Chapter 2 Vocab

Question 1

A term used to describe opponents of the Constitution during the debate over ratification

Answer 1

Anti-Federalists

Question 2

The first ten amendments to the Constitution. They include rights such as freedom of speech and religion and due process protections (such as the right to a jury trial) for persons accused of crimes.

Answer 2

Bill of Rights

Question 3

The elaborate system of divided spheres of authority provided by the US Constitution as a means of controlling the power of government. The separation of powers among the branches of the national government, federalism, and the different methods of selecting national officers are all part of this system.

Answer 3

Checks and balances

Question 4

The fundamental law that defines how a government will legitimately operate

Answer 4

Constitution

Question 5

A government that is constitutional in its provisions for minority rights and rule by law; democratic in its provisions for majority influence through elections; and a republic in its mix of deliberative institutions, which check and balance each other

Answer 5

Constitutional democratic republic

Question 6

Elected representatives whose obligation is to act in accordance with the expressed wishes of the people they represent

Answer 6

Delegates

Question 7

A form of government in which the power of the majority is unlimited, whether exercised directly or through a representative body

Answer 7

Democracy (according to the framers)

Question 8

A constitutional means of limiting government action by listing those powers that the government is expressly prohibited from using

Answer 8

Denials of power

Question 9

An unofficial term that refers to the electors who cast the states’ electoral votes

Answer 9

Electoral College

Question 10

The method of voting used to choose the US president.

Answer 10

electoral votes

Question 11

Each state has the same number of electoral votes as it has ? By tradition, electoral voting is tied to a state’s ?
The candidate with the most popular votes in a state (or, in a few states, the most votes in a congressional district) receives its electoral votes

Answer 11

Members in Congress= House and Senate combined

Popular votes

Question 12

A government system in which authority is divided between two sovereign levels of government: national and regional

Answer 12

Federalism

Question 13

A term used to describe supporters of the Constitution during the debate over ratification

Answer 13

Federalists

Question 14

The method of limiting the US government by confining its scope of authority to those powers expressly granted in the Constitution

Answer 14

Grants of power

Question 15

The agreement of the constitutional convention to create a two-chamber Congress with the House apportioned by population and the Senate apportioned equally to the state

Answer 15

Great Compromise

Question 16

Those rights that persons theoretically possessed in the state of nature, prior to the formation of governments. These rights, including those of life, liberty, and property, are considered inherent and as such are ____. Since government is established by people, government has the responsibility to preserve these rights

Answer 16

Inalienable (natural) rights

Question 17

The power of courts to decide whether a governmental institution has acted within its constitutional powers and, if not, to declare its action nu and void

Answer 17

Judicial review

Question 18

The principle that individual should be free to act and think as they choose, provided they do not infringe unreasonably on the rights and freedoms of others

Answer 18

Liberty

Question 19

A government that is subject to strict limits on it’s lawful uses power and, hence, on its ability to deprive people of their liberty

Answer 19

Limited government

Question 20

A constitutional proposal for a strengthened Congress but one in which each state would have a single vote, thus granting a small state the same legislative power as a larger state

Answer 20

New Jersey (small-state) Plan

Question 21

A form of election in which voters choose a party’s nominees for public office. In most states, eligibility to vote in a primary election is limited to voters who designated themselves as party members when they registered to vote.

Answer 21

Primary election (direct primary)

Question 22

A government in which the people govern through the selection of their representatives

Answer 22

Representative government

Question 23

A form of government in which the People’s representatives to decide policy through institutions structured in ways that foster deliberation, slow the progress of decision-making, and operate within the restraints that protect individual liberty. To the framers, the Constitution’s separation of powers and other limits on power were defining features of this form of government, as opposed to a democratic form, which places no limits to the majority

Answer 23

Republic

Question 24

The principle that, as a way to limit government, is powers should be divided among separate branches, each of which also shares in the power of the others as a means of checking and balancing them. The result is that no one branch can exercise power decisively without the support or acquiescence of the others

Answer 24

Separated institutions sharing power

Question 25

The division of the powers of government among separate institutions among separate institutions or branches

Answer 25

Separation of powers

Question 26

A voluntary agreement by individuals to form

a government that is then obligated to work within the confines of that agreement

Answer 26

Social contract

Question 27

A compromise worked out at the 1787 convention between northern states and southern states. Each slave was to be counted as three-fifths of a person for purposes of federal taxation and congressional appointment

Answer 27

Three- fifths compromise

Question 28

Number of seats in the House of Representatives

Answer 28

Congressional appointment

Question 29

Elected representatives who’s obligation is to act in accordance with their own consciences as to what policies are in the best interests of the public

Answer 29

Trustees

Question 30

The potential of a majority to monopolize power for its own gain and to the detriment of minority rights and interests

Answer 30

Tyranny of the majority

Question 31

A constitutional proposal for a strong Congress with two chambers, both of which would be based on numerical representation, thus granting more power to the larger states

Answer 31

Virginia (large-state) plan