American Government Chapter 2 Establishing A Constitutional Democracy

Front 1

Federalists

Back 1

Those who wrote and campaigned for ratification of the Constitution

Front 2

Anti-Federalists

Back 2

Those who opposed ratification of the Constitution

Front 3

Constitution

Back 3

Basic governing document of the United States

Front 4

Divine Right

Back 4

Doctrine that says God selects the soverign for the people

Front 5

Royal Colony

Back 5

Colony governed by the king's representative with the advice of an elected assembly.

Front 6

Mayflower Compact

Back 6

First Document in colonial America in which the people gave their express consent to be governed.

Front 7

Proprietary Colony

Back 7

Colony governed either by a prominent English noble or by a company.

Front 8

Colonial Assembly

Back 8

Lower legislative chamber elected by male property owners in a colony.

Front 9

Colonial Council

Back 9

Upper legislative chamber whose members were appointed by British officials upon the recommendation of the governor.

Front 10

Patronage

Back 10

Appintment of individuals to public office in exchange for their political support. Widely practiced in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and continues to present day.

Front 11

Stamp Tax

Back 11

Passed by Parliment in 1765, it required colonists to purchase a small stamp to be affixed to legal and other documents

Front 12

Taxation without Representation

Back 12

Levying of taxes by a government in which the people are not represented by their own elected officials

Front 13

Stamp Act Congress

Back 13

A meeting in 1765 of delegates from nine colonies to oppose the Stamp Act; the first political organization that brought leaders from several colonies together for a common purpose

Front 14

Patriots

Back 14

Political group defending colonial American liberties against British infringements

Front 15

First Continental Congress

Back 15

Organized in 1774, first quasi-governmental institution that spoke for nearly all the colonies

Front 16

Second Continental Congress

Back 16

Political authority that directed the struggle for independence beginning in 1775

Front 17

Declaration of Independence

Back 17

Document signed in 1776 asserting the political independence of the US from Great Britain

Front 18

Tories

Back 18

Those colonists who opposed independence from Great Britain

Front 19

Seperation of Powers

Back 19

A system of government i which different institutions excersise the different components of governmental power

Front 20

Whigs

Back 20

Political opposition in 18th century England that developed a theory of citizen rights and representation

Front 21

Articles of Confederation

Back 21

The first (1781-1789) basic governing document of the United States and forerunner to the Constitution

Front 22

Shay's Rebellion

Back 22

Armed uprising in western Massachusetts in 1786 led by Revolutionary War captain Daniel Shays

Front 23

Annapolis Convention

Back 23

Meeting in 1786 to discuss constitutional reform

Front 24

Virginia Plan

Back 24

Constituional proposal supported by convention delegates from large states

Front 25

New Jersey Plan

Back 25

Small-state proposal for constitutional reform

Front 26

Connecticut Compromise

Back 26

Constitutional Convention proposal that created a House proportionate to population and a senate in which all states were represented equally

Front 27

Necessary and proper clause

Back 27

Says Congress has the proper to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution" its other powers

Front 28

Advice and Consent

Back 28

Support for a presidential action by a designated numbers of senators

Front 29

Electoral College

Back 29

These chosen to cast a direct vote for president by a process determined by each state

Front 30

Judicial Review

Back 30

Court authority to declare laws null and void on the grounds tha they violate the constituion

Front 31

Supremacy clause

Back 31

part of the Constitution that says the Constitution is the "supreme Law of the Land," to which all judges are bound

Front 32

Three-fifths Compromise

Back 32

Cinstitutional provision that counted each slave as three fifths of a person when calculating representation in the House of Representatives; repealed by the 14th Amendment

Front 33

Bill of Rights

Back 33

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, which guaruntee civil liberties and protect states' rights.

Front 34

Federalist Papers

Back 34

Essays that were written in support of the Constitution's ratification ad have become a classic argument for the American constituional system

Front 35

Checks and Balances

Back 35

Constitutional division of power into seperate institutions, giving each institution the power to block the actions of the others