Ch.2 Caiou Dowds 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-federalist
Those who favored strong state governments and a weak national government;opposed ratification of the U.S. constitution.
Article I
Gives congress its power and limits. Congress is the legislative branch of the government, meaning they’re the ones to make laws for the U.S.A
Article II
Sets forth the definition and terms of the executive branch of government in the U.S.A
Article III
The U.S. constitution is the section that creates the judicial branch in the U.S.
Article IV
The U.S. shall guarantee to every state in this union a republic form of gov., and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the Executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.
Article V
Describes the process whereby he Constitution, the nations frame of government, may be altered.
Article VI
Establishes the laws and treaties of the U.S. made in accordance with it as the supreme law of the land, forbids a religious test as a a requirement for the holding a governmental position.
Articles of Confederation
Comprised the U.S. first constitution, lasting from 1776 until 1789
Benjamin Franklin
Independent politician
Bill of Rights
Together with the declaration of independence and the Constitution, the Bill of Rights helps to define the american political system and the government’s relationship to it’s citizens.
Checks and Balances
Principle of the government under which separate branches and are induced to share power
Constitutional Convention
In some states, notably those Commonwealth of nation states that follow the Westminster system and whose political systems derive from the British constitutional law, most government functions are guided by constitutional convention rather than by a formal written constitution
Crispus Attucks
African-American man killed during the Boston Massacre and thus believed to be the first casualty of the American Revolution
Critical Period
Coined by John Fiske (philosopher) in 1888 with his book the critical period of the american history, refers to the 1780’s a time right before the American Revolution where the future of the newly formed nation was in the balance
Declaration of Independence
An important part of American Democracy because first it contains the ideals or goals of our nation. Second it contains the complaints of the colonists against the British King. Third, it contains the arguments the colonists used to explain why they wanted to be free of British rule.
Electoral College
The electors are people chosen by their state political parties to cast votes for president and vice president. Electors can be state party leaders or elected officials; sometimes they are individuals with a personal connection to be a presidential candidate.
enumerated powers
Specific powers granted to congress by the united states constitution. The framers of the constitution wanted to ensure the new federal gov. would not become an overreaching entity that might subject the people to the oppression from which they had fled.
federalism
The mixed or compound mode of gov. combining a general government (the central or “federal” gov.) with regional governments (provincial, state, cantonal, territorial, or other sub-unit governments) in a single political system.
Federalists
The supporters of the proposed constitution called themselves , “Federalists.” Their adopted name implied a commitment to a loose, decentralized system of government.