Ch. 2 Flashcards
A phrase used by James Madison in the Federalist Papers to refer to the threat to the nation’s stability that factions could pose.
“Mischiefs of Factions”
An 1819 U.S. Supreme Court decision that broadly interpreted Congress’s powers under the implied powers clause.
McColloch v. Maryland
Those who opposed the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Anti-Federalists
The first constitution of the United States; in effect from 1781 to 1789.
Articles of Confederation
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Bill of Rights
The principle of government that holds that the powers of the various branches should overlap to avoid power becoming overly concentrated in one branch.
Checks and Balances
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.
Constitutional Convention
The situation in which one political party controls the presidency and the other party controls one or both houses of Congress.
Divided Government
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.
Emancipation Proclamation
A system in which power is constitutionally divided between a central government and subnational or local governments.
Federalism
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.
Federalists
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.
Gettysburg Address
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.
Great Compromise
One house of Congress, where states are represented in proportion to their population size.
House of Representatives
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.
Implied Powers Clause
A process that allows citizens and interest groups to collect signatures on petitions and place a proposal on the ballot.
Initiative
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.
Social Contract
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.
Necessary and Proper Clause
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.
New Deal
A process that enables voters to remove officials from office before their terms expire.
Recall Elections
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).
Reconstruction Amendments
A process that allows the legislature to place a proposal on the ballot.
Referendum
One house of Congress, where each state is represented by two members.
Senate
The principle of government under which the power to make, administer, and judge the laws is split among three branches—legislative, executive, and judicial.
Separation of Powers
