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Government
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85
History
Undergraduate 2
06/13/2010

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Term
Anti-Federalists
Definition
Opponents of the Constitution during the fight over ratification
Term
Articles of Confederation
Definition
The first constitution of the United States, adopted during the last stages of the Revolutionary War, created a system of government with most power lodged in the states and little in the central government
Term
Balanced government
Definition
similar to checks and balances where you split the government so it has to rely on the other side for help in making decisions
Term
Bicameralism
Definition
the act of having two legislative chamber s or houses. The House and the Senate.
Term
Bill of Rights
Definition
The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, concerned with the protection of basic liberties
Term
Block grants
Definition
a large sum of money given from the government but they have the say in how it must be spent. Used for general activities
Term
Blue-collar worker
Definition
Someone who works outside or gets their hands dirty. Farmers, mechanics, plumbers, factory workers
Term
Capitalism
Definition
An economics system characterized by private ownership of productive assets where decisions about how to use these assets are made by individuals and firms operating in a market rather than be government
Term
Categorical grants
Definition
federal aid to states and localities clearly specifying what the money can be used for
Term
Checks and balances
Definition
The constitutional principle that government power shall be divided and that the fragment power shall be divided and that the fragments should balance or check one another to prevent tyranny
Term
Classical liberalism
Definition
the idea of a limited government and individuals with rights of liberty, such as the freedom of religion, speech, press etc.
Term
Cold War
Definition
The period of tense relations between the United States and the Soviet Union from the late 1940s to the late 1980s
Term
Commerce clause
Definition
the US Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes"
Term
Common Sense
Definition
written by Thomas Paine during the American Revolution to inspire Americans to step up to the British and declare freedom
Term
Concurrent powers
Definition
Powers under the Constitution that are shared by the federal government and the states
Term
Confederation
Definition
A loose association of states or territorial units formed for a common purpose
Term
Connecticut Compromise
Definition
Also called the Great Compromise; the compromise between the New Jersey and Virginia Plans formulated by the Connecticut delegates at the Constitutional Convention; called for a lower legislative house based on population size and an upper house based on equal representation of the states
Term
Constitution
Definition
The basic framework of law that prescribes how government is to be organized, how decisions are to be made, and what powers and responsibilities it shall have
Term
Core beliefs
Definition
The most fundamental beliefs in a national population about human nature, the country, government, and the economy
Term
Declaration of Independence
Definition
1776 document stating that the 13 American colonies were no longer under British rule, but are now free.
Term
Democracy
Definition
A system of self-government by the people; rule by the many
Term
Direct democracy
Definition
A form of political decision making in which the public business is decided by all citizens meeting in small assemblies
Term
Due process clause
Definition
The section of the Fourteenth Amendment that prohibits states from depriving anyone of life, liberty, or property “without due process of law”, a guarantee against unfair government action
Term
Elastic clause
Definition
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, also called the necessary and proper clause; gives Congress the authority to make whatever laws are necessary and proper to carry out its enumerated responsibilities
Term
Electoral college
Definition
Elected representative of the states whose votes formally elect the President of the United States; the number of electors in each state is equal to the total number of its senators and representatives in the House and are almost always cast in a block for the candidate who wins a plurality of the vote in a state in the quadrennial presidential election
Term
Enumerated powers
Definition
Powers of the federal government specifically mentioned in the Constitution
Term
Executive branch
Definition
branch concerning the president
Term
Federalism
Definition
A system in which significant governmental powers are divided between a central government and smaller units, such as states
Term
Federalists
Definition
Proponents of the Constitution during the ratification fight; also the political party of Hamilton, Washington and Adams
Term
Free enterprise
Definition
A substitute term for capitalism, used primarily in the United States. Private property is protected and decisions are made by firms and individuals operating in markets
Term
Free enterprise economy
Definition
Same as capitalism; an economic system characterized by competitive markets and private ownership
Term
Free market
Definition
The institution that allows for buying and selling by private individuals and firms. Worked out by Adam Smith who wrote the book The Wealth of Nations
Term
Full faith and credit
Definition
The provision in Article IV, Section 1, of the Constitution that provides that states must respect the public acts, laws, and judicial rulings of other states
Term
Globalization
Definition
The increasing tendency of information, products, and financial capital to flow across national borders, with the effect of more tightly integrating the global economy
Term
Google founders
Definition
An Indian immigrant came to the US, received an education and invented Google; proof that immigration has positive side effects.
Term
Grants-in-aid conditions
Definition
Funds from the national government to state and local governments to help pay for programs created by the national government
Term
Gross domestic product (GDP)
Definition
monetary value of all goods and services produced in a nation each year
Term
Immigration
Definition
When someone from a different country relocates to another country.
Term
Industrial Revolution
Definition
When the US started producing technology for many man powered jobs. Made producing increase and happened relatively all at the same time
Term
Industrialization
Definition
Getting technology to replace manpower.
Term
Involuntary servitude
Definition
Phrase used to describe slavery in documents. A decision could not be made on slavery, so they simply called it ‘involuntary servitude’
Term
Isolationism
Definition
The policy of avoiding involvement in the affairs of other countries
Term
Jim Crow
Definition
Popular term for the system of legally sanctioned racial segregation that existed in the American South until the middle of the twentieth century
Term
Judicial review
Definition
The power of the supreme Court to declare actions of the other branches and levels of government unconstitutional
Term
Legislative branch
Definition
Branch involving the House and Senate. They are responsible for making laws
Term
Liberty
Definition
the freedom of religion, press, speech, assembly and free markets that every individual has the right to have
Term
Literacy tests
Definition
A device used by the southern states to prevent African Americans from voting before the passage of Voting Rights Act of 1965
Term
Majority rule
Definition
The form of political decision making in which policies are decided on the basis of what a majority of the people want
Term
Majority tyranny
Definition
Suppression of the rights and liberties of a minority by the majority
Term
Market economy
Definition
Another term for Capitalism
Term
Median household income
Definition
Household income number at which half of households make more income and half make less income
Term
Monarchy
Definition
Rule by the one, where power rests in an individual leader, such as a dictator or hereditary monarch
Term
Multipolar system
Definition
A governmental system with many chambers or branches
Term
Nativist
Definition
Antiforeign; applied to political movements active in the nineteenth century
Term
Necessary and proper clause
Definition
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, also known as the Elastic Clause; gives Congress the authority to make whatever laws are necessary and proper to carry out its enumerated responsibilities
Term
New Jersey Plan
Definition
Proposal of the smaller states at the Constitutional Convention to create a government based on equal representation of the states in a unicameral legislature
Term
Oligarchy
Definition
Rule by the few, where a minority group holds power over a majority, as in an aristocracy or a clerical establishment
Term
Political culture
Definition
The set of core beliefs in a country that help shape how people behave politically and what they believe government should do
Term
Political equality
Definition
The principle that says that each person carries equal weight in the conduct of the public business
Term
Political liberty
Definition
The principle that citizens in a democracy are protected from government interference in the exercise of a range of basic freedoms, such as the freedoms of speech, association and conscience
Term
Political socialization
Definition
The process by which individuals come to have certain core beliefs and political attitudes
Term
Popular sovereignty
Definition
The basic principle of democracy that the people ultimately rule
Term
Populism
Definition
The belief that the common person is every bit as good as those with wealth and power
Term
Poverty line
Definition
The federal government’s calculation of the amount of income families of various sizes need to stay out of poverty. In 2006, it was 20,000 for a family of four
Term
Publius
Definition
pen name that the Federalists identified themselves by when writing The Federalist Papers
Term
Ratification
Definition
to approve a document and make it an official law or contract
Term
Representative democracy
Definition
Indirect democracy, in which the people rule through elected representatives
Term
Republicanism, eighteenth century
Definition
A political doctrine advocating limited government based on popular consent, protected against majority tyranny; not associated with the modern Republican Party
Term
Reservation clause
Definition
The tenth amendment to the Constitution, reserving powers to the states or the people
Term
Separation of powers
Definition
The distribution of government legislative, executive, and judicial powers to separate branches of government
Term
Social contract
Definition
The idea that government is the result of an agreement among people to form one, and that people have the right to create an entirely new government if the terms of the contract have been violated by the existing one PART TWO: A philosophical device used by Enlightenment thinkers such as Locke, Rousseau and Harrington to suggest that governments are only legitimate if they are created by a voluntary compact among the people
Term
Suffrage
Definition
the civil right to vote
Term
Superpower
Definition
a nation armed with nuclear weapons and able to project force anywhere on the globe
Term
Supremacy clause
Definition
The provision in Article VI of the Constitution that states that the Constitution and the laws and treaties of the United States are the supreme law of the land, taking precedence over state laws and constitutions
Term
Tyranny
Definition
A government that systematically violates the rights of individuals
Term
Unicameral
Definition
A legislative body with a single chamber
Term
Urbanization and industrialization
Definition
both go somewhat in hand. Because of industrialization, people started to urbanize by populating more in one area creating a city.
Term
Veto
Definition
to forbid or to stop a document from becoming legalized
Term
Virginia Plan
Definition
Proposal by the large states at the Constitutional Convention to create a strong central government with power in the government apportioned to the states on the basis of population
Term
Voting rights
Definition
Suffrage in a sense. The right as a citizen to vote.
Term
White collar workers
Definition
People who work in an office or firm.
Term
ON THE TEST
Definition
***The Framers believed in eighteenth century republicanism – a political doctrine advocating limited government based on popular consent, protected against majority tyranny***
Term
Shay's Rebellion
Definition
poor farmers angered by crushing debt and taxes. Failure to repay such debts often resulted in imprisonment in debtor's prisons or the claiming of property by the government.
Term
Second Continental Congress
Definition
a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. They are the people who wrote the Declaration of Independence
Term
Reserved Powers Supremacy Clause
Definition
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.
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