Politics Unit 2: ALL VOCAB

General Will

Majority rule, will of the people

Natural Rights

Rights people are born with; property, liberty, and life

Magna Carta

Charter of rights granted by King agreement between ruler and people; Big influence for Constitution

Social Contract

Agreement between ruler and people, think Magna Carta

Declaration of Independence

Breakup Letter from GB, defines 3 unalienable rights → life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Attempt at equality

Declaration of Independence: 5 principles

1. All men are created equal

2. Men have unalienable rights

3. Role of Government is to secure those unalienable rights

4. Government gets its power through the consent of the governed

5. If government does not fulfill it’s role, people have the right to revolt

Articles of Confederation: Setup

One branch of government: Congress; responsible for making national laws

Each state had one (1) vote in congress 

No Executive Branch (President) 

No Judicial Branch

Articles of Confederation: Weaknesses

1) Congress powerless to lay and collect taxes

2) Congress powerless to regulate foreign and interstate trade

3) No Executive Branch to enforce acts of Congress

4) No National court system to settle disputes

5) One vote for each state, regardless of size

6) Congress could rarely pass laws

7) No common currency

8)* Amendments were only added to the articles with the consent of all states

Shay’s Rebellion

Showed the weaknesses of the AOC, fight broke out and had no organized militia

The Articles of Confederation

Decentralized Power

Supremacy Clause | Article 6

Makes Federal Law Supreme to State law

Constitutional Convention

Came about after the failure of the AoC, included compromises such as Great Compromise, 3/5 Compromise, Slave Trade Compromise, Electoral College Compromise…

Separation of Power

Division of governmental power among several institutions that must cooperate in decision making, example; judicial, executive, and legislative

Checks and Balances

mechanisms through which each branch of government is able to participate in and influence the activities of other branches; examples: presidential veto power, senate’s power to approve presidential appointments

Federalists beliefs

Opposed → AoC

Approved → Constitution

Unnecessary → Bill of Rights

Indirect → Elections

Infrequent → Elections

Federal → Government power

Proportional → Representation

VA Plan → Gov Plan

Not trust → General Public

Antifederalists beliefs

Approved → AoC

Opposed → Constitution

Necessary → Bill of Rights

Direct → Elections

Frequent → Elections

State → Government power

Equal → Representation

NJ Plan → NJ Plan

Trust → General Public

Articles of Confederation

First system of government; Consisted of preamble and 13 articles; Created “a league of friendship and perpetual union”

Constitution

Created a congress with two chambers, House of Representatives and Senate. Defined separation of powers

NJ Plan

a framework for the Constitution that called for equal state representation in the national legislature regardless of population

VA Plan

A framework for the Constitution that called for representation in the national legislature based on population of each state

Great Compromise

Question: How do we represent the states in congress? 

Equal or proportional?

Bicameral congress 

Two parts: 

Senate: equality (2) → anti

House of reps: proportional → fed

3/5 Compromise 

Question: Should enslaved people count towards population?

South (more population) 

North (don’t wanna reward slavery)

3 out of every 5 enslaved people would be counted as a person (anti). Slaves were taxed (Federalist).

Bill of Rights Compromise

Question: Do we need a Bill of Rights?

Antifederalists: Bill of Rights necessary to protect people from power of national government

Federalists: Constitution is ultimate protection for the people

Bill of Rights after constitution, but Federalists got support to ratify the constitution (9 out of 13 ratified)

Presidential Term Compromise

Question:

How long should the presidential term be?
Federalists: longer elections 

Anti-Federalists: shorter elections

4 / 7 / 11 / L 

Antifederalists: 4 year term

Federalists: unlimited reelection

Electoral College Compromise

How do we vote for a president?

Direct or indirect?

Popular vote vs. congress

Federalists: congress

Antifederalists: popular vote

Electoral college (indirect)

People elect electoral college (direct)

The Preamble

Why do we need the Constitution?

• Establish justice

• Insure domestic tranquility

• Provide for the common defense

• Promote general welfare

•  Secure blessings of liberty

7 Articles of Constitution

1) Branch of gov: Legislative 

2) Branch of gov: Executive 

3) Branch of gov: Judicial 

4) Relationships between states, new states 

5) Amendments, 2/3 of congress needed to amend constitution 

6) Laws and treaties of the United States 

7) RATIFICATION OF CONSTITUTION

Amend Process/ Art 5

Need 2/3 of congress to amend constitution

Cannot have < 2 and > 7 state representatives

Congress has 1 vote from each state

Full Faith and Credit

Every state must respect public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state

Federalism

A system of government in which the same territory is controlled by two levels of government (federal and local/state)

Enumerated Powers

Powers granted to the Federal government

ex. regulating immigration and naturalization, coin money and regulate currency, establish post offices

Reserved Powers

State powers

ex. Running elections, Marriage, schools

Concurrent Powers

Both federal and state powers

ex. Taxing, banks, and laws

Cooperative Federalism

flexible relationship between federal and state governments, they work together on decision making

Dual Federalism

Where the federal and state governments have separate, distinctive, spheres of authority rarely subordinating each other

Unfunded Mandates 

A regulation or policy imposed by one level of government on another without providing the necessary funding to cover the costs

McCulloh v Maryland

Issue: Can federal gov create a national bank? Can states tax federal gov?

Outcome: Court has power (art 1)

• Necessary and Proper Clause

U.S. v Lopez

*told not to do but including it because I’m going down the list

Obergfell v Hodges

Issue: Do states have to recognize same-sex marriage?

Outcome: Fundamental right to marry guaranteed to same-sex couples (14th Amendment band discrimination)

10th Amendment 

When power is not given to the federal government, it goes to the states

republicanism

Rule by representatives, representatives make decisions

Hobbes (Ideas)

Monarchy

Man is evil

Protection, Order, Safety

Locke

Equality 

Secure man’s property, liberty, and life 

Gov job to do that

Republic

Rousseau

Direct Democracy

Majority Rule

General will

People make a nation

Necessary and Proper Clause

Grants Congress the right to make any laws that are deemed “necessary and proper” for carrying out its enumerated powers

Decentralized Power

Government is dispersed throughout many people and decisions are not up to one branch/person, it is separated. 

6 Big Ideas of Constitution

1) Popular Sovereignty

Government by the consent of the governed (PEOPLE)

2) Limited Government

Government not all powerful, only does what the people empower it to do (CONSTITUTION)

3) Separation of Powers

Distribution of power among legislative, executive, and judicial branches

4) Checks and Balances

Each branch is subject to a number of constitutional checks by other branches

5) Republicanism

The type of government led by representatives who make the decisions

6) Federalism 

The division of power among a central (federal) government and several regional (state/local) governments