| Term | Definition |
|---|
| 1808 Clause | When the slave trade was to be halted until 1808 |
| Amendments | changes in, or additions to the U.S. Constitution |
| Anti-Federalists | opponents of a strong central government who campaigned against the ratification of the Constitution in favor of a confederation of independant states |
| Bicameral | composed of two legislative bodies |
| Checks and balances | each branch of the national government can check the actions of the oter two branches |
| Concurrent powers | powers that are shared by both the federal and state governments |
| Federalism | the idea of a federal organization of more or less self-governing units |
| Federalists | supporters of the stronger central govt. who advocated the ratification of the new constitution |
| Fugitive Slave Clause | any slave found escaping from a plantation, was to be brought back to his/her owner |
| George Washington | 1st President of the United States |
| Great Compromise | compromise at the Constitutional Cov. in 1787 that reconciled the interest of large and small states |
| House of Representatives | the lower legislative house of the United States Congress |
| Impeach | legal process to formally charge the president with misconduct in office |
| James Madison | One of the leaders of the Constitutional Convention |
| Legislative supremacy | an alternative to judicial review, the acceptance of legislative acts as the final law of the land |
| New Jersey Plan | Opposite of the Virginia Plan, it proposed a single-chamber congress in which each state had one vote. This created a conflict with representation between bigger states, who wanted control befitting their population, and smaller states, who didn't want to be bullied by larger states. |
| Proportional representation | representation of all parties in proportion to their popular vote |
| Ratification | making something valid by formally ratifying or confirming it |
| Ratified | formally approved and invested with legal authority |
| Reserved powers | Powers not specifically granted to the federal government or denied to the states belong to the states and the people |
| Senate | assembly possessing high legislative powers |
| Sovereignty | government free from external control |
| Supremacy Clause | constitutional declaration (Article VI) that the Constitution and laws made under its provisions are the greatest law of the land |
| Three-Fifths Compromise | Every slave is counted as 3/5 of a person so the southern states dont control the house of representatives because of surplus of population. |
| Virginia Plan | Virginia delegate James Madison’s plan of government, in which states got a number of representatives in Congress based on their population |
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