| A | B |
|---|
| Magna Carta | the first document to set forth written guarantees of rights of (certain) citizens - a contract of sorts between the government and the governed. |
| English Bill of Rights | The "Bill of Rights"- requested by many of the individual states when they ratified the Constitution- specifically echoes the sorts of rights expressed in major documents of English Constitutional history |
| Montesquieu | Argued that the best government would be one in which power was balanced among three groups of officials. He believed that liberty could not exist when one branch held too much power. |
| John Locke | The responsibility of government is to protect our rights to life - liberty –equality and the pursuit of happiness; if the government infringes those rights - it needs to be changed. |
| Mayflower Compact | Agreement to create offices – laws - and constitutions that will aid the common good. Laws would be supreme and colonists agreed to abide by them |
| Declaration of Independence | It stated what the rights of the people are- and that government operates for the good of the people- not the other way around. |
| Articles of Confederation | It was the first set of rules governing the early years of the U.S. Shays Rebellion showed that it had serious problems that had to be addressed. |
| Federalists | This group worked tirelessly to get the Constitution ratified. They believed that a strong national government would be best for the nation. |
| Antifederalists | This group were against the ratification of the Constitution. They believed that the states and the individuals should have the primary power in the U.S. Most ratified when a Bill of Rights was written. |
| federalism | The principle of government in which governing powers are shared between state and federal (national) government. |
| enumerated powers | Specific listed powers given to a branch of government |
| reserved powers | Powers that are only given to either the national or state governments. |
| concurrent powers | Powers that are shared between the national and state governments. i.e. taxes |
| popular sovereignty | The principle of government that states that the main power lies in the people. Specifically it means “rule by the people” |
| Separation of Powers | The belief that no one branch of government should have more power than the others. |
| checks and balances | This principle allows for each branch of government to exercise some controls over the other two. Again protecting against one branch taking too much power. |
| limited government | The principle that states that government is limited to what is stated in the Constitution and cannot change things without an amendment to that Constitution. |
| flexibility | Our Constitution needs this because it needed to grow and change with the times. This is why it has lasted so well for so long. |
| Elastic Clause | This powerful clause allows the Government of the United States to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers vested by this constitution." |
| amendment process | The Constitution can be changed. It is a long and difficult process but has happened many times over the course of American history. This has allowed women to get the right to vote and has abolished slavery among many other things. |
