AP US Government - Ideals and Types of Democracy

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing core political principles, Enlightenment theorists, Declaration of Independence grievances, and models of democracy from AP US Government Unit 1.

Limited Government

A political philosophy advocating that governmental power is restricted by law, primarily through constitutions, to protect individual rights and limit government authority to explicitly granted powers.

Thomas Hobbes

English philosopher who wrote "Leviathan", describing the state of nature as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" and arguing that people enter a social contract to yield rights to an absolute sovereign for peace.

Frontispiece of Leviathan

The book cover illustration representing Thomas Hobbes's sovereign—a giant crowned figure composed of individual citizens holding a sword and crosier over the land.

John Locke

Enlightenment philosopher who wrote "Second Treatise of Civil Government", asserting that natural law grants people rights to life, liberty, and property, and that government requires the consent of the governed.

Consent of the Governed

The principle that government derives its just powers from the people, giving citizens the right to alter or abolish any government that becomes destructive of their natural rights.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Philosopher who wrote "The Social Contract", advocated for popular sovereignty and direct participatory democracy, and declared that "Man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains."

Popular Sovereignty

The principle that power resides with the people as the ultimate authority, where government exists only to carry out the general will.

Committee of Five

The group appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ben Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.

Taxation Without Representation

A primary colonial grievance against the British Parliament for imposing taxes on colonists who had no elected representatives to voice their interests.

Quartering of Soldiers

A colonial grievance where Britain forced colonists to house and supply British soldiers, viewed as a direct violation of their rights and privacy.

Interference with Justice

A colonial grievance citing that judges were hired and paid directly by King George III, making them beholden to the Crown and undermining fair trials.

Jefferson's Slavery Passage

A section in Thomas Jefferson's initial draft of the Declaration of Independence that blamed King George III for supporting the slave trade, which Congress completely removed.

Republicanism

A system of indirect democracy where citizens elect representatives to make laws and govern, balancing majority rule with minority rights.

Participatory Democracy

A model of democracy where citizens participate directly in voting for laws and policies rather than relying solely on elected representatives.

Initiative

A state and local mechanism of participatory democracy that allows citizens to propose a law and place it on the ballot for a popular vote.

Referendum

A ballot process allowing voters to directly vote on whether to repeal or uphold a law previously passed by a legislature.

Elite Democracy

A model of democracy in which a small group of wealthy or well-educated individuals holds primary influence over political decision-making and government.

Pluralist Democracy

A model of democracy where organized interest groups compete against one another to influence lawmakers and shape political policy.