Ch. 2

Question 1

A phrase used by James Madison in the Federalist Papers to refer to the threat to the nation’s stability that factions could pose.

Answer 1

“Mischiefs of Factions”

Question 2

An 1819 U.S. Supreme Court decision that broadly interpreted Congress’s powers under the implied powers clause.

Answer 2

McColloch v. Maryland

Question 3

Those who opposed the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Answer 3

Anti-Federalists

Question 4

The first constitution of the United States; in effect from 1781 to 1789.

Answer 4

Articles of Confederation

Question 5

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Answer 5

Bill of Rights

Question 6

The principle of government that holds that the powers of the various branches should overlap to avoid power becoming overly concentrated in one branch.

Answer 6

Checks and Balances

Question 7

The gathering in Philadelphia in 1787 that wrote the U.S. Constitution; met initially to revise the Articles of Confederation but produced a new national constitution instead.

Answer 7

Constitutional Convention

Question 8

The situation in which one political party controls the presidency and the other party controls one or both houses of Congress.

Answer 8

Divided Government

Question 9

Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation that the slaves “shall be . . . forever free.” At the time, it applied only in the Confederate states and so had little practical impact because the Union did not control them. However, it had an immense political impact, making clear that the Civil War was not just to preserve the Union but also to abolish slavery.

Answer 9

Emancipation Proclamation

Question 10

A system in which power is constitutionally divided between a central government and subnational or local governments.

Answer 10

Federalism

Question 11

Originally, those who supported the U.S. Constitution and favored its ratification; in the early years of the Republic, those who advocated a strong national government.

Answer 11

Federalists

Question 12

Famous 1863 speech by President Lincoln to dedicate the battlefield where many had fallen during the Civil War. Lincoln used the occasion to advance his ideal of equality and to promote the Union.

Answer 12

Gettysburg Address

Question 13

The decision of the Constitutional Convention to have a bicameral legislature in which representation in one house would be by population and in the other house, by states; also called the Connecticut Compromise.

Answer 13

Great Compromise

Question 14

One house of Congress, where states are represented in proportion to their population size.

Answer 14

House of Representatives

Question 15

The clause in the U.S. Constitution that gives Congress the power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying out its specific powers.

Answer 15

Implied Powers Clause

Question 16

A process that allows citizens and interest groups to collect signatures on petitions and place a proposal on the ballot.

Answer 16

Initiative

Question 17

A government that is strong enough to protect the people’s rights but not so strong as to threaten those rights; in the view of John Locke, such a government was established through a social contract.

Answer 17

Social Contract

Question 18

A phrase in the implied powers clause of the U.S. Constitution that gives Congress the power to make all laws needed to carry out its specific powers.

Answer 18

Necessary and Proper Clause

Question 19

A program of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration in the 1930s aimed at stimulating economic recovery and aiding victims of the Great Depression; led to expansion of the national government’s role.

Answer 19

New Deal

Question 20

A process that enables voters to remove officials from office before their terms expire.

Answer 20

Recall Elections

Question 21

Three amendments (13th, 14th, and 15th), adopted after the Civil War from 1865 through 1870, that eliminated slavery (13), gave blacks the right to vote (15), and guaranteed due process rights for all (14).

Answer 21

Reconstruction Amendments

Question 22

A process that allows the legislature to place a proposal on the ballot.

Answer 22

Referendum

Question 23

One house of Congress, where each state is represented by two members.

Answer 23

Senate

Question 24

The principle of government under which the power to make, administer, and judge the laws is split among three branches—legislative, executive, and judicial.

Answer 24

Separation of Powers

Question 25

A revolt of farmers in western Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787 to protest the state legislature’s refusal to grant them relief from debt; helped lead to calls for a new national constitution.

Answer 25

Shay’s Rebellion

Question 26

An implied agreement between the people and their government in which the people give up part of their liberty to the government in exchange for the government protecting the remainder of their liberty.

Answer 26

Social Contract

Question 27

A clause in the U.S. Constitution stating that treaties and laws made by the national government take precedence over state laws in cases of conflict.

Answer 27

Supremacy Clause

Question 28

Constitutional amendment stating that powers not delegated to the federal government or prohibited to the states are reserved to the states and to the people. This amendment has generally not had much impact, though a few recent Supreme Court cases have referred to it.

Answer 28

Tenth Amendment

Question 29

People who assert a very broad interpretation of the Tenth Amendment to restrict federal authority on the grounds that it usurps states’ authority.

Answer 29

Tenthers

Question 30

The decision of the Constitutional Convention that each slave would count as three– fifths of a person in apportioning seats in the House of Representatives.

Answer 30

Three-fifths Compromise