Chapter 2 Vocab: Constitutional Democracy: Promoting Liberty and Self-Government

Question 1

Limited government

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Representative government

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Social contract

Answer 3

A voluntary agreement by individuals to form a government that is then obligated to work within the confines of that agreement.

Question 4

Inalienable (natural) rights

Answer 4

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 inalienable. Since government is established by people, government has the responsibility to preserve these rights.

Question 5

Constitution

Answer 5

The fundamental law that defines how a government will legitimately operate.

Question 6

Virginia Plan

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

New Jersey (small-state) Plan

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Great Compromise

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Three Fifths Compromise

Answer 9

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 apportionment (number of seats in the House of Representatives).

Question 10

Anti-Federalists

Answer 10

Opponents of the Constitution during the debate over ratification.

Question 11

Federalists

Answer 11

Supporters of the Constitution during the debate over ratification.

Question 12

Liberty

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Grants of power

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Denials of power

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Separation of powers

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Separated institutions sharing power

Answer 16

The principle that, as a way to limit government, its powers should be divided among separate branches, each of which also share in the power of 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.

Question 17

Checks and balances

Answer 17

The elaborate system of divided spheres of authority provided by the U.S. 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 is part of this system.

Question 18

Bill of Rights

Answer 18

The first 10 amendments to the Constitution. They include rights such as freedom of speech and religion and due process protections (for example, the right to a jury trial) for persons accused of crimes.

Question 19

Judicial review

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Tyranny of the majority

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Democracy

Answer 21

A form of government in which the people govern, either directly or through elected representatives.

Question 22

Republic

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Electoral College

Answer 23

An unofficial term that refers to the electors who cast the state’s electoral votes.

Question 24

Electoral votes

Answer 24

The method of voting used to choose the U.S. president. Each state has the same number of electoral votes as it has members in congress (House and Senate combines). By tradition, electoral voting is tied to a state’s popular voting. 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.

Question 25

Unit rule

Answer 25

The rule that grants all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate who receives most of the popular votes in the state.

Question 26

Primary election

Answer 26

Also called a direct primary, 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.

Question 27

Open party caucuses

Answer 27

Meetings at which a party’s candidates for nomination are voted on and that are open to all the party’s rank-and-file voters who want to attend.

Question 28

Constitutional democratic republic

Answer 28

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.