1st govt test
Terms
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- CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1787
- The convention held in Philadelphia that drafted our basic government document, the Constitution.
- CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY
- A government where powers are exercised due to free and frequent elections and whose leaders are limited in their powers.
- REPUBLIC
- A form of democracy where elected officials govern as agents of the people.
- SEPARATION OF POWERS
- Deliberate division of governmental powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches to check arbitrary rule.
- ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
- The first constitution of the newly independent American states, drafted in 1776, ratified in 1781, and replaced by the present Constitution in 1789.
- SHAYS’ REBELLION
- - The rural rebellion of 1786 1787 in western Massachusetts, protesting mortgage foreclosures, that engendered conservative support for a stronger national government.
- VIRGINIA PLAN
- A proposal in the Constitutional Convention that provided for a strong legislature with representation in each house determined by population, thus favoring the large states.
- BICAMERALISM
- A two house form of legislature
- NEW JERSEY PLAN
- A proposal in the Constitutional Convention that provided for a single house legislature with equal representation, thus favoring the small states.
- CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE
- A blending of the New Jersey and Virginia Plans that gave equality of representation in one house, representation based on population in the other.
- THREE FIFTHS COMPROMISE
- An agreement in the Constitutional Convention that counted slaves as three fifths of a person for both representation and taxation purposes.
- FEDERALIST
- Originally, a supporter of the new Constitution; later, a political party that favored strong central government
- ANTIFEDERALIST
- Opponents of constitutional ratification and a strong central government.
- DEMOCRACY
- Government by the people, either directly or indirectly, with free and frequent elections.
- DIRECT DEMOCRACY
- Government where citizens meet to discuss and pass laws and select rulers.
- INDIVIDUALISM
- In a political sense, the belief that the welfare of the citizen is more important than that of the state.
- IDEOLOGY
- Basic beliefs about power, government, and political practices.
- MAJORITY RULE
- A basic democratic rule, usually referring to “more than half.†50%+1
- PLURALISM
- Refers to a candidate or party winning the greatest number of votes.
- STATISM
- A political theory that holds that the welfare of the nation has topmost priority, transcending the welfare of any or all individual citizens