| A | B |
|---|
| US Debt | 14 Trillion dollars (one's amount of loans or money owed) |
| US Deficit | Spending more than you earn (opposite of a surplus) |
| Checks and Balance system | each branch of government has control over the other branches |
| Articles of Confederation | 1st system of government after becoming independent of Great Britain. 1777 with a preamble and 13 articles. |
| Eminent Domain | The power of the state or national government to take private land for public use. |
| Expressed Powers | Specifically listed powers in the Consitution. |
| Reserved Powers | Powers left to the states. |
| Concurrent Powers | Powers shared by state and federal government. |
| Betty Friedan | An American writer, activist, and feminist. A leading figures in "2nd wave" of women's rights movement. |
| Supreme law of the land | The United States Constitution |
| Market Economy | free competition with supply and demand |
| Command Economy | Where the government controls supply and demand |
| Mixed Market Economy | Where there are both public and private companies |
| Natural rights | Fundamental rights to every person from birth (John Locke) |
| Civil Rights | 13th and 14th amendments-personal freedoms to all. |
| Globalism | Placing the best interests of the world over those of one nation. |
| NAFTA | North American Fair Trade Agreement |
| United Nations (UN) | Members are fully sovereign states who join together to try to keep world peace. |
| GDP | Gross Domestic Product (sum of all goods and services produced in a nation in one year). |
| Supply and Demand | as demand increases for a product, then supply should also increase. |
| Interest Groups | An advocacy group or group of people who think the same about an issue or cause and organize to influence government. |
| Political Parties | Have their own ideas about how government should be run and they nominate candidates for office. |
| Two-party system | Two major parties competing with each other against many minor parties |
| Third or Minor parties | Any political party other than one of the two major parties. |
| Primary Elections | An election in which voters in a jurisdiction select candidates. |
| Election Day | Tuesday after the first Monday in November. |
| Electoral College System | The system used to elect the President. Each state is assigned a number of electoral votes equal to the number of congressional seats they have. |
| PAC's | Politial Action Committees |
| Lobbying | A group of persons engaged in trying to influence legislators or public officials in favor of a cause. |
| Majority Leader | The speaker's top assistant that oversees bills in congress. |
| Minority Leader | Speaks for the minority party in congress. |
| Speaker of the House | The presiding officer of the House of Representatives (John Boehner) |
| Bill | A proposed law. |
| Press Secretary | speaks to press/reporters on behalf of White House (Jay Carney) |
| White House Chief of Staff | Bill Daley-the top aide to the President. |
| Tariff | A tax on imports and exports. |
| Protectionism | The economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods. |
| Conservative | Those who believe government should be limited. |
| Liberal | Those who believe government should be active in promoting health, education, justice and equal opportunities. |
| Inauguration | The ceremony of the swearing in of the President. |
| Cabinet | Officials that help the President make policies and decisions. |
| NAACP | National Association for the Advancement of Colored People |
| ACLU | American Civil Liberties Union |
| Theocracy | A government dominated by a religion. |
| Bill of Rights | First 10 amendments to the US Consitution. A protection against the actions of the federal government. |
| Suffrage | The right to vote |
| Monarchy | Where a nation is ruled by a King or Queen. |
| Judicial Review | The power of the Supreme Court to delcare laws and actions of local, state, or national government unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is the final authority of interpreting the Constitution |
| Census | A count of the US population every 10 years. |
| Democracy | A government by the people. |
| Representative Democracy | A form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy. |
| Due Process of law | Guarantees under the 5th and 14th amendment to the US Constitution Clause provide that the the government shall not take a person's life, liberty or property without due process of law. |
| Monopoly | A situation in which a single company owns all or nearly all of the market for a given type of product or service. |
| Declaration of Independence | A statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the 13 American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, were now independent states and no longer a part of the British Empire. |
| Patriot | One who loves, supports and defends his/her country. |
| Loyalist | They were people living in the American colonies who supported the British during the American Revolution (1775- 1783). |
| Sons of Liberty | Secret society of colonists who fought against the British taxes and lead the Boston Tea Party. |
| Federalists | Strong central government (lead by John Adams and Alexander Hamilton) |
| Anti-Federalists | Wanted strong state powers and a bill of rights. |
| Felony | A major crime |
| Misdemeanor | A minor crime that is usually punished by a fine or jail sentence less than a year. |
| Original Jurisdiction | When the criminal committed the offense for the first time. |
| Appellate Jurisdiction | When an appealed case is heard |
| Federal judges and justices | Are appointed by the president. |
| Establishment Clause | First Amendment guarantee that Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion. |
| Free Exercise Clause | First Amendment guarantee that prohibits government from unduly interfering with free exercise of religion. States that one may practice religion freely. |
| Symbolic Speech | A political statement without words: example: arm bands in protest of the Vietnam War. |
| Little Rock Nine | 9 black students that had to be escorted by military to their school when segregation ended. |
| Montgomery Bus Boycott | 381 day protest against public transporation in support of African Americans being allowed to ride anywhere onn a bus. |
| "Taking the Fifth" | The 5th Amendment is the right not to incriminate oneself. |
| Indictment | A formal charge by a grand jury. |
| Acquittal | To be found not guilty. |
| Brown v. Topeka Board of Education | 1954-the separate but equal rule was over turned. |
| Roe v. Wade | Made abortion legal but set limits on when women could abort their fetuses. |
| Progressive Income Tax | A tax based on the taxpayers ability to pay. |
| Veto | The president's refusal to sign a bill into law. |
| Standing Committee | A permanent committee in congress. |
| Conference Committee | A temporary joint committee in Congress that oversees bills that deal with certain issues. |
| Refugee | A person fleeing a country to escape persecution or danger. |
| Social Security | Federal benefits program developed in 1935. Includes retirement benefits, disability income, vet pensions, public housing and food stamps. |
| John Locke | Wrote Second Treatise on Government and was a proponent of the "Social Contract" which basically said that if people were unhappy with their ruler, they should have the right to overthrow him. He also believe that everyone had the right to life, liberty and the persuit of happiness. |
| Montesquieu | A French philosopher who believed in the separation of powers. He believed that each power (executive, judicial, and legislative) needed to check each other so that no one power had complete control. |
| Adam Smith | Wrote the Wealth of Nations. He believed that if everyone worked to the best of their ability to provide for themselves, the world would become a more wealthy place because society would be bettered by hard workers. |
| Samuel Adams | He was an American politician who had a hand in the Boston Massacre and started the Boston Tea Party with a group of rebels who would eventually become the Founding Fathers of America. |
| Cesar Chavez | Civil rights and labor leader who founded the United Farm Workers Union. |
| Sam Brownback | Governor of Kansas |
| Barack Obama | US President-first African American President of the United States. |
| King George III | He was the King of England when the Revolutionary War broke out. |
| John Roberts | Chief Justics of the Supreme Court |
| Hillary Clinton | Secretary of State |
| Alice Paul | American Suffragist leader in 1917 during the women's suffrage movement. |
| Patrick Henry | Wrote "Give me Liberty or Give me death." |
| Rosa Parks | She was arrested for not giving up her seat on a bus to a white man in the 1950s. |
| Elizabeth Cady Stanton | Suffragette |
| Malcom X | Islamic Civil Rights leader. |
| Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | Souther preacher who lead Civil Rights non-violent marches and gave the famous "I have a dream" speech. |
| Lynn Jenkins | Congresswoman from Kansas |
| Gloria Steinen | Writer, activist, and leader of the women's rights movement in the late 1960s and 1970s. |
| Jerry Moran | Kansas Senator. |
