AP Gov ch 2 Alyssa Rosales Flashcards
Alexander Hamilton
A key Framer who envisioned a powerful central government, co-authored The Federalist Papers, and served as the first Secretary of the Treasury.
Anti-Federalists
Those who favored strong state government and a weak national government; opposed ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Article I
Vests all legislative powers in the Congress and establishes a bicameral legislature, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives; it also sets out the qualification for holding office in each house, the terms of office, the methods of selection of representatives and senators, and the system of apportionment among the states to determine membership in the House of Representatives.
Article II
Vests the executive power, that is, the authority to execute the laws of the nation, in a president of the United States; section 1 sets the president’s term of office at four years and explains the Electoral College and states the qualifications for office and describes a mechanism to replace the president in case of death, disability, or removed from office.
Article III
Establishes a Supreme Court and defines its jurisdiction.
Article IV
Mandates that states honor the laws and judicial proceedings of other states. also includes the mechanisms for admitting new states to the union.
Article V
Specifies how amendments can be added to the Constitution.
Article VI
Contains the supremacy clause, which asserts the basic primacy of the Constitution and national law over state laws and constitutions.
Articles of Confederation
The compact between the thirteen original colonies that created a loose league of friendship, with the national government drawing its powers from the states.
Benjamin Franklin
A brilliant inventor and senior statesman at the Constitutional Convention who urged colonial unity as early as 1754, twenty-two years before the Declaration of Independence.
Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which largely guarantee specific rights and liberties.
Checks and balances
A constitutionally mandated structure that gives each of the three branches of government some degree of oversight and control over the actions of the others.
Common Sense
A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that challenged the authority of the British government to govern the colonies.
Constitution
A document establishing the structure, functions, and limitations of a government.
Constitutional Convention
The meeting in Philadelphia in 1787 that was first intended to revise the Articles of Confederation but produced an entirely new document, the U.S. Constitution.
Crispus Attucks
An African American and first American to die in what be came known as the Boston Massacre in 1770.
Critical Period
The chaotic period from 1781 to 1789 after the American Revolution during which the former colonies were governed under the Articles of Confederation.
Declaration of Independence
Document drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 that proclaimed the right of the American colonies to separate from Great Britain.
Electoral College
The system established by the Constitution through which the president is chosen by electors from each state, which has as many electoral votes as it has members of Congress.
Enumerated Powers
The powers of the national government specifically granted to Congress in Article I, section 8 of the Constitution.
Federalism
The distribution of constitutional authority between state governments and the national government, with different powers and functions exercised by both.
The Federalist Papers
The Federalist is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the pseudonym “Publius” to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution.
First Continental Congress
meeting of delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies who met from September 5 to October 26, 1774, at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution.
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War comprised the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years’ War of 1756–63. It pitted the colonies of British America against those of New France. Both sides were supported by military units from their parent countries, as well as by American Indian allies
Full Faith and Credit Clause
Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, known as the “Full Faith and Credit Clause”, addresses the duties that states within the United States have to respect the “public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.”
George Washington
George Washington was the first President of the United States, and was among the nation’s Founding Fathers. As commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, he led the patriot forces in overcoming significant obstacles, ending with success over the British at Yorktown.
Great Compromise
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 government
implied powers
Implied powers, in the United States, are powers authorized by the Constitution that, while not stated, seem implied by powers that are expressly stated
inherent powers
Inherent powers are those powers that Congress and the president need in order to get the job done right. Although not specified in the Constitution, they are reasonable powers that are a logical part of the powers delegated to Congress and the president.
James Madison
James Madison Jr. was an American statesman and Founding Father who served as the fourth President of the United States from 1809 to 1817. He is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
John Jay
John Jay was an American statesman, Patriot, diplomat, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, negotiator and signatory of the Treaty of Paris of 1783, second Governor of New York, and the first Chief Justice of the United States.
Lexington and Condord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775 in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy, and Cambridge.
mercantilism
Mercantilism is a national economic policy that is designed to maximize the trade of a nation. Mercantilism was dominant in modernized parts of Europe from the 16th to the 18th centuries
Montesquieu
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, and political philosopher. He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world.
necessary and proper clause
trial paragraph of U.S Constitution, gives Congress the authority to pass all laws “necessary and proper” to carry out the enumerated powers specified in the Constitution, elastic clause
New Jersey Plan
The proposal at the Constitutional Convention that called for equal representation of each state in Congress regardless of the state’s population.
new world
The New World is one of the names used for the majority of Earth’s Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas.
political culture
the manifestation of the psychological and subjective dimensions of politics. A political culture is the product of both the history of a political system and the histories of the members. Thus, it is rooted equally in public events and private experience.
Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in the spring of 1775 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia between September 5, 1774, and October 26, 1774.
separation of powers
A feature of the Constitution that requires each of the three branches of government-executive, legislative, and judicial-to be relatively independent of the others so that one cannot control the others. Power is shared among these institutions.
Shay’s rebellion
A series of attacks on courthouses by a small band of farmers led by Revolutionary War Captain Daniel Shays to block foreclosure proceedings.
social contract theory
In both moral and political philosophy, the social contract is a theory or model that originated during the Age of Enlightenment and usually concerns the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual.
sons and daughters of liberty
People who were brought together as a response of the Stamp Act. They were common people.
stamp act congress
or First Congress of the American Colonies, was a meeting held between October 7 and 25, 1765, in New York City, consisting of representatives from some of the British colonies in North America; it was the first gathering of elected representatives from several of the American colonies to devise a unified protest against new British taxation.
supremacy clause
Constitution mandating that Nat’l law is supreme; establishes Constitution and Fed. law are the absolute law of last resort in U.S.
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of Independence
Thomas Paine
an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and revolutionary.
three-fifths compromise
each slave would be counted as three-fifths of a person for purposes of determining pop. for rep. in the U.S H.O.R
Virginia plan
The proposal at the Constitutional Convention that called for representation of each state in Congress in proportion to that state’s share of the U.S. population.
federalists
referred to as the Pro-Administration party until the 3rd United States Congress, was the first American political party. It existed from the early 1790s to 1816
