Unit 1 Constitutional Foundations

Democracy

Power held by the people.

Direct Democracy

A form of government in which policies and laws are decided by a majority of all those eligible rather than by a body of elected representatives.

Representative Democracy (Republic)

Government ruled by representation of the people.

Constitutional Democracy

the authority of the majority is limited by legal and institutional means so that the rights of individuals and minorities are respected.

Constitutionalism

A compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law

Statism

A political system in which the state has substantial __centralized__ control over social and economic affairs.

Popular Consent

People should be able to participate directly in the governing of their own societies

Majority Rule

The principle that the greater number should exercise greater power.

Plurality

Theocracy

A system of government in which __priests__ rule in the name of God or a god.

Dictatorship

Form of government in which one person or a small group possesses absolute power without effective constitutional limitations.

Autocracy

A system of government by one person with absolute power.

Oligarchy

A small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution.

Articles of Confederation

Governing document that created a union of 13 sovereign states that were supreme (not the national government).

Annapolis Convention

the Annapolis Convention was a meeting incipiently aimed at constructing uniform parameters to regulate trade between states during a time of political turbulence and economic strain.

Constitutional convention

Meeting by state delegates to fix the articles of confederation.

Shay’s Rebellion

Grassroot rebellion against a state government Mass. Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts and Worcester in response to a debt crisis among the citizenry and in opposition to the state government's increased efforts to collect taxes both on individuals and their trades

Bicameral

Two-house legislature

Unicameral

One-house legislature

Virginia Plan

Called for 3 branch government; bicameral house; bigger (in pop.) states have more congress representation.

New Jersey Plan

Provided for a unicameral legislature with equal votes for each state.

Connecticut Compromise

Agreement for a plan of government that drew upon the Virginia/NJ Plan. Settled issues of state representation by calling for a bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives and Senate.

Three-Fifths Compromise

A slave would count as 3/5’s of a person in calculating state representation.

Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise

Congress can’t restrict the slave trade until 1808.

Federalist

Advocate of federal union between the American colonies after the revolution

Anti-Federalist

The Anti-Federalists opposed the ratification of the 1787 U.S. Constitution because they feared that the new national government would be too powerful and thus threaten individual liberties, given the absence of a bill of rights.

Strict Constructionist

A person who interprets the Constitution in a way that allows the federal government to take only those actions the Constitution specifically says it can take. They take a literal interpretation of the Constitution and apply it to the law.

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Liberal Constructionist

Believes that when interpreting the Constitution, meaning and intent should be inferred based on consideration of the document as a whole.

Federalist papers (The Federalist)

Series of 85 essays that were intended to influence the ratification debate for supporters. “Political propaganda.”

Evolution Theory (regarding formation of a “state”)

government emerged naturally as an association of families, clans, and tribes. Government emerged to fill the needs that these other 'natural' groupings generated. Aristotle

Force Theory (regarding evolution of a “state”)

government originates with a stronger group either using force or threatening it against those who are weaker. The two main elements of force are occupation and colonization.

Divine Right Theory (regarding formation of a “state”)

the right that is supposedly given to a king or queen by God to rule a country.

Social Contract Theory (regarding formation of a “state”)

People allow the government to rule over them to ensure an orderly/functioning society.

Unitary

a system of political organization in which most or all of the governing power resides in a centralized government, in contrast to a federal state.

Federal

constituting a form of government in which power is distributed between a central authority and a number of constituent territorial units (as states)

Confederate

system of government in which nations or states agree to join together under a central government, to which the nations or states grant certain powers.

Presidential

a system of government in which the president is constitutionally independent of the legislature.

Separation of Powers

Governmental design that distributes powers across institutions in order to avoid making one branch too powerful.

Checks and Balances

System that provides each branch of government with individual powers to check the other branches and prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful.

Judicial Review

the ability of the Court to declare a Legislative or Executive act in violation of the Constitution,

Popular Sovereignty

Governments right to rule comes from the people.

Limited Government

one where legalized force is restricted through delegated and enumerated authorities.

Federalism

Sharing of powers between the national government/states.

Jeffersonian Democracy

Jacksonian Democracy

Expressed/Enumerated Powers

Authority specifically granted to a branch of the government in the constitution.

Implied Powers

Authority over the federal government that goes beyond its expressed powers.

Inherent Powers

powers over and beyond those explicitly spelled out in the Constitution or which can reasonably be implied from express grants.

Concurrent Powers

powers that are shared by both the federal government and state governments

Necessary and Proper Clause/Elastic Clause

Granting congress the powers necessary to carry out its enumerated powers.

Marbury vs. Madison

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McCulloch vs. Maryland

Gibbons vs. Ogden

Dred Scott vs. Sandford

Plessy vs. Ferguson

Fourteenth Amendment

Politics

Process of influencing the actions/policies of government.

Government

Rules/limitations that make up that system of policymaking.

Writ of Habeus Corpus

Right of people detained by the government to know the charges against them.

Bills of Attainder

Declaration of guilt by court without trial

Ex post Facto Laws

Laws Punishing people for acts that weren’t crimes at the tie they were committed.

Grand Committee

Committee at Constitutional Convention that worked out the compromise of representation.

Supremacy Clause

Establishes that the federal constitution, and federal law generally, take precedence over state laws, and even state constitutions.