderate the power of parties and political bosses. These powers are written into several state constitutions, particularly in the West. Initiatives and referendums constitute a form of direct democracy. Since 1955, states have increasingly rescinded rights to initiatives and referendums; "the strongest predictor of anti-direct-democracy proposals is Republican control of the state legislature."

De la démocratie en Amérique (French pronunciation: [dəla demɔkʁasi ɑ̃n‿ameˈʁik]; published in two volumes, the first in 1835 and the second in 1840) is a classic French work by Alexis de Tocqueville. In the book, Tocqueville examines the democratic revolution that he believed had been occurring over the previous several hundred years.

In 1831, Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont were sent by the French government to study the American prison system. In his later letters, Tocqueville indicates that he and Beaumont used their official business as a pretext to study American society instead. They arrived in New York City in May of that year and spent nine months traveling the United States, studying the prisons and collecting information on American society, including its religious, political, and economic character. The two also briefly visited Canada, spending a few days in the summer of 1831 in what was then Lower Canada (modern-day Quebec) and Upper Canada (modern-day Ontario).

In political science, statism or etatism (from French, état 'state') is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree. This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation and the means of production.

While in use since the 1850s, the term statism gained significant usage in American political discourse throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Opposition to statism is termed anti-statism or anarchism. The latter is usually characterized by a complete rejection of all hierarchical rulership.

A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referred to as the majority or governing party while the other is the minority or opposition party. Around the world, the term is used to refer to one of two kinds of party systems. Both result from Duverger's law, which demonstrates that "winner-take-all" or "first-past-the-post" elections produce two dominant parties over time.

The first type of two-party system is an arrangement in which all (or nearly all) elected officials belong to one of two major parties. In such systems, minor or third parties rarely win any seats in the legislature. Such systems exist, for example, in the United States, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Zimbabwe. In such systems, while chances for third-party candidates winning election to major national office are remote, it is possible for factions within the larger parties to exert influence on one or even both of the two major parties.

A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections typically occur at regular intervals as mandated by a country's constitution or electoral laws, and may include elections for a legislature and sometimes other positions such as a directly elected president. In many jurisdictions, general elections can coincide with other electoral events such as local, regional, or supranational elections. For example, on 25 May 2014, Belgian voters simultaneously elected their national parliament, 21 members of the European Parliament, and regional parliaments.

In the United States, "general election" has a slightly different, but related meaning: the ordinary electoral competition following the selection of candidates in the primary election.

In American political theory, fiscal conservatism or economic conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and laissez-faire economics. Fiscal conservatives advocate tax cuts, reduced government spending, free markets, deregulation, privatization, free trade, and minimal government debt. Fiscal conservatism follows the same philosophical outlook as classical liberalism. This concept is derived from economic liberalism and later neoliberalism.

The term has its origins in the era of the American New Deal during the 1930s as a result of the policies initiated by modern liberals, when many classical liberals started calling themselves conservatives as they did not wish to be identified with what was being called liberalism in the United States. In the United States, the term liberalism has become associated with the welfare state and expanded regulatory policies created as a result of the New Deal and its offshoots from the 1930s onwards.

The Kennedy family (Irish: Ó Cinnéide) is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from County Wexford, Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy became the first Kennedy elected to public office, serving in the Massachusetts state legislature until 1895. At least one Kennedy family member was serving in federal elective office in every year from 1947, when P. J. Kennedy's grandson John F. Kennedy became a member of Congress from Massachusetts, until 2011, when Patrick J. Kennedy II (John's nephew) retired as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Rhode Island.

P. J.'s son Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and his wife, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, had nine children, including John F. Kennedy, who served in both houses of the United States Congress and as U.S. President; Robert F. Kennedy, who served as U.S. Attorney General and as a U.S. Senator; Ted Kennedy, who served more than 46 years in the U.S. Senate; and Jean Kennedy Smith, who served as U.S. ambassador to Ireland.