Chapter Two

Question 1

Advice and Consent

Answer 1

The Senate’s authority to approve or reject the president’s top appointments and negotiated treaties.

Question 2

Anti-Federalists

Answer 2

Individuals who opposed ratification of the Constitution because they were deeply suspicious of the powers it gave to the national government and of the impact those powers would have on states’ authority and individual freedoms.

Question 3

Bicameral Legislature

Answer 3

Legislature comprising two parts, called chambers.

Question 4

Bill of Rights

Answer 4

The first 10 amendments to the Constitution, which were ratified in 1791, constituting an enumeration of the individual liberties with which the government is forbidden to interfere.

Question 5

Checks and Balances

Answer 5

A system in which each branch of government can monitor and limit the functions of the other branches.

Question 6

Confederation

Answer 6

A union of independent states in which each state retains its sovereignty, that is, its ultimate power to govern, and agrees to work collaboratively on matters the states expressly agree to delegate to a central governing body.

Question 7

Connecticut Compromise

Answer 7

The compromise between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan that created a bicameral legislature with one chamber’s representation based on population and the other chamber having two members for each state (also known as the Great Compromise).

Question 8

Constitution

Answer 8

Presents the mission of the government that is described in the document, the fundamental principles that will guide the government’s operations, and the foundational structures and procedures by which the government operates to fulfill its mission.

Question 9

Dual Sovereignty

Answer 9

A system of government in which ultimate governing authority is divided between two levels of government, a central government and regional governments, with each level having ultimate authority over different policy matters.

Question 10

Electoral College

Answer 10

The name given to the body of representatives elected by voters in each state to elect the president and the vice president.

Question 11

Federalists

Answer 11

Individuals who supported the new Constitution as presented by the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

Question 12

Judicial Review

Answer 12

Court authority to determine that an action taken by any government official or governing body violates the Constitution; established by the Supreme Court in the 1803 Marbury v. Madison case.

Question 13

Marbury V. Madison

Answer 13

The 1803 Supreme Court case that established the power of judicial review, which allows the Court to strike down laws passed by the other branches that it views to be in conflict with the Constitution.

Question 14

Natural Rights

Answer 14

The rights possessed by all humans as a gift from nature, or God, including the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (also called unalienable rights).

Question 15

New Jersey Plan

Answer 15

The proposal presented in response to the Virginia Plan by the less populous states at the Constitutional Convention, which called for a unicameral national legislature in which all states would have an equal voice (equal representation), an executive office composed of several people elected by Congress, and a Supreme Court whose members would be appointed by the executive office.

Question 16

Ratification

Answer 16

The process by which constitutions and constitutional amendments are formally confirmed, thereby becoming law.

Question 17

Republic

Answer 17

A government that derives its authority from the people and in which citizens elect government officials to represent them in the processes by which laws are made; a representative democracy.

Question 18

Separation of Powers

Answer 18

The Constitution’s delegation of authority for the primary governing functions among three branches of government so that no one group of government officials controls all the governing functions.

Question 19

Supremacy Clause

Answer 19

A clause in Article VI of the Constitution that states that the Constitution and the treaties and laws created by the national government in compliance with the Constitution are the supreme law of the land.

Question 20

The Federalist Papers

Answer 20

A series of essays, written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, that argued for the ratification of the Constitution.

Question 21

Three-Fifths Compromise

Answer 21

The negotiated agreement by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention to count each slave as three-fifths of a free man for the purpose of representation and taxes.

Question 22

Unicameral Legislature

Answer 22

A legislative body with a single chamber.

Question 23

Veto

Answer 23

The president’s rejection of a bill, which is sent back to Congress with the president’s objections noted.

Question 24

Virginia Plan

Answer 24

The new governmental structure proposed by the Virginia delegation to the Constitutional Convention, which consisted of a bicameral legislature (Congress), an executive elected by the legislature, and a separate national judiciary; state representation in Congress would be proportional, based on state population; the people would elect members to the lower house, and members of the lower house would elect the members of the upper house.