AP Government - Chapter 2 Vocabulary List

Mercantilism

An economic policy focused on a nation's wealth and power. It involves accumulating gold and silver and maintaining a favorable balance of trade (exporting more than importing). Colonies were expected to provide raw materials and serve as markets for the mother country's manufactured goods.

Stamp Act Congress

A meeting of delegates from nine colonies in 1765 to protest the Stamp Act. The congress adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances and sent petitions to the British King and Parliament.

Committees of Correspondence

Groups organized by American colonists in the early 1770s to maintain communication and coordinate resistance to British rule.

First Continental Congress

A meeting of delegates from twelve colonies in Philadelphia in 1774 to discuss the colonial response to the Intolerable Acts.

Second Continental Congress

A gathering of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that convened in Philadelphia in May 1775, after the start of the Revolutionary War.

Declaration of Independence

A document adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, announcing the colonies' separation from Great Britain. It articulated the philosophical foundations of the new American government.

Articles of Confederation

The first governing document of the United States, ratified in 1781, that established a weak central government and an alliance of sovereign states.

Confederation

A highly decentralized form of government in which sovereign states unite for specific purposes, such as mutual defense, while retaining their own autonomy.

Shays' Rebellion

An armed uprising by indebted farmers in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787, protesting high taxes and debt collection practices.

Constitution

The supreme law of the United States, ratified in 1788, that defines the structure of the national government and the legal processes it must follow.

Virginia Plan

A proposal during the Constitutional Convention that called for a strong national government with a bicameral (two-house) legislature, with representation based on a state's population.

New Jersey Plan

A proposal during the Constitutional Convention that called for a unicameral (one-house) legislature with equal representation for every state.

Great Compromise

An agreement reached during the Constitutional Convention that created a bicameral legislature with representation in the House of Representatives based on population and equal representation for every state in the Senate.

Three-Fifths Compromise

An agreement during the Constitutional Convention to count three-fifths of a state's enslaved population when determining its representation in Congress.

Separation of Powers

The division of government authority into three distinct branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial.

Checks and Balances

A system that allows each branch of government to amend or veto the acts of another branch to prevent any one branch from wielding too much power.

Federal System

A government system in which power is divided between a national, or federal, government and various state and local governments.

Enumerated Powers

The specific powers granted to the U.S. Congress in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, including the power to tax, declare war, and regulate commerce.

Necessary and Proper Clause

Also known as the Elastic Clause, this constitutional provision (Article I, Section 8) gives Congress the power to make all laws "necessary and proper" for carrying out its enumerated powers.

Implied Powers

Powers that are not explicitly stated in the Constitution but are considered necessary for Congress to carry out its enumerated powers.

Full Faith and Credit Clause

A clause in Article IV of the Constitution requiring states to recognize the laws, public records, and judicial decisions of other states.

Supremacy Clause

The constitutional provision (Article VI) that establishes the Constitution and federal laws as the "supreme law of the land," taking precedence over state laws when there is a conflict.

Federalists

A group that supported the ratification of the Constitution and favored a strong central government.

Anti-Federalists

A group that opposed the ratification of the Constitution, arguing that it gave too much power to the national government and failed to protect individual liberties.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791, that guarantee fundamental rights and liberties to citizens.