Natural Rights | Inherent and universal human rights not dependent on laws, given to people by their creator
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Social Contract | Implied agreement between citizens and their gov where individuals give up natural freedoms in exchange for protection and welfare (from a structured society) |
Popular Sovereignty | Source of a gov’s power is the people, power comes from the consent of the governed |
Limited Government | Political system in which the powers of the gov are restricted to prevent tyranny by protecting property/individual rights |
Separation of Powers | The division of the gov power across the J/E/L branches |
Checks and Balances | A system in which each branch of gov has power over the others |
Federalism | The dynamic distribution of power between the local, state, and national levels of government in the US |
Republicanism | Representative democracy, where elected leaders represent various groups of people within a gov |
Participatory Democracy | Citizens have the power to influence policy decisions, but isn’t a direct democracy |
Pluralist Democracy | Recognizes group-based activism, no group dominates by multiple compete for public policy influence |
Elite Democracy | Form where the well-educated/wealthy hold the power because they are more fit than uneducated civilians |
Federalists | Those at the Constitutional Convention who favored a strong national gov and a system of separated powers |
Anti-Federalists | Those @ CC who favored strong state govs and feared a strong national gov would be a threat to individual rights |
Factions | Like-minded groups of people who try to influence the gov. The American gov is set up to avoid domination by any one of these groups. |
Articles of Confederation | The first attempt at a new American gov. It was later decided that the Articles restricted national gov too much, and they were replaced by the Constitution. No exec, no judicial, only legislative body existed and it was very state oriented (w/ veto power given to all states, nothing got done). |
Shays’ Rebellion | Armed uprising of disgruntled farmers in debt which highlighted the weaknesses of the Articles of confederation in the department of raising a militia and collecting taxes |
Great (Connecticut) Compromise | Congress would have two houses: A senate with two legislators per state and a House of Representatives in which each state’s representation would be based on population |
Electoral College | System for electing president and vice president Popular vote + state population influence who is in the electoral college -> members of the electoral college then vote for who will be P and VP |
3/5ths Compromise | State’s decision in CC
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Slave Trade Compromise | Protected slave trade until 1808 |
Bill of Rights | Protects individual liberties and limits national gov Constitution would be ratified that the first amendments would be this |
Article V of the U.S. Constitution | Outlines the process for amending the constitution
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Impeachment | A negative/checking power over the other branches that allows Congress to remove the P/VP/other officers of the US (like federal judges) for abuses of power |
Exclusive Powers | Powers only given to the national gov |
Concurrent Powers | Shared powers between the state and national gov |
Enumerated Powers | Powers explicitly granted to Congress, the president, or the Supreme Court in the first three articles of the Constitution.
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Implied Powers | Powers supported by the Constitution that are not expressly stated in it |
Necessary and Proper Clause | Pt of Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution Grants Congress the power to pass all laws related to one of its expressed powers
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Reserved Powers | Powers not given to the national government by the constitution, or not prohibited to the states, are reserved by the states/the people
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10th Amendment | Gives all powers not specifically allocated to the national gov to the state gov, any power not denied from the states is theirs |
Revenue Sharing | Type of grant used in the 1970s-1980s in which fed govs provided state govs with funds to be spent on each state’s discretion - gave states more control over programs |
Block Grants | Federal aid provided to state gov to be spent within a certain policy area, but the state can decide how to spend the money within the area |
Categorical Grants | Federal aid to state/local govs that is provided for a specific purpose
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Mandates | Federal laws requiring that states do certain things but don’t provide state govs with funding to implement policies
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14th Amendment | All citizens are to be provided equal protection under laws (and protects them against discrimination and arbitrary gov action) |
Due Process Clause | 5th amendment/14th amendment Person cannot be deprived of life/liberty/property without due process of law (people can’t just be thrown in jail for no reason) |
Equal Protection Clause | All people are to be treated equally under law (14th amendment) |
Commerce Clause | Allows congress to regulate interstate and foreign trade and business activities |
Supremacy Clause
| The constitution/laws/treaties of the US are the “supreme Law of the Land”
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