Term 1 Vocab

Question 1

Congress

Answer 1

the national legislative body of the U.S., consisting of the Senate, or upper house, and the House of Representatives, or lower house, as a continuous institution.

Question 2

Executive Branch

Answer 2

the branch of government charged with the execution and enforcement of laws and policies and the administration of public affairs; the executive.

Question 3

Legislative Branch

Answer 3

the branch of government having the power to make laws; the legislature.

Question 4

Judicial Branch

Answer 4

the branch of government charged with the interpretation of laws and the administration of justice; the judiciary.

Question 5

President

Answer 5

The highest executive officer of a modern republic, as the Chief Executive of the United States.

Question 6

Vice-President

Answer 6

an officer next in rank to a president who serves as president in the president’s absence.

Question 7

census

Answer 7

an official enumeration of the population, with details as to age, sex, occupation, etc.

Question 8

Supreme Court

Answer 8

the highest court of the U.S.

Question 9

House of Representatives

Answer 9

the lower legislative branch in many national and state bicameral governing bodies, as in the United States, Mexico, and Japan.

Question 10

Senate

Answer 10

an assembly or council of citizens having the highest deliberative functions in a government, especially a legislative assembly of a state or nation.

Question 11

liberalism

Answer 11

a political or social philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual, parliamentary systems of government, nonviolent modification of political, social, or economic institutions to assure unrestricted development in all spheres of human endeavor, and governmental guarantees of individual rights and civil liberties.

Question 12

conservatism

Answer 12

the disposition to preserve or restore what is established and traditional and to limit change.

Question 13

Checks and balances

Answer 13

limits imposed on all branches of a government by vesting in each branch the right to amend or void those acts of another that fall within its purview.

Question 14

democracy

Answer 14

government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

Question 15

politics

Answer 15

the science or art of political government.

Question 16

Republican

Answer 16

of, relating to, or of the nature of a republic.

Question 17

Democrat

Answer 17

a person who believes in the political or social equality of all people.

Question 18

election

Answer 18

the selection of a person or persons for office by vote.

Question 19

voting rights

Answer 19

When people have the right to vote.

Question 20

Electoral College

Answer 20

a body of electors chosen by the voters in each state to elect the president and vice president of the U.S.

Question 21

Constitution

Answer 21

the system of fundamental principles according to which a nation, state, corporation, or the like, is governed.

Question 22

constitutional

Answer 22

of or relating to the constitution of a state, organization, etc.

Question 23

veto

Answer 23

the power or right vested in one branch of a government to cancel or postpone the decisions, enactments, etc., of another branch, especially the right of a president, governor, or other chief executive to reject bills passed by the legislature.