1 CHAPTER

Question 1

Common goods

Answer 1

goods that all people may use but that are of limited supply

Question 2

democracy

Answer 2

a form of government where political power rests in the hands of the people

Question 3

direct democracy

Answer 3

a form of government where people participate directly in making government decisions instead of choosing representatives to do this for them

Question 4

elite theory

Answer 4

claims political power rests in the hands of a small, elite group of people

Question 5

government

Answer 5

government the means by which a society organizes itself and allocates authority in order to accomplish
collective goals

Question 6

ideology

Answer 6

the beliefs and ideals that help to shape political opinion and eventually policy

Question 7

majority rule

Answer 7

a fundamental principle of democracy; the majority should have the power to make decisions binding upon the whole

Question 8

monarchy

Answer 8

a form of government where one ruler, usually a hereditary one, holds political power

Question 9

oligarchy

Answer 9

a form of government where a handful of elite society members hold political power

Question 10

representative democracy

Answer 10

a form of government where voters elect representatives to make decisions and pass laws on behalf of all the people instead of allowing people to vote directly on laws

Question 11

Anti-federalists

Answer 11

those who did not support ratification of the Constitution

Question 12

Articles of Confederation

Answer 12

the first basis for the new nation’s government; adopted in 1781; created an alliance of sovereign states held together by a weak central government

Question 13

Bill of Rights

Answer 13

the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution; most were designed to protect fundamental rights and liberties

Question 14

checks and balances

Answer 14

a system that allows one branch of government to limit the exercise of power by another branch; requires the different parts of government to work together

Question 15

confederation

Answer 15

a highly decentralized form of government; sovereign states form a union for purposes such as mutual defense

Question 16

Declaration of Independence

Answer 16

a document written in 1776 in which the American colonists proclaimed
their independence from Great Britain and listed their grievances against the British king

Question 17

Great Compromise

Answer 17

a compromise between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan that created a two- house Congress; representation based on population in the House of Representatives and equal
representation of states in the Senate

Question 18

natural rights

Answer 18

the right to life, liberty, and property; believed to be given by God; no government may take away

Question 19

New Jersey Plan

Answer 19

a plan that called for a one-house national legislature; each state would receive one vote

Question 20

reserved powers

Answer 20

any powers not prohibited by the Constitution or delegated to the national government;
powers reserved to the states and denied to the federal government

Question 21

social contract

Answer 21

an agreement between people and government in which citizens consent to be governed so long as the government protects their natural rights

Question 22

The Federalist Papers

Answer 22

a collection of eighty-five essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison,
and John Jay in support of the ratification of the Constitution

Question 23

Three-Fifths Compromise

Answer 23

e a compromise between northern and southern states that called for counting of all a state’s free population and 60 per cent of its enslaved population for both federal taxation and
representation in Congress

Question 24

bicameral legislature

Answer 24

a legislature with two houses, such as the U.S. Congress

Question 25

unicameral legislature

Answer 25

a legislature with only one house, like the Confederation Congress or the legislature proposed by the New Jersey Plan

Question 26

Virginia Plan

Answer 26

a plan for a two-house legislature; representatives would be elected to the lower house based on each state’s population; representatives for the upper house would be chosen by the lower house

Question 27

civil liberties

Answer 27

limitations on the power of government, designed to ensure personal freedoms

Question 28

civil rights

Answer 28

guarantees of equal treatment by government authorities

Question 29

due process clause

Answer 29

provisions of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments that limit government power to deny people “life, liberty, or property” on an unfair basis

Question 30

grandfather clause

Answer 30

the provision in some southern states that allowed illiterate White people to vote because their ancestors had been able to vote before the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified

Question 31

hate crime

Answer 31

harassment, bullying, or other criminal acts directed against someone because of bias against that person’s sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion, race, ethnicity, or disability

Question 32

Jim Crow laws

Answer 32

state and local laws that promoted racial segregation and undermined Black voting rights in
the south after Reconstruction