Chapter 2 Vocab

Question 1

government

Answer 1

That complex of offices, personnel, and processes and by which a state is ruled, by which its public policies are made and enforced.

Question 2

bills of attainder:

Answer 2

Punitive legislation aimed at a specific person.

Question 3

“elastic clause” .

Answer 3

That implied provision of the United States Constitution that allows the national government to expand its authority to meet the changing needs of the nation. Grounded on the “necessary and proper clause” of the United States Constitution

Question 4

McCulloch v. Maryland

Answer 4

United States Supreme Court cases which established the doctrine of implied powers. The principle of the Constitution’s loose or flexible construction, interpreting the “necessary and proper” clause, i.e., the “elastic clause,” was the opinion’s central thesis.

Question 5

executive agreements

Answer 5

Pacts made by a President with heads of a foreign government.

Question 6

informal amendment

Answer 6

A change to the implementation of the Constitution that does not involved an actual change to the written document.

Question 7

eminent domain

Answer 7

The constitutional the power of the government to take private property for public use, in exchange for payment of fair market value. Found in the Fifth Amendment.

Question 8

The Bill of Rights

Answer 8

The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution which provide protection from federal power. The Bill of Rights is an example of the concept of “limited government.”

Question 9

formal amendment

Answer 9

A change to or addition that becomes part of the written constitution.

Question 10

amendment

Answer 10

A change in, or addition to, a constitution or law. Formal amendment refers to changes or additions that become part of the written Constitution. Amendments to the Constitution have as much legality as the original Constitution.

Question 11

federalism

Answer 11

The division of political power between a central government and several regional governments over the same geographic area.

Question 12

judicial review

Answer 12

The power of the judiciary to determine whether the actions of the legislative and executive branches of government are in accordance with the Constitution. The doctrine of judicial review can be traced directly to Marbury v. Madison.

Question 13

Marbury v. Madison

Answer 13

United States Supreme Court case which established “judicial review” as a power of the Supreme Court. The Court declared a portion of the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional, thereby declaring that the Court could invalidate a law that it found to be unconstitutional.

Question 14

checks and balances

Answer 14

System of overlapping the powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, to permit each branch to check the actions of the others.

Question 15

separation of powers

Answer 15

Basic principle of the American System of government, that the executive, legislative, and judicial powers are divided among three independent and co-equal branches of government which can cooperate with each other as well as oppose each other.

Question 16

rule of law

Answer 16

Concept that government and its officers are always subject to — never above — the law.

Question 17

constitutionalism

Answer 17

Basic principle of American system of government; that those who govern are bound by the fundamental law. Government is to be conducted according to constitutional principles.

Question 18

Anti-Federalists

Answer 18

Individuals opposed to the ratification of the Constitution, attacking ratification process itself, the absence of mention of God, and the denial to the states of a power to print money. Anti-Federalists wanted less federal power.

Question 19

Federalists Papers

Answer 19

A compilation of more than eighty letters to the editor written under the pseudonym Publius (written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay) in defense of key parts of the Constitution.

Question 20

Federalists

Answer 20

Those individuals who favored ratification of the United States Constitution, stressing the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

Question 21

Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise

Answer 21

Compromise at the Constitutional Convention in which Congress was forbidden to tax exports and act on the slave trade for at least 20 years.

Question 22

The Three-Fifths Compromise

Answer 22

Compromise at the Constitutional Convention in which the delegates agreed to count slaves as three-fifths of a person for purposes of representation and taxation. It was a plan to satisfy the South’s desire to inflate the population count of their states.

Question 23

Connecticut Compromise

Answer 23

Compromise at the Constitutional Convention which called for a Congress to be composed of two houses. States were to have equal representation in the Senate. In the House, representation would be based on population.

Question 24

bicameral

Answer 24

Consisting of two legislative houses.

Question 25

public policies

Answer 25

All those things a government decides to do, or not do.

Question 26

Shay’s Rebellion .

Answer 26

A protest against the farmer’s loss of property to tax collectors. The rebellion demonstrated the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, provided a sound reason to amend the Articles and a justification for calling the Constitutional Convention

Question 27

ratification

Answer 27

The process of securing formal approval

Question 28

Articles of Confederation

Answer 28

Document which formed a confederation among the states. The Articles established “firm league of friendship” among the states who came together “for their common defense and security of their liberties and their mutual and general welfare.” Under the Articles of Confederation, most power rested with the state legislatures.

Question 29

popular sovereignty

Answer 29

Basic principle of the American system of government; that the people are the only source of any and all governmental power, that government must be conducted with the consent of the governed.

Question 30

limited government

Answer 30

Basic principle of the American system of government; that government is limited in what it may do, and each individual has certain rights that government cannot take away. The Bill of Rights is an example of the principle of limited government, restricting what the national government can and cannot do.

Question 31

representative government

Answer 31

The idea that government should serve the will of the people. Representative government is that system of government in which public policies are made by officials who are selected by the voters and who are held accountable to the voters in periodic elections. “Representative government” = “Republican form of government”

Question 32

The Magna Carta

Answer 32

Document written in 1215 which established the principle of limited government and the fundamental rights of English citizens. The document also introduced such fundamental rights as trial by jury and due process of law.

Question 33

boycott

.

Answer 33

The refusal to buy or sell an opponent’s goods in order to influence his/her behavior.

Question 34

unicameral

Answer 34

Legislature which consists of one house which exercises both legislative and executive powers.

Question 35

constitution

Answer 35

That system of fundamental laws and principles that prescribes the nature, functions, and limits of a government or another institution