1: The Constitution

Question 1

Declaration of Independence

Answer 1

A statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead they formed a new nation—the United States of America.

Question 2

Social contract theory

Answer 2

John Locke’s idea that people are in contract with the government and they have the right to overthrow it, if the government does not serve them. It is represented in the 2nd paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.

Question 3

Republic

Answer 3

A republic is a form of government in which power resides in the people, and the government is ruled by elected leaders run according to law, rather than inherited or appointed. The USA is a federal republic.

Question 4

Confederation !!!

Answer 4

A confederation is a union of political units for common action.

Question 5

Articles of Confederation

Answer 5

The Articles of Confederation was the first written constitution of the United States signed by the thirteen original colonies. Stemming from wartime urgency, its progress was slowed by fears of central authority and extensive land claims by states before was it was ratified in early** 1781**.

Question 6

Virginia Plan +++

Answer 6

A proposal by Virginia delegates for a bicameral legislative branch. The lower house would have a representation based on the size of the states, and the members of the upper house would be elected by the lower. Small states opposed.

Question 7

New Jersey Plan

Answer 7

A proposal for the structure of the United States Government presented by William Paterson at the Constitutional Convention in **1787 **in response to the Virginia Plan. The plan designated a one-vote-per-state representation under one legislative body, with the additional power of levying taxes.

Question 8

legislative branch

Answer 8

One of the 3 separate powers in the US and other democracies, besides Judiciary and Executive. In the case of the US federal government, it is the Congress.

Question 9

Executive branch

Answer 9

The part of the government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state. The Executive branch consists of the President and those to whome the power of the president, who is military commander in-chief, chief diplomat, head of state and government.

Question 10

Judiciary branch

Answer 10

The Judiciary explains and applies the laws. This branch does this by hearing and eventually making decisions on various legal cases. The Constitution establishes the Supreme Court of the United States and authorizes the United States Congress to establish inferior (i.e., lower) courts as their need shall arise.

Question 11

The Great Compromise

aka

Connecticut Compromise

Answer 11

an agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. It retained the bicameral legislature as proposed by Roger Sherman, along with proportional representation in the lower house, but required the upper house to be weighted equally between the states.

Question 12

Republicanism

Answer 12

The ideology of governing a society or state as a republic, where the head of state is a representative of the people who hold popular sovereignty rather than the people being subjects of the head of state. The head of state is typically appointed by means other than heredity, often through elections.

Question 13

Federalism

Answer 13

A political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head.

Question 14

separation of powers

Answer 14

A model for the governance of a state first developed in ancient Greece. The state is divided into branches, each with separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with the powers associated with the other branches. The typical division of branches is into alegislature, an executive, and a judiciary.

Question 15

Checks and Balances +++

Question 16

Judicial review +

Answer 16

The doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with judicial review power may invalidate laws and decisions that are incompatible with a higher authority, such as the terms of a written constitution. Judicial review is one of the checks and balances in theseparation of powers: the power of the judiciary to supervise the legislative and executive branches.

Question 17

Bill of Rights

Answer 17

the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. Proposed to assuage the fears of Anti-Federalists who had opposed Constitutional ratification, these amendments guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government’s power in judicial and other proceedings, and reserve some powers to the states and the public, ratified in 1791.

Question 18

Dual federalism

Answer 18

A political arrangement in which power is divided between the federal and state governments in clearly defined terms, with state governments exercising those powers accorded to them without interference from the federal government.