Unit 1 Flashcards
A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them
Democracy
A form of government in which citizens rule directly and not through representatives
Direct democracy
An election in which voters choose party nominees
Direct primary
Method of maintaining, managing, and gaining control of government (who gets what, when, and how)
Politics
The institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies
Government
An agreement between the people and their government signifying their consent to be governed
Social contract
A form of government where citizens elect representatives to run the government for them
Representative government
A democratic system with elected representatives in which the Constitution is the supreme law
Constitutional republic
Basic principle that government and those who govern must obey the law of the Constitution
Constitutionalism
A shared set of beliefs, customs, traditions, and values that define the relationship of Americans to their government and to other American citizens
American political culture
The principle that governments must draw their powers from the consent of the governed
Popular consent
The theory that political power is distributed among a wide array of diverse and competing interest groups
Pluralist theory
A theory that a few top leaders make the key decisions without reference to popular desires
Elitist theory
Structures of a political system that carry out the work of governing
Political institutions
1st Constitution of the U.S. 1781-1788 (weaknesses-no executive, no judicial, no power to tax, no power to regulate trade)
Articles of Confederation
A meeting held in September 1786 to consider problems of trade and navigation, attended by five states and important because it issued the call to Congress and the states for what became the Constitutional Convention
Annapolis Convention
The meeting of state delegates in 1787 in Philadelphia called to revise the Articles of Confederation. It instead designed a new plan of government, the US Constitution
Constitutional Convention
A 1787 rebellion in which ex-Revolutionary War soldiers attempted to prevent foreclosures of farms as a result of high interest rates and taxes
Shay’s Rebellion
The principle of a two-house legislature
Bicameralism
“Large state” proposal for the new constitution, calling for proportional representation in both houses of a bicameral Congress
Virginia Plan
A constitutional proposal that would have given each state one vote in a new congress
New Jersey Plan
Bicameral Congress; House is based on state population, Senate with equal representation
Connecticut Compromise
The decision at the Constitutional convention to count slaves as 3/5 of a person for the purpose of deciding the population and determining how many seats each state would have in Congress
3/5 Compromise
A group of people named by each state legislature to select the president and vice president
Electoral college
