Gov. Review 3 (F) Flashcards
Anti-Federalists
those who favored more localized government in which citizens would protect the interests of each other; they were opposed to the new Constitution.
Articles of Confederation
The first constitution of what would become the United States in which sovereignty rested with the thirteen constituent states.
Bicameral
a legislature consisting of two houses.
Confederation
A system of government in which the constituent units are sovereign.
Connecticut Plan or “Great Compromise”
the creation of a bicameral system of representation which balanced the interests of the large and the small states.
Constitutionalism
The creation of a basic law which places limits on the power that can be exercised by government and establishes rights for those who are governed.
Declaration of Independence
The document in which the colonies formally declared their independence from Great Britain.
Federalists
those who advocated a nationalist vision of a strong central government that would be able to exert its influence westward and become a major global actor; they were in favor of the new Constitution.
Madisonian Model
Dividing government into three branches which must share power with each through a system of “checks and balances.”
Natural Rights
Rights which individuals have simply by virtue of being human. Subsequently, individuals cannot be separated from these rights; they are “unalienable.”
New Jersey Plan
a plan for representation which favored the smaller states.
Procedural constitution
a constitution which sets out the procedures government is to follow and not the substance of what government does.
Representative democracy
a system in which the people elect representatives to carry out the task of governing.
Republicanism
A system of governance in which political power rests with the people who exercise that power through representatives who govern on behalf of the masses and not the elites.
Social contract
When rational individuals agree to give up some of their liberties in order to form a government which will protect their natural rights.
Sovereignty
A government which has complete control over a state.
Spirit of ’76
The sense of Republicanism and equality that swept through the colonies following the Declaration of Independence.
Three-fifths compromise
A compromise in which each slave was counted as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of determining representation to the House of Representatives and for determining per-capita taxes paid by the states to the central government.
Virginia Plan
a plan for representation which favored the larger states.
Articles of Confederation
The government in effect from 1777 to 1787 in which there was weak national authority and strong state authority.
Block Grants
Grants-in-aid given to states and cities for broad purposes, allowing recipients considerable control over how the money is spent.
Categorical Grants
Grants-in-aid established by Congress to be used by recipients for specific purposes.
Centrifugal Forces
Propel objects outward from the center; here political factors that give power to the states.
Centripetal Forces
Propel objects toward the center; here political factors that give power to the central government in Washington.
Coercive Federalism
When Congress uses rules attached to grants-in-aid to force states and cities to take certain specified actions.
Confederation
A weak governmental system in which states have more authority than the central government.
Cooperative Federalism
View of the American federal system in which power is shared by the states and the national government.
Creative Federalism
A subset of cooperative federalism in which the national government often gave grants to cities to establish programs to attack social problems.