POSC 100 Exam 1 Study Guide Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering core political science terms, constitutional principles, historical documents, and institutional compromises from Chapters 1 and 2 of the POSC 100 study guide.

Democracy

A system of government in which political authority is ultimately accountable to the people, usually through participation and elections.

Anarchy

A condition in which there is no recognized central authority capable of making and enforcing binding rules.

Aristocracy

Rule by a hereditary or socially privileged elite, traditionally justified by birth, status, or perceived virtue.

Oligarchy

Rule by a small group that controls political power, often because of wealth, military influence, family ties, or organizational position.

Tyranny

Rule that is arbitrary, oppressive, and unconstrained by law or the rights of the people.

Liberal democracy

A democracy that combines popular government with constitutional limits, individual rights, rule of law, and protections for minorities.

Illiberal democracy

A system with elections or majoritarian procedures but weak protections for rights, legal limits, independent institutions, or minority groups.

Direct democracy

A system of government where citizens make policy decisions themselves rather than choosing representatives to make those decisions.

Representative democracy

A system of government where citizens choose officials who deliberate and make public decisions on their behalf.

Popular sovereignty

The principle that legitimate political authority originates with the people.

Political equality

The idea that citizens should have equal political status and equal influence under the rules of citizenship, including equal voting power.

Political liberty

The freedom to participate in political life and to express, organize, petition, and deliberate without unjustified government suppression.

Majority rule

A decision rule in which the option supported by more than half of participating voters prevails.

Majority tyranny

The abuse of majority power to deprive a minority of basic rights or equal political standing.

Voting Rights Act

A landmark federal law, especially the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that attacked racial discrimination in voting and strengthened federal protection of access to the ballot.

The American Revolution

The political and military struggle in which the thirteen colonies declared independence from Great Britain and created an independent American republic.

Declaration of Independence

The 1776 statement that justified separation from Britain using natural rights, equality, consent of the governed, and the right to alter or abolish destructive government.

Common Sense

Thomas Paine’s 1776 pamphlet arguing in accessible language that monarchy and hereditary rule were irrational and that the colonies should seek independence.

Articles of Confederation

The first governing framework of the United States, creating a loose union in which the states retained most power and the central government had limited authority.

Confederation

A political system in which relatively autonomous states cooperate through a central government that is dependent on the states for much of its authority and capacity.

Republicanism

The idea that citizens govern through elected representatives and that public officials should pursue the common good rather than personal or hereditary rule.

Constitutional Convention

The 1787 meeting in Philadelphia that produced the proposed U.S. Constitution after delegates decided the Articles needed major revision.

Federalism

A system that divides governing authority between a national government and state governments, with each possessing constitutionally recognized powers.

Virginia Plan

A Constitutional Convention proposal favoring a stronger national government and a bicameral legislature with representation based largely on population.

New Jersey Plan

A Constitutional Convention proposal preserving equal state representation in a one-house legislature while strengthening the central government in selected ways.

Connecticut Compromise

The agreement creating a bicameral Congress with population-based representation in the House and equal state representation in the Senate.

Three-fifths Compromise

The constitutional provision counting enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation and direct taxation, increasing slaveholding states’ political power while denying enslaved people rights.

Fugitive Slave Acts

Federal laws requiring the return of people who had escaped slavery and compelling cooperation with slaveholders, especially the 1793 and 1850 laws.

Electoral College

The constitutional mechanism through which states appoint electors who formally choose the president, where the number of electors reflects a state’s House and Senate representation.

Separation of powers

The allocation of legislative, executive, and judicial functions to different branches of government.

Checks and balances

Constitutional tools that allow each branch to restrain the others, such as vetoes, confirmations, impeachment, and judicial review.

Federalists

Supporters of the Constitution who argued that a stronger national government was needed for security, economic stability, and effective governance.

Federalist Papers

A series of essays by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay defending ratification and explaining the proposed constitutional system.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents or critics of the proposed Constitution who feared centralized power, distant representatives, standing armies, and inadequate protections for individual rights.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, ratified in 1791, protecting specific liberties and limiting federal power.

Judicial review

The authority of courts to interpret the Constitution and invalidate government actions that conflict with it.

Marbury v. Madison

The 1803 Supreme Court case in which Chief Justice John Marshall established the principle of judicial review.