Chapter 2: The Constitution Flashcards
FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
The first gathering of delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies, held in 1774.
REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY
A legislature composed of individuals who represent the population.
SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
The 1775 congress of the colonies that established an army.
NATURAL RIGHTS
Rights held to be inherent in natural law, not dependent on governments. John Locke stated that natural law, being superior to human law, specifies certain rights of “life, liberty, and property.” These rights altered to become “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” are asserted in the Declaration of Independence.
SOCIAL CONTRACT
A voluntary agreement among individuals to secure their rights and welfare by creating a government and abiding by its rules.
UNICAMERAL LEGISLATURE
A legislature with only one legislative body, as compared with a bicameral (two-house) legislature, such as the U.S. Congress. Nebraska is the only state in the union with a unicameral legislature.
CONFEDERATION
A political system in which states or regional governments retain ultimate authority except for those powers they expressly delegate to a central government. A voluntary association of independent states, in which the members states agree to limited restraints on their freedom of action.
STATE
A group of people occupying a specific area and organized under one government; may be either a nation or a subunit of a nation.
BICAMERAL LEGISLATURE
A legislature made up of two chambers, or parts. The U.S. Congress, composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate, is a bicameral legislature.
SUPREMACY DOCTRINE
A doctrine that asserts the superiority of national law over state or regional laws. The principle is rooted in Article VI of the Constitution, which provided that the Constitution, the laws passed by the national government under its constitutional powers, and all treaties constitute the supreme law of the land.
GREAT COMPROMISE
The compromise between the New Jersey and Virginia plans that created one chamber of the Congress based on population and one chamber that represented each state equally; also called the Connecticut Compromise.
SEPARATION OF POWERS
The principle of dividing governmental powers among the executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches of government.
MADISONIAN MODEL
A structure of government proposed by James Madison in which the powers of the government are separated into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.
CHECKS AND BALANCES
A major principle of the American government system whereby each branch of the government exercises a check on the actions of the others.
ELECTORAL COLLEGE
A group of persons called electors elected by the voters in each state and Washington D.C.; this group officially elects the president and Vice President of the United States. The number of electors in each state is equal to the number of each state’s representatives in both chambers of Congress. The twenty third Amendment to the Constitution permits Washington D.C. To have as many electors as a state of comparable population.
