| A | B |
|---|
| Articles of Confederation | The government document (which was proven too weak to enforce) our Constitution replaced. |
| Amendment | The name for a change in the Constitution. |
| Articles | The seven major parts of the Constitution. |
| Preamble | The name for the introduction to the Constitution, which outlines the reasons that the people wanted to create the Constitution. |
| Article 1 | The Article of the Constitution describes the Legislative Branch of government (Congress). |
| Article 2 | The Article of the Constitution tells the requirements someone must meet to be eligible to be elected President of the United States. |
| Article 2 | The Article of the Constitution describes the Executive Branch of government. |
| Article 3 | The Article of the Constitution describes the Judicial Branch of government (primarily the Supreme Court). |
| Bill of Rights | The nickname for the first ten amendments to the US Constitution. |
| Amendment 1 | The Amendment that allows for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to petition the government, and the right to gather peacefully. |
| Amendment 4 | The Amendment that protects US citizens from unreasonable search and seizure |
| Amendment 5 | The Amendment that protects a citizen from having to testify against himself/herself if charged with a crime. |
| Amendment 6 | The Amendment that gives US citizens the right to a lawyer and to a fair trial if accused of a crime. |
| Amendment 8 | The Amendment that protects a US citizen from cruel and unusual punishment. |
| Amendment 13 | The Amendment that outlawed slavery in the United States. |
| Amendment 16 | The Amendment that set up the national income tax. |
| Amendment 19 | The Amendment that gave all American women the right to vote. |
| Amendment 22 | The Amendment that allows a US President to be elected to office only 2 times. |
| Amendment 26 | The Amendment that lowered the voting age to 18. |
| Checks and Balances | The system set up by the US Constitution to keep any brach of government from becoming more powerful than the other two branches. |
| National Archives | The place where the original Constitution is displayed |
| Veto | What the President can do to a bill passed by Congress if he or she disagrees with it. |
| Override | What Congress can do when a President vetoes a bill if two thirds of them vote in favor of it again. |
| Unconstitutional | The ruling that the Supreme Court can give to a law if the justices believe that it does not agree with the Constitution. |
| Legislative Branch | The branch of government (headed by Congress) that creates the laws of the United States according to Article 1. |
| Executive Branch | The branch of government (headed by the President) which enforces the laws of the United States according to Article 2. |
| Judicial Branch | The branch of government (headed by the US Supreme Court) which interprets the laws and rules on whether they agree with the Constitution according to Article 3 |
