| A | B |
|---|
| Define government | The institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies |
| Articles Of Confederation | Plan of government adopted by the Continental Congress after the American Revolution; established "a firm league of friendship" among the States, but allowed few important powers to the central government |
| representative government | system of government in which public policies are made by officials selected by the voters and held accountable in periodic elections |
| checks and balances | system of overlapping the powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches to permit each branch to check the actions of the others |
| separation of powers | basic principle of American system of government, that the executive, legistlative, and judicial powers are divided among three independent and coequal branches of government |
| Three-Fifths Compromise | An agreement at the Constitutional Convention to count a slave as three-fifths of a person when determing the population of a State |
