| A | B |
|---|
| Social Contract Theory | The belief that the poeple agree to set up rulers for certain purposes and thus have the right to resist or remove rulers who act against those purposes. |
| John Locke | natural rights & social contract theory! |
| Republic | A government without a monarch; a government rooted in the consent of the governed, whose power is exercised by elected representatives responsible to the governed. |
| Confederation | A loose association of independent states that agree to cooperate on specified matters. |
| Articles of Confederation | The compact among the thirteen original states that established the first government of the United States. |
| Shays' Rebellion | A group of farmers headed by Daniel Shays in Massachussets in 1786; armed with pitchforks; state appealed to the Confederation. Confederation voted on a centralized army, which was rejected by all but one state. |
| Virginia Plan | A set of proposals for a new government, submitted to the Constitutional Convention of 1787; included separation of the government into three branches, division of the legislature into two houses, and proportional representation in the legislature. |
| New Jersey Plan | Submitted by the head of the New Jersey delegation to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, a set of nine resolutions that would have, in effect, preserved the Articles of Confederation by amending rather than replacing them. |
| Great Compromise | Submitted by the Conneticut delegation to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and thus also known as the Conneticut Compromise, a plan calling for a bicameral legislature in which the House of Representatives would be apportioned according to population and the states would be represented equally in the Senate. |
| Three-Fifths Compromise | Used by the 1783 Congress to allocate costs; counted slaves as 3/5 to keep an equal representation in Congress. |
| Electoral College | A body of electors chosen by voters to cast ballots for president and vice president. |
| Republicanism | A form of government in which power resides in the people and is exercised by their elected representatives. |
| Federalism | The division of power between a central government and regional governments. |
| Separation of Powers | The assignment of lawmaking, law-enforcing, and law-interpretation functions to separate branches of government. |
| Checks and Balances | A government structure that gives each branch some scrutiny of and control over the other branches. |
| Enumerated Powers | The powers explicitly granted to Congress by the Constitution. |
| Necessary and Proper Clause | The last clause in Section 8 of Article I of the Constitution, which gives Congress the means to execute its enumerated powers. This clause is the basis for Congress's implied powers. Also called the elastic clause. |
| Implied Powers | Those powers that Congress needs to exercise its enumerated powers. |
| Judicial Review | The power to declare congressional (and presidential) acts invalid because they violate the Constitution. |
| Marbury v. Madison | Supreme Court declared that the courts have the power to nullify government acts that conflict with the Constitution (a.k.a. judicial review) |
| Supremacy Clause | The clause in Article VI of the Constitution that asserts that national laws take precedents over state and local laws when they conflict. |
| Federalists | Supported the Constitution, and defended it; pro- big, centralized government. |
| Anti-Federalists | Against the Constitution and a strong national government; for state's rights. |
| Bill of Rights | The first ten amendments to the Constitution. They prevent the national government from tampering with fundamental rights and civil liberties, and emphasize the limited character of national power. |
| Writ of Habeas Corpus | the government must inform detainees why they are being held |
| Bill of Attainder | A law that pronounces an individual guilty of a crime without a trial. |
| Ex Post Facto Law | A law that declares an action to be criminal after it has been performed. |
| Popular Sovereignty | rule by the people |
