7th grade review 2
Terms
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- Bill of rights
- the fist ten amendments to the Constitution; it guarantees basic rights to U>S> citizens and limits the government\'s ability to reduce basic liberties such as freedom of speech, the press, and religion , and the rights of the accused.
- Central government
- also known as the federal government; it is located in Washington, D>C>
- Federalism
- form of government that divides power between a central government and state governments
- Legislature
- branch of government responsible for making laws.
- three branches of government
- legislative, executive,and judicial branches of the federal government.
- Magna Carta (1215)
- agreement signed by King John I guaranteeing certain rights to the people of England. Also known as the \"Great Charter,\" it became the foundation of hte Bill of Rights
- Consent of the governed
- philosophy calling for the direct election of governmental representatives by the people. Once elected these lawmakers would respond to the policies favored by those who elected them.
- Delegated poweres
- those powers listed in the constitution that are not specifically reserved for the federal government.
- Democracy
- form of government characterized by free and open election of representatives who are responsive to the will of the people.
- Democratic Party
- one of the two major political parties in the United states today. Its symbol is the donkey.
- republican party
- one of the two major U.S. political parties. Foundedin1854, its first major political figure was Abraham Lincoln; its symbol ,the elephant
- separation of powers
- principle of government established by the Constitution dividing governmental powers among three branches of government ans assuring liberty through a system of checks and balances.
- supremacy
- clause contained in Article VI of the Constitution; the clause declaring the Constitution as \"the supreme law of the land..\"
- unwritten Constitution
- policies and practices of government not specifically establish by the Constitution but based on custom. Examples included the establishment of the president\'s cabinet and the formation of political parties.
- Preamble
- introduction to the Constitution stating he purposes of the document; begins with \"we the people, in order to form a more perfect union\"
- Checks and balances
- principle of government that separates federal powers among three branches and prevents a single branch from becoming too powerful.
- tories
- English colonist sympathetic or loyal to the British during the Revolutionary War; also know as loyalist.
- Articles of Confederation
- the charter of the first national government of the United States. Its features included state governments that were more powerful than the central government and no elected president.
- Bicameral legislature
- a legislative body made up of two houses
- Northwest Ordinance of 1787
- legislation providing the the admission of the Northwest Territory to the Union and its administration; the Ordinance prohibited slavery in the newly admitted states and granted admission on an equal basis with the thirteen original states.
- Shays\' rebellion (1786)
- Armed rebellion in Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays to protest government auctions of farms for failure to pay to taxes.
- due process of law
- ideal that the government must follow procedures established by law and guaranteed by the Constitution.
- Constitutional convention (1787)
- meeting of delegates from the original thirteen states in Philadelphia for the purpose of revising the Article of Confederation. Instead, the delegates drafted the Constitution.
- great compromise
- agreement made at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 crating the two houses of congress; one house based on population and the other house based on equal representation.
- Three-fifths compromise
- clause contained in the Constitution counting every five slaves as the three people for purposes of calculating representation in Congress: reached at the Constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787.