Unit 2 Flashcards
Amendments
An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements.
Anti-Federalists
Anti-Federalism was a late-18th-century political movement that opposed the creation of a stronger U.S. federal government and which later opposed the ratification of the 1787 Constitution.
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain.
Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. It spells out Americans’ rights in relation to their government. It guarantees civil rights and liberties to the individual—like freedom of speech, press, and religion. It sets rules for due process of law and reserves all powers not delegated to the Federal Government to the people or the States.
Checks and Balances
The Checks and Balances system provides each branch of government with individual powers to check the other branches and prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful.
Concurrent Powers
Concurrent powers refer to powers that are shared by both the federal government and state governments. This includes the power to tax, build roads, and create lower courts.
Consent of the Governed
refers to the idea that a government’s legitimacy and moral right to use state power is justified and lawful only when consented, or agreed to, by the people over which that political power is exercised.
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
Delegated Powers
Delegated powers are those powers granted to the national government under the United States Constitution. The most important delegated powers are found in Article I of the Constitution, which focuses primarily on the national legislature (the United States Congress).
Denied Powers
Denied powers are powers denied to nation and state government branches to maintain balance and fairness.
Due Process
Due process of law is application by the state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to a case so all legal rights that are owed to a person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual person from it.
Eminent Domain
Eminent domain refers to the power of the government to take private property and convert it into public use, referred to as a taking. The Fifth Amendment provides that the government may only exercise this power if they provide just compensation to the property owners.
English Bill of Rights
The English Bill of Rights is an act that the Parliament of England passed on December 16, 1689. The Bill creates separation of powers, limits the powers of the king and queen, enhances the democratic election and bolsters freedom of speech.
Enumerated Powers
Enumerated powers are the powers granted to the Federal government, and specifically Congress, which are mostly listed in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.
Federalism
the division and sharing of power between the national and state governments.
Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym “Publius” to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States.
Judicial Review
Judicial review is the idea, fundamental to the U.S. system of government, that the actions of the executive and legislative branches of government are subject to review and possible invalidation by the judiciary.
Marbury v. Madison
Limited Government
In political philosophy, limited government is the concept of a government limited in power. It is a key concept in the history of liberalism.
Magna Carta
Magna Carta was issued in June 1215 and was the first document to put into writing the principle that the king and his government was not above the law. It sought to prevent the king from exploiting his power, and placed limits of royal authority by establishing law as a power in itself.
Majority Rule
Majority rule is the principle that the group which has the most supporters get to decide the rules that all will be compelled to abide by. A majority is more than half of the voters involved, and rule by such a majority is thought to be to the benefit of more than rule by less than half would be.
Mayflower Compact
The 1620 agreement (first called the Mayflower Compact in 1793) was a legal instrument that bound the Pilgrims together when they arrived in New England.
Popular Sovereignty
Popular sovereignty is the principle that the leaders of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political legitimacy.
Preamble
The preamble sets the stage for the Constitution (Archives.gov). It clearly communicates the intentions of the framers and the purpose of the document. The preamble is an introduction to the highest law of the land; it is not the law. It does not define government powers or individual rights.
Ratify
Ratification is a principal’s legal confirmation of an act of its agent. In international law, ratification is the process by which a state declares its consent to be bound to a treaty.
sign or give formal consent to (a treaty, contract, or agreement), making it officially valid.
Reserved Power
Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution – Reserved Powers
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Rule of Law
The rule of law is a political ideal that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. It is sometimes stated simply as “no one is above the law”
Separation of Powers
Separation of powers is a doctrine of constitutional law under which the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) are kept separate.
1st Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
(Freedom of Speech, Religion, Press, Assembly, and Criticism of Government)
2nd Amendment
Right to Bear Arms
(You can own a gun)
3rd Amendment
Quartering of Soldier
(Soldiers can’t just make themselves at home in your home)
4th Amendment
Search and Arrest
Warrant Needed without Propable Cause
5th Amendment
Rights in Criminal Cases
nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb, nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
(Double Jeopardy, Pleading the 5th, No punishment without due process, compensation when private land taken by government for public use)
6th Amendment
Right to a fair trail
speedy and public
7th Amendment
Rights in civil cases
Trial by Jury
8th Amendment
Bail, fines, punishment
No excessive bails
Excessive Fines
Or cruel and unusual punishment
9th Amendment
Rights retained by the People
If not included in the legislature people retain rights
10th Amendment
States rights
If not given to federal or prohibited to the states, the states are responsible for everything else
