Unit 1 Vocabulary Terms: AP US Government and Politics
Natural rights - The right to life, liberty, and property, which the government cannot take away.
Popular sovereignty - The idea that the government’s right to rule comes from the people.
Republicanism - a system in which the government’s authority comes from the people through their representatives.
Social contract - People allow their government to rule over them to ensure an orderly and functioning society.
Declaration of Independence - The founding document of the U.S. that announced the separation of the American colonies from Great Britain in 1776.
Participatory democracy - The theory that widespread political participation is essential for democratic government.
Pluralist democracy - A theory of democracy that emphasizes the role of groups in the policymaking process.
Elite democracy - The theory of democracy is that the elites have a disproportionate amount of influence in the policymaking process.
Shays’ Rebellion - A popular uprising against the government of Massachusetts.
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 bicameral legislatures with a House of Representatives apportioned proportionally and a Senate apportioned equally.
Electoral College - A constitutionally required process for selecting the president through slates of electors chosen in each state, who are pledged to vote for a nominee in the presidential election.
Three-fifths Compromise - An agreement reached by the delegates at the Constitutional Convention that a slave would count as three-fifths of a person calculating a state’s representation.
Separation of powers - An act of vesting the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of government in separate bodies
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.
Exclusive powers/Enumerated Implied powers - powers only the national government may exercise.
Concurrent powers - powers granted to both states and the federal government in the constitution.
Categorical grants - grants-in-aid provided to states with specifics professions on their use.
Block grants - a type of grant in-aid that gives state officials more authority in the disbursement of federal funds.
Commerce clause - grants congress the authority to regulate interstate commercial activity.
Natural rights - The right to life, liberty, and property, which the government cannot take away.
Popular sovereignty - The idea that the government’s right to rule comes from the people.
Republicanism - a system in which the government’s authority comes from the people through their representatives.
Social contract - People allow their government to rule over them to ensure an orderly and functioning society.
Declaration of Independence - The founding document of the U.S. that announced the separation of the American colonies from Great Britain in 1776.
Participatory democracy - The theory that widespread political participation is essential for democratic government.
Pluralist democracy - A theory of democracy that emphasizes the role of groups in the policymaking process.
Elite democracy - The theory of democracy is that the elites have a disproportionate amount of influence in the policymaking process.
Shays’ Rebellion - A popular uprising against the government of Massachusetts.
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 bicameral legislatures with a House of Representatives apportioned proportionally and a Senate apportioned equally.
Electoral College - A constitutionally required process for selecting the president through slates of electors chosen in each state, who are pledged to vote for a nominee in the presidential election.
Three-fifths Compromise - An agreement reached by the delegates at the Constitutional Convention that a slave would count as three-fifths of a person calculating a state’s representation.
Separation of powers - An act of vesting the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of government in separate bodies
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.
Exclusive powers/Enumerated Implied powers - powers only the national government may exercise.
Concurrent powers - powers granted to both states and the federal government in the constitution.
Categorical grants - grants-in-aid provided to states with specifics professions on their use.
Block grants - a type of grant in-aid that gives state officials more authority in the disbursement of federal funds.
Commerce clause - grants congress the authority to regulate interstate commercial activity.
