Government Final

government

 any system of public rule or authority

image of God

qualities of humans that reflect God’s character (reason, moral capacity, spirituality, sociability, and emotion), enabling humans to exercise wise and responsible dominion over God’s world as he commanded

Creation Mandate

God’s command for humans to exercise good and wise dominion over his world

human depravity

result of the marring of God’s image in humans though sin which affects every part of each human’s being

anarchy

the absence of government

justice

the conformity to God’s character; the principle of moral rightness and respect of other’s rights

righteousness

the conformity to a standard (to the character of God)

patriotism

love and devotion to one’s country; concern for its social, political, and spiritual welfare

direct democracy

form of government in which the people directly affect a government’s policies and actions through voting; also called pure democracy

unitary system

authority given by the people to one centralized level of government that then creates other levels of government to help administer the law

republic

state in which the supreme power rests in the people or their representatives

constitutional monarchy

form of monarchy in which a democratically elected parliament operates the government and the monarch is a ceremonial head of state

federalism

division of governmental power into two or more levels, usually national and state governments, which simultaneously exert authority over the people

totalitarianism

government ruled by an elite class that wields absolute power, often seeking to control every aspect of the people’s lives

Magna Carta

list of demands King John of England was forced to sign in 1215; restored the feudal rights of English barons, its detailed principles established it as a foundational document of constitutional government

secularism

the separation of religion from political and public affairs, promoting a neutral stance on religion in governmental matters

pluralism

the coexistence of a diversity of ethnic, social, religious, and political backgrounds; various groups, with different views of right and wrong, all living in the same society

lay investiture controversy

a dispute between the church and the government in appointing government officials; churchmen were appointed as political leaders, but they were required to loyal to their spiritual superior and their political superior, creating a conflict of interest because they couldn’t figure out which superior would invest the churchmen with his political and spiritual responsibilities

James Madison

the Father of the Constitution; promoted the Bill of Rights; proposed the Virginia Plan

Alexander Hamilton

Federalist who was a part of the Constitutional Convention; responded to the Anti-Federalist papers with the Federalist Papers which carefully explained and defended the Constitution

George Mason

prominent leader and opponent to the Constitution due to its lack of Bill of Rights

John Jay

assisted in writing the Federalist Papers; first Chief Justice of the United States

Roger Sherman

proposed the Great Compromise which salvaged both the convention and the Constitution and proposed a bicameral congress, representation in the House based on population, and representation in the Senate would be equal among all the states

Thomas Jefferson

the writer of the Declaration of Independence; advocated for states rights

George Washington

the president of the Constitutional Convention and the first president of the US

John Locke

one of the most significant philosophers of the Enlightenment; his writings influenced the Founding Fathers; social contract theory

Daniel Shays

led a small army of debtor farmers to close county courthouses to prevent farm foreclosures and prison sentences for indebtedness; convinced many to support a revision of the Articles of Confederation

King George III

ascended to the throne in 1760, his actions snapped the British hold on the American colonies

Stamp Act

act that required colonists to use special paper for all printed materials; first act in a series of taxes and trade restrictions on the colonies

Intolerable Acts

laws that closed the Boston port until the cost of the destroyed tea was repaid, revoked the Massachusetts colonial charter, required that any British officials in Massachusetts who were accursed of crimes would be tried in another colony or England, and required the housing and feeding of British soldiers in American homes

New Jersey Plan

presented by Willian Paterson, advocated for a unicameral congress and maintained the one-state and one-vote principle of the Confederation; Congress would elect a federal executive of more than one person

Virginia Plan

introduced by James Madison; advocated for a bicameral congress where the number of representatives was to be based on state population or on the amount of revenue a state provided for the national goernment; election for the House would be by popular vote and election for the Senate would be elected by the House

Great Compromise

also called the Connecticut Compromise; proposed the bicameral congress of the Virginia Plan, representation in the House would be based on state population and the Senate would have an equal number of representatives from each state

Three-Fifths Compromise

said that three fifths of a state’s slaves would count toward its representation in the House of Representatives, but a slave would also have to pay taxes on the slaves in the same state

Georgia

the only state who did not send a representative to the First Continental Congress

John Hancock

the first signer of the Declaration of Independence

Maryland

the last state to ratify the Articles of Confederation

Delaware

the first state to ratify the Constitution

appropriation

money budgeted by Congress to fund programs

bicameral

legislative branch of a national or state government that is divided into two separate houses, and upper chamber and lower chamber

bill of attainder

legislative act permitting punishment without a trial

census

official government counting of the population taken every ten years that determines how many representatives each state may elect

elastic clause

the clause in the Constitution granting Congress the power to carry out its listed powers; another name for the necessary and proper clause

ex post facto law

criminalizes activities that were not crimes when they were committed or requires harsher punishments than were mandated at the time of the act; forbidden by the Constitution

franking privilege

the right of members of Congress to send official mail free of charge

naturalization

the process by which a foreign-born person gain citizenship

pocket veto

automatic veto of a bill if the president leaves the bill unsigned after ten days while Congress is not in session; cannot be overridden

quorum

minimum number of members needed to transact business in the House or Senate

write of habeas corpus

“you should have the body” a court order that forces authorities who arrest a person to quickly bring him before a judge and charge him with a crime or else to release him

pardon

president’s power to completely forgive a crime and its punishment

reprieve

temporary postponement of punishment

block grant

federal grants-in-aid that combine several categorical grants under a general umbrella to simplify the use of the funds in local governments but involve fewer federal regulations and less red tape

categorical grant

federal programs requiring federal oversight; grant monies for specific purposes within state and local governments

charitable grants

a sum of money donated by an organization or individual to a charity or nonprofit organization for a specific purpose. These grants are not intended to be repaid and are often awarded based on specific criteria and requirements, with a formal application process

formula grant

categorical grants that are governed by demographic formulas, such as unemployment figures, in a given area

grants-in-aid

transfer of monies from federal to state and local governments; used to implement national policies on the local level

project grant

categorical grants that allow the national government great discretion in deciding how much aid will be given to a project

revenue sharing

federal aid program that allocated portions of the national government’s tax revenues to the states

New Deal

series of social and economic programs instituted in the 1930s by FDR providing federal funds to address the poverty and unemployment of the Depression

Great Society

federal programs aimed at eliminating poverty, supervising voting rights, and promoting greater national involvement in education and healthcare