AP US Gov Unit 1

unitary system: a system where the central government has all of

the power over subnational governments.

confederal system: a system where the subnational governments

have most of the power.

federal system: a system where power is divided between the

national and state governments.

enumerated or expressed powers: powers explicitly granted to the

national government through the Constitution; also called

expressed powers.

exclusive powers: powers only the national government may

exercise.

implied powers: powers not granted specifically to the national

government but considered necessary to carry out the enumerated

powers.

commerce clause: grants Congress the authority to regulate

interstate business and commercial activity.

necessary and proper clause: grants the federal government the

authority to pass laws required to carry out its enumerated

powers. Also called the elastic clause.

supremacy clause: establishes the Constitution and the laws of the

222 federal government passed under its authority as the highest laws

of the land.

Tenth Amendment: reserves powers not delegated to the national

government to the states and the people; the basis of federalism.

reserved powers: powers not given to the national government,

which are retained by the states and the people.

concurrent powers: powers granted to both states and the federal

government in the Constitution.

full faith and credit clause: constitutional clause requiring states

to recognize the public acts, records, and civil court proceedings

from another state.

extradition: the requirement that officials in one state return a

defendant to another state where a crime was committed.

privileges and immunities clause: constitutional clause that

prevents states from discriminating against people from out of

state.

Fourteenth Amendment: constitutional amendment that provides

that persons born in the United States are citizens and prohibits

states from denying persons due process or equal protection under

the law.

Fifteenth Amendment: constitutional amendment that gave

African Americans the right to vote.

Dual federalism: a form of American federalism in which the

states and the national government operate independently in their

own areas of public policy.

selective incorporation: the process through which the Supreme

Court applies fundamental rights in the Bill of Rights to the states

on a case-by-case basis.

cooperative federalism: a form of American federalism in which

the states and the national government work together to shape

public policy.

constitution: a document that sets out the fundamental principles

of governance and establishes the institutions of government.

republic: a government ruled by representatives of the people.

Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union: a governing

document that created a union of thirteen sovereign states in

which the states, not the union, were supreme.

unicameral: a one-house legislature.

Shays’s Rebellion: a popular uprising against the government of

Massachusetts.

writ of habeas corpus: the right of people detained by the

government to know the charges against them.

bills of attainder: when the legislature declares someone guilty

without a trial.

ex post facto laws: laws punishing people for acts that were not

crimes at the time they were committed.

Virginia Plan: a plan of government calling for a three-branch

government with a bicameral legislature, where more populous

states would have more representation in Congress.

New Jersey Plan: a plan of government that provided for a

unicameral legislature with equal votes for each states.

bicameral: a two-house legislature.

Grand Committee: a committee at the Constitutional Convention

that worked out the compromise on representation.

Great (Connecticut) Compromise: an agreement for a plan of

government that drew upon both the Virginia and New Jersey

Plans; it settled issues of state representation by calling for a

bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives

apportioned proportionately and a Senate apportioned equally.

Three-Fifths Compromise: an agreement reached by delegates at

the Constitutional Convention that a slave would count as three-

fifths of a person in calculating a state’s representation.

Compromise on Importation: Congress could not restrict the slave

trade until 1808.

separation of powers: a design of government that distributes

powers across institutions in order to avoid making one branch

too powerful on its own.

checks and balances: a design of government in which each

branch has powers that can prevent the other branches from

making policy.

federalism: the sharing of power between the national

government and the states.

legislative branch: the institution responsible for making laws.

expressed or enumerated powers: authority specifically granted to

a branch of the government in the Constitution.

necessary and proper or elastic clause: language in Article I,

Section 8 granting Congress the powers necessary to carry out its

enumerated powers.

implied powers: authority of the federal government that goes

beyond its expressed powers.

executive branch: the institution responsible for carrying out laws

passed by the legislative branch.

judicial branch: the institution responsible for hearing and

deciding cases through the federal courts.

supremacy clause: constitutional provision declaring that the Constitution and all federal laws and treaties are the supreme law of the land.

amendment: the process by which changes may be made to the Constitution.

Federalists: supporters of the proposed Constitution, who called

for a strong national government.

Antifederalists: those opposed to the proposed Constitution, who favoured stronger state governments.

Federalist Papers: a series of eighty-five essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay and published between 1787 and 1788 that lay out the theory behind the Constitution.

Federalist No. 51: an essay in which Madison argues that separation of powers and federalism will prevent tyranny.

faction: a group of self-interested people who use the government to get what they want, trampling the rights of others in the process.

Federalist No. 10: an essay in which Madison argues that the dangers of faction can be mitigated by a large republic and republican government.

Brutus No. 1: an Antifederalist Paper arguing that the country was too large to be governed as a republic and that the Constitution gave too much power to the national government.