AP gov quiz 2

Constitution

A fundamental set of principles that establishes the structure, powers, and limits of government. The U.S. Constitution creates the three branches, divides power between national and state governments, and protects individual rights.

Republic

A form of representative democracy in which political power comes from the people, who elect representatives to make public policy on their behalf.

Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union

The first governing document of the United States. It created a weak national government, gave most power to the states, and denied Congress key powers such as directly taxing citizens and effectively regulating interstate commerce.

Unicameral

A legislature with only one chamber or house. Congress under the Articles of Confederation was unicameral.

Shays's Rebellion

A 1786–1787 uprising in Massachusetts by indebted farmers and others that exposed weaknesses of the national government under the Articles of Confederation and strengthened calls for constitutional reform.

Constitutional Convention

The 1787 meeting in Philadelphia originally called to revise the Articles of Confederation. Delegates instead wrote a new Constitution that created a stronger national government.

Writ of habeas corpus

A legal protection requiring the government to justify a person's detention before a court. The Constitution allows suspension only in cases of rebellion or invasion when public safety requires it.

Bills of attainder

Laws that declare a person or group guilty and impose punishment without a judicial trial. The Constitution prohibits them.

Ex post facto laws

Laws that retroactively criminalize conduct or increase criminal punishment after an act was committed. The Constitution prohibits them.

Bicameral

A legislature divided into two chambers. The U.S. Congress is bicameral because it consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Grand Committee

A committee at the Constitutional Convention with one delegate from each state represented that helped resolve the dispute over congressional representation and contributed to the Great Compromise.

Great (Connecticut) Compromise

The agreement creating a bicameral Congress: representation in the House is based on population, while each state receives equal representation in the Senate.

Three-Fifths Compromise

The agreement that counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for purposes of representation and direct taxation, increasing the political representation of slaveholding states.

Compromise on Importation

A Constitutional Convention compromise that prevented Congress from banning the international slave trade before 1808, while allowing a tax on each imported enslaved person.

Separation of powers

The division of national government authority among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches so that power is not concentrated in one institution.

Checks and balances

A system in which each branch has powers that allow it to limit or check the actions of the other branches.

Federalism

A system in which governmental power is divided and shared between the national government and state governments.

Legislative branch

The branch of government that makes laws. At the federal level, it is Congress, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Expressed or enumerated powers

Powers specifically granted to the federal government in the Constitution, such as Congress's powers to tax, borrow money, regulate interstate commerce, and declare war.

Necessary and Proper Clause / Elastic Clause

Article I, Section 8, Clause 18, which allows Congress to make laws needed to carry out its enumerated powers and other constitutional responsibilities. It is the basis for many implied powers.

Implied powers

Powers not explicitly listed in the Constitution but reasonably derived from enumerated powers, especially through the Necessary and Proper Clause.

Executive branch

The branch headed by the president that carries out and enforces federal laws.

Judicial branch

The branch consisting of the Supreme Court and lower federal courts that resolves legal disputes and interprets the Constitution and federal laws.

Supremacy Clause

The provision in Article VI establishing that the Constitution, valid federal laws, and treaties are the supreme law of the land, so valid federal law prevails over conflicting state law.

Amendment

A formal change or addition to the Constitution. Article V establishes the processes for proposing and ratifying amendments.

Federalists

Supporters of ratifying the Constitution who generally favored a stronger national government than existed under the Articles of Confederation.

Antifederalists

Opponents of ratifying the Constitution who feared an overly powerful national government and argued for stronger protections of individual liberties, contributing to adoption of the Bill of Rights.

Federalist Papers

A collection of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the name Publius to defend the Constitution and encourage its ratification.

Faction

In Federalist No. 10, a group of citizens united by a shared interest or passion that may conflict with the rights of others or the interests of the community as a whole.

Federalist No. 10

James Madison's argument that factions are inevitable and that a large republic with many competing interests can help control their harmful effects and reduce the danger of majority tyranny.

Brutus No. 1

An Anti-Federalist essay arguing that the proposed Constitution gave the national government too much power and that a large republic could threaten effective representation, state authority, and individual liberty.

Federalist No. 51

James Madison's defense of separation of powers and checks and balances, arguing that each branch must have the constitutional means and incentives to resist encroachments by the others.