Constitutional Democracy

Question 1

CONSTITUTION

Answer 1

The set of rules that defines how a government will operate.

Question 2

BILL OF RIGHTS

AKA the Bill of Limits

Answer 2

The first ten amendments to the Constitution that grant Americans specific rights.

Question 3

LIBERTY

Answer 3

The ideal that all people should be free to act and think as they choose without violating the freedom and liberty of others.

Question 4

The framers’ theory of representative government

Answer 4

the notion that political power must be separated from immediate popular influences if sound policies are to result.

Question 5

The idea of popular government

Answer 5

the idea - majority’s desires have a more direct and immediate impact on governing officials—has gained strength since the nation’s beginning.

Question 6

Articles of Confederation.

Answer 6

The Articles, adopted during the Revolutionary - War,

weak national government that was subordinate to the states.

Question 7

Great Compromise

*provided for a bicameral (two-chamber)

Answer 7

1 - House of Representatives - # of reps based on state population.

2 - Senate - 2 reps for each state

Question 8

The Three-Fifths Compromise: Issues of Slavery and Trade

Answer 8

Three-Fifths Compromise (Madison)

For purposes of taxes and seats in the House , each slave was to count as less than a full person.

Question 9

Anti-Federalists

Answer 9

opponents of the Constitution. - The Anti-Federalists worried that the national government would fall under the control of a political elite.

Question 10

Federalists

Answer 10

Constitution’s supporters (y James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, John Jay (pen name Publius) wrote the Federalist Papers. Publius. argued a Constitution would correct the defects of the Articles; central government to secure and prosperous union.

Question 11

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS FOR LIMITED GOVERNMENT

Answer 11

• Grants of power
• Separated institutions
• Federalism
• Denials of power
• Bill of Rights
• Judicial review
• Elections

Question 12

Twenty-First Amendment

Answer 12

repealed the prohibition on alcohol— the only amendment ratified by state conventions.

Question 13

separation of powers

Answer 13

( Montesquieu)
government power could be controlled by dividing it among separate branches rather than investing it entirely in a single individual or institution.
*widely admired in America,

Question 14

checks and balances

Answer 14

The U.S. Constitution separates power among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches but assigns each branch part of the power of the other two branches so that it can act as a check on their power.

Question 15

The president powers

Answer 15

• can veto acts of Congress, recommend legislation.
• call special sessions of Congress.
• power to execute—and thereby interpret—the laws Congress makes.
• Vested shared Executive powers - treaties and appoint high-ranking officials, is subject to Senate approval.

Question 16

Supreme Court - power

Answer 16

• interpret acts of Congress that are disputed in legal cases.
• power of judicial review: it can void laws of Congress when it finds that they are not in accord with the Constitution.

Question 17

Shared Executive Powers

Answer 17

Shared Executive Powers Executive power is vested in the president but is constrained by legislative and judicial checks.

Question 18

Congress powers

Answer 18

• power to impeach and remove the president from office.

* lawmaking and apropriations powers.
greatest checks on executive action

Question 19

The judiciary’s

Answer 19

power to declare an action unlawful because it is not authorized by the laws that the executive claims to be implementing.

Question 20

Bill of Rights - civil liberties

Answer 20

free-expression rights such as freedom of speech and due process protections such as the right to a jury trial.

Question 21

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Answer 21

• judicial commissions appointment asking for a mandamus. The case - became the foundation for judicial review by the federal courts.

Question 22

tyranny of the majority (Frames Fears)

Answer 22

people acting as an irrational mob that tramples on the rights of the minority.

Question 23

democracy, republic, and representative government (interchangeable modern view)

Answer 23

a system of government in which political power rests with the people through their ability to choose representatives in free and fair elections.

Question 24

what was democracy to the framers

Answer 24

a government in which the majority, either directly or through its representatives, has absolute power. - there are no limits on the majority’s power.

Question 25

What did republic the framers

Answer 25

a government that has limits on its power.

The people have rights that are beyond the reach of government,
- The majority has power but its power is subject to constitutional and institutional limits.

Question 26

What dis Limited Popular Rule mean to the Frames?

Answer 26

a system of representation that placed most federal officials beyond the direct control of the voters

Question 27

Jeffersonian democracy

Answer 27

Americans to look on national government institutions as belonging to all, not just to the privileged few.

Question 28

Andrew Jackson in 1828

Answer 28

He sought to:

• reduce the power of the bank
• eliminating the property requirement for voting
• argued for tying electoral votes to the popular vote
• appointed ordinary citizens to public office. TJackson urged the states to award their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the state’s popular vote

Question 29

The Progressives:

Answer 29

Era of the early 1900s brought another wave of democratic reforms. The Progressives sought to weaken the influence of large corporations and political party bosses by placing power more directly in the hands of the people. **enable citizens to vote directly on legislative issues

Question 30

referendum

Answer 30

state legislature itself places a proposal on the ballot for the voters to accept or reject

Question 31

popular referendum

**

Answer 31

introduced in the early 1900s by the Progressives, who sought to weaken the power of political bosses and give voters more influence.

** in some states - by gathering enough signatures on a petition, citizens can place (new initiative) or place an act of the state legislature on the ballot

Question 32

direct primary election

Answer 32

ives ordinary voters the power to select party nominees.
**Prior to this change, nominees were selected by party leaders
In the early 1900s, nearly all states adopted the primary election for choosing nominees for at least some federal and state offices.

Question 33

Charles S. Beard’s An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution.21

Answer 33

Beard claimed that the Constitution’s elaborate systems of power and representation were devices for keeping power in page 56the hands of the rich

Question 34

constitutional democratic republic

Answer 34

US government in 1787.
It is
*majority influence through elections; and a republic
mix of institutions, which moderates the power of the others.

Question 35

How does a court decision involving judicial review differ from an ordinary court decision, such as a ruling in a case involving armed robbery?

Answer 35

In judicial review (over turn decisions) - the judiciary has the power declare if a government officials or institutions have acted within the boundaries of their constitutional - and if not nullify and void that action.

Question 36

Why is it more accurate to say that the United States has a system of “separated institutions sharing power” rather than a system of “separated powers”?

Answer 36

because no institution can act decisively without the support or acquiescence of the other institutions. Legislative, executive, and judicial powers in the American system are divided but overlap: each of the three branches of government checks the others’ powers and balances those powers with powers of its own.