Constitution

POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY`

The people rule

FEDERALISM

A system of government in which a written constitution divides power between a central, or national, government and several regional governments

SEPARATION OF POWERS

Constitutional division of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, with the legislative branch making law, the executive applying and enforcing the law, and the judiciary interpreting the law

CHECKS AND BALANCES

A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power

Individual Rights

Basic liberties and rights of all citizens are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

Legislative Branch

-function: to pass laws, gotta pass both chambers by majority vote before it can become a law; can declare wa

Executive Branch

Aricle II section 2-3 outlines in the power of the executive branch. Tjhe president cannot legislate but can pass executive orders under certain defined circumstances.

Judicial Branch

A branch of the system of checks and balances that interprets Congressional laws

Congress

Composed of 2 Houses, has the power to ratify treaties and delcare war, and, most importantly, to make laws.

President

Chief Executive of the United States, Head of State and Commander and Chief of the US Armed Forces. The President of the United States is elected every 4 years, by the Electoral College. Signs or veto's bills passed to them by Congress.

Supreme Court

Consists of nine justices, each appointed by the President and confirmed by Congress. Appointment is for life. Supreme Court exercises the power to determine constitutionality of statutes

Impeach

This is one of the rights that people have. If a leader is really bad and is making choices that negatively impacts the nation, the people have a right to throw him out of office.

Amendment

A new provision in the Constitution that has been ratified by 3/4 of the states and 2/3 of congress

House of Representatives

The lower legislative house of the United States Congress, representation is determined by a state's population.

Senate

The upper legislative house of the United States Congress, each state has equal representation.

Habeas Corpus

A court order requiring authorities to bring a prisoner before the court so that the court can determine whether the prisoner is being held legally.

Treason

Betrayal of one's country

Ratification

Formal approval, final consent to the effectiveness of a constitution, constitutional amendment, or treaty

Quartered

(verb) be stationed or housed/lodged in a specified place.

Warrant

A legal paper, issued by a court, giving police permission to make an arrest, seizure, or search.

Double Jeopardy

Being tried twice for the same crime

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Court sentences prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. Although the Supreme Court has ruled that mandatory death sentences for certain offenses are unconstitutional, it has not held that the death penalty itself constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

Shay's Rebellion

-Farmers who had served as soldiers during the American Revolution were being foreclosed (farms were being taken) because they did not have money to pay off their debts.

-Show weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

Virginia Plan

-large state plan that proposed representation based on population size.

-Proposed by James Madison

New Jersey Plan

-small state plan that proposed equal representation among all states

Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise)

-proposed by Roger Sherman

-proposed a two-house legislature with House of Representatives based on population and the Senate maintaining equal representation from all states

Three-Fifths Compromise

3/5 ration would also be used to determine representation in legislature (Congress)

Federalists

• argued for stronger national government

• -wealthier

• -manufacturing class

• -wanted a national bank

• -wanted to get rid of the Articles of Confederation and replace them with the U.S. Constitution

• -Alexander Hamilton, John Jay

Anti-Federalists

-supported states rights

-wanted a weak central government

-farmers

-believed national bank was unconstitutional

-wanted to keep, and only revise the Articles of Confederation

-refused to ratify the U.S. Constitution unless a Bill of Rights was added

-Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry

James Madison

Father of the Constitution

Age to be President

35

Age to be a Senator

30

Age to be a Representative

25

Length of President's Term

4 years

Length of Senator's Term

6 years

Length of Representative's

2 years

Number of Supreme Court Justices

9

Vice President

Is the head of the Senate

Establishment Clause

Clause in the First Amendment that says the government may not establish an official religion.

eminent domain

Power of a government to take private property for public use. They must pay fair market value.

16th Amendment

income tax

Enforcement Act of 1870 and 1871

Intended to end the violence of the KKK in the South with military involvement

Carpetbaggers

northern whites who moved to the south and served as republican leaders during reconstruction

Scalawags

Southern whites who supported Republican policy through reconstruction (derogatory)

13th Amendment

abolished slavery

14th Amendment

• Declares that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the laws and established the Due Process Clause

• Nullifies the Dred Scott Case

15th Amendment

Citizens cannot be denied the right to vote because of race, color , or precious condition of servitude

Sharecropping

A system used on southern farms after the Civil War in which farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a portion of the crops. Led to debt for the worker.

Bill of rights

first 10 amendments

qualifications for president

natural born citizen, resident for 14 years

qualifications for senator

U.S. citizen for at least 9 years, resident of a state a senator represents

qualification for House of representatives

citizen for at least 7 years, must inhabit the state they represent

1st amendment

Freedom of religion, press, speech, petition, and assembly

2nd amendment

Right to bear arms

3rd amendment

no forced quartering of soldiers

4th amendment

right to no illegal search or seizure

5th amendment

cannot be tried unless a Grand jury decides there is enough evidence, right to claim private property for public so long as owner is compensated

6th amendment

right to a speedy trial(no delays)

7th amendment

right to a trail in federal court for property

8th amendment

no cruel or unusual punishment

9th amendment

power not directly stated by the government goes to the people

10th amendment

reaffirms that states and people have rights the national government may not assume

supremacy clause

federal laws override state laws

16th amendment

allows congress to take income tax

18th amendment

prohibited the sell of liquor but not personal consuption

21st amendment

repealed the 18th amendment

Power with the article of confederation:

declare war, appoint military officers, sign treaties, form alliances with other nations and tribes

reconstruction presidents

Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant

KKK

group of right wing, white supremacist, african american hate group

What was made to counteract the kkk

enforcement act of 1870 and 1871

Freedman’s Bureau

affected slaves and white southerners, promised to provide african americans with education, homes, and jobs

democrats

pro slavery

republicans

group in opposition to slavery

radical republican

extreme republicans who wanted to punish the south and further support freed slaves

sharecroppres

people who partook in sharecropping

sharecropping

farmers worked on land owned by another person to keep some of the harvest(biased to the owner)

tenant farmers

similar to share cropping except they owned their materials