State
a body of people, living in a defined territory, organized politically, and with the power to make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority.
Social Contract
the agreement by which people define and limit their individual rights, thus creating an organized society or government
Representative Democracy
a small group of persons, chosen by the people to act as their representatives, expresses the popular will
Federal Government
one in which the powers of government are divided between a central government and several local governments
Unitary Government
a centralized government, all powers held by the government belong to a single, central agency.
Magna Carta
Signed by King John of England in 1215, it is the cornerstone of English justice and law. It declared that the king and government were bound by the same laws as other citizens of England. It contained the antecedents of the ideas of due process and the r
Petition of Rights
(1628) Limited the power of Charles I of England. a) could not declare martial law; b) could not collect taxes; c) could not imprison people without cause; d) soldiers could not be housed without consent.
English Bill of Rights
(1689) prohibited a standing army in peacetime, except with the consent of Parliament, required that all parliamentary elections be free, declared suspending the laws, levying money for the Crown without consent of Parliament is illegal. It is the right o
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.
Constitutional Convention
The meeting of state delegates in 1787 in Philadelphia called to revise the Articles of Confederation. It instead designed a new plan of government, the US Constitution.
Connecticut Compromise
Compromise agreement by states at the Constitutional Convention for a bicameral legislature with a lower house in which representation would be based on population and an upper house in which each state would have two senators.
Three-Fifths Compromise
the agreement by which the number of each state's representatives in Congress would be based on a count of all the free people plus three-fifths of the slaves.
Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise
an agreement during the Constitutional Convention protecting slave holders; denied Congress the power to tax the export of goods from any State, and, for 20 years, the power to act on the slave trade
Popular Sovereignty
Basic principle of the American system of government which asserts that the people are the source of any and all governmental power, and government can exist only with the consent of the governed.
Limited Government
Basic principle of American government which states that government is restricted in what it may do, and each individual has rights that government cannot take away.
Separation of powers
Basic principle of the American system of government, that the executive, legislative, and judicial powers are divided among three independent and coequal branches of government
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.
Federalist papers
a series of 85 essays written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay (using the name "publius") published in NY newspapers and used to convice readers to adopt the new Constitution.
Judicial Review
the power of a court to determine the constitutionality of a governmental action
Federalism
A system of government in which a written constitution divides power between a central, or national, government and several regional governments.
Formal Amendment
change or addition that becomes part of the written language of the Constitution itself through one of four methods set forth in the Constitution.
Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the Constitution.
Expressed powers
Those delegated powers of the National Government that are spelled out, expressly, in the Constitution; also called the "enumerated powers.
Concurrent powers
Those powers that both the National Government and the States possess and exercise.
Political party
A group of persons who seek to control government through the winning of elections and the holding of public office.
Political socialization
The process by which people gain their political attitudes and opinions.
direct primary
an election held within a party to pick that party's candidates for the general election.
interest groups
private organizations whose members share certain views and work to shape public policy.
lobbying
activities by which group pressures are brought to bear on legislators, the legislative process, and all aspects of the public-policy-making process.