Terms : Hide Images
| 4818862951 | legitimacy | Status of a government that people follow willingly and that are recognized by other nations | 0 | |
| 4818862952 | totalitarianism | Type of government system characterized by rule by a single individual who uses force to keep the people in line | 1 | |
| 4818862953 | Virginia Plan | Plan to create a unicameral legislature where each state had representation based on population | 2 | |
| 4818862954 | Federalists | Group that favored ratification of the Constitution immediately after it was written | 3 | |
| 4818862955 | concurrent powers | Powers granted to both the states and the federal government (e.g. court systems; taxation) | 4 | |
| 4818862956 | block grants | Large sum of money granted to the states to enact various program but the money is used at the discretion of the state | 5 | |
| 4818862957 | establishment clause | Clause in the first amendment that prohibits the US government from requiring any citizen to follow a specific religion | 6 | |
| 4818862958 | Montesquieu | French social contract theorist who contributed the ideas of separation of powers & checks and balances to the US Constitution | 7 | |
| 4818862959 | direct democracy | Style of democracy in which every citizen debates and votes the merits of new laws or actions taken by the government; Embodied in Athenian democracy | 8 | |
| 4818862960 | pluralism | Theory of policy making that says that multiple groups are all vying for control of a policy area; one group never gains full control therefore compromise is a necessity in policy making | 9 | |
| 4818862961 | Great Compromise | Agreement between delegates at the Constitutional Convention that led to the creation of a bicameral legislature (Congress); basically a merging of the NJ and VA plans; Also known as the Connecticut Compromise | 10 | |
| 4818862962 | anti-Federalists | Group that wanted a guarantee of personal freedoms before voting in favor of ratification of the Constitution | 11 | |
| 4818862963 | full faith and credit clause | Phrase used to describe the mutual respect and legality of laws, public records, and judicial decisions made by states. | 12 | |
| 4818862964 | separation of powers | Concept of American democracy where each branch of the government has defined powers so that no single branch can ever assume full control | 13 | |
| 4818862965 | selective incorporation | Process through which the Bill of Rights, originally written to only apply to federal crimes, are applied to state crimes through Supreme Court rulings | 14 | |
| 4818862966 | Adams | Government theorist who wrote "Thoughts on Government" in 1776 which focused heavily on the need for a strict system of laws within a democracy; many of his ideas influenced the constitution | 15 | |
| 4818862967 | representative democracy | Also known as a republic, this is a style of government where groups of people elect representatives who make laws and debate policy on their behalf | 16 | |
| 4818862968 | Articles of Confederation | The first governing document of the United States which retained strong state sovereignty and a weak central government; failed largely due to flaws pointed out by Shays' Rebellion | 17 | |
| 4818862969 | Three-Fifths Compromise | Agreement reached during the writing of the Constitution between slave states and free states where slaves are each counted as 3/5 of a person for the purpose of determining a state's population | 18 | |
| 4818862970 | Bill of Rights | The first ten amendments to the Constitution, added to guarantee personal freedoms and individual rights to citizens of the United States | 19 | |
| 4818862971 | privileges and immunities clause | the guarantees that the rights of a citizen in one state will be respected by other states. Also a clause in the Fourteenth Amendment that protects citizens from abuses by a state | 20 | |
| 4818862972 | checks and balances | Process in US government through which each branch can prevent another branch from carrying out an action; designed to keep any one branch from getting and exerting too much power | 21 | |
| 4818862973 | Hobbes | English philosopher who created the idea of a social contract in his book "Leviathan" | 22 | |
| 4818862974 | Hume | Scottish philosopher who focused heavily on the idea of government needing laws in order to function and existing only at the consent of the governed | 23 | |
| 4818862975 | Karl Marx | German philosopher who took some ideas from Thomas More and Jean Jacques Rousseau to create the idea of a communist society without any class separation as a way to solve the problems of abuse of factory workers in capitalism | 24 | |
| 4818862976 | Shays Rebellion | Protest in Massachusetts by a group of farmers/Revolutionary War veterans over attempts by the government to collect taxes; failed attempts to quell the uprising without a federal army led to people questioning the efficacy of the Articles of Confederation | 25 | |
| 4818862977 | federalism | Concept within the United States that the federal government and the state governments are two separate, sovereign entities | 26 | |
| 4818862978 | delegated powers | Powers specifically granted to the federal government by the Constitution | 27 | |
| 4818862979 | supremacy clause | Defines the Constitution as the supreme law of the land | 28 | |
| 4818862980 | amendment | Addition to the Constitution; to date, 27 amendments have been added to the Constitution | 29 | |
| 4818862981 | Locke | English philosopher who extended the idea of the social contract to include the concept that if a king broke the concept, the people could rebel; His ideas regarding social contracts and natural rights inspired Jefferson during the writing of the Declaration of Independence | 30 | |
| 4818862982 | More | English philosopher in the 16th century who wrote "Utopia" about a fictional, purely communist society with no property ownership of government | 31 | |
| 4818862983 | socialism | Type of government/economic system where the government controls the economy and provides the people with their basic needs | 32 | |
| 4818862984 | New Jersey Plan | Proposal by the New Jersey delegation to the constitutional convention whereby each state would have equal representation in the legislature, regardless of size | 33 | |
| 4818862985 | dual federalism | Clearly defined powers for both the state and the federal government | 34 | |
| 4818862986 | reserved powers | Powers that are given specifically to the states via the Constitution | 35 | |
| 4818862987 | categorical grants | Money given by the federal government to be spent in specific ways on specific projects | 36 | |
| 4818862988 | ratify | To approve or accept (in this case, the Constitution) | 37 | |
| 4818862989 | Rousseau | Swiss philosopher who proposed a purely communist and direct democracy style government with no property ownership | 38 | |
| 4818862990 | Unalienable Rights | The idea that you cannot voluntarily give up the rights granted to you by God nor can they be taken from you by anybody else | 39 | |
| 4818862991 | Consent of the Governed | A key concept within the social contract and an important piece of Hume philoshophy that no government is legitimate unless the people agree to live under and obey the government | 40 | |
| 4818862992 | loose construction | Typically an idea reserved for the Supreme Court but also applicable to others; this concept means that the Constitution is a set of guiding principles but that it can be changed and interpreted as appropriate for changing situations | 41 | |
| 4818862993 | strict constructionists | This concept means that the Constitution should be taken literally and should not be subject to interpretation | 42 |
