Guffey Chapters 1+2 Terms Review
About this set
Created by:
FRuta11 on August 19, 2010
Subjects:
Description:
First 36 definitions come straight out of the Government book.
Classes:
Brophy College Preparatory Class of 2011
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76 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 power | the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person's intentions. |
| authority | the right to use power |
| legitimacy | political authority conferred by law or by a state or national constitution. |
| democracy | the rule of the many |
| direct or participatory democracy | a government in which all or most citizens participate directly |
| representative democracy | a government in which leaders make decisions by winning a competitive struggle for the popular vote |
| elite | persons who possess a disproportionate share of some valued resource, like money or power |
| class view | view that the government is dominated by capitalists |
| power elite view | view that the government is dominated by a few top leaders, most of whom are outside the government |
| bureaucratic view | View that the government is dominated by appointed officials |
| pluralist view | the belief that competition among all affected interests shapes public policy |
| unalienable right | a human right based on nature or God |
| Articles of Confederation | a weak constitution that governed America during the Revolutionary War |
| Constitutional Convention | a meeting in Philadelphia in 1787 that produced a new constitution |
| Shays' Rebellion | a 1787 rebellion in which ex-Revolutionary War soldiers attempted to prevent foreclosures of farms as a result of high interest rates and taxes |
| Virginia Plan | a proposal to create a strong national government that favored larger states |
| New Jersey Plan | a proposal to create a weak national government that favored smaller states |
| Great Compromise / Connecticut Compromise | plan to have a popularly elected House based on state population and a state-selected Senate, with two members for each state |
| republic | a government in which elected representatives make the decisions |
| judicial review | the power of the courts to declare laws unconstitutional |
| federalism | government authority shared by national and local governments |
| enumerated powers | powers given to the national government alone |
| reserved powers | powers given to the state government alone |
| concurrent powers | powers shared by the national and state governments |
| checks and balances | authority is shared by three branches of government to prevent any one part of the government from becoming too powerful |
| separation of powers | constitutional authority is shared by three different branches of government |
| faction | a group with a distinct political interest |
| Federalists | those who favored a stronger national government |
| Antifederalists | those who favored a weaker national government |
| coalition | an alliance of factions |
| Bill of Rights | the first ten amendments to the Constitution |
| habeas corpus | an order to produce an arrested person before a judge |
| bill of attainder | a law that declares a person, without a trial, to be guilty of a crime |
| ex post facto law | a law that makes an act criminal although the act was legal when it was committed |
| amendment | a new provision in the Constitution that has been ratified by the states |
| line-item veto | an executive's ability to block a particular provision in a bill passed by the legislature |
| hyper-pluralist view | the belief that competition among very many interest groups shapes public policy |
| majoritarian view | the belief that it is the majority that influences politics the most |
| the three "f"'s of elections | free, fair, frequent |
| majority rule | victory by receiving more than 50% of the votes |
| super-majority rule | victory by receiving more or exactly 2/3 of the votes |
| popular sovereignty | the people are the rulers |
| liberty | personal freedom from servitude or confinement or oppression |
| Declaration of Independence | the document that charged the British crown with violations of the liberty of the American people, and thus declared the United States of America as an independent nation |
| Continental Congress | the first governing body of the United States of America |
| Annapolis Convention | the convention that resolved to hold a constitutional convention |
| 3/5ths Clause | the clause that stated that slaves counted as 3/5 of a person when speaking of state population for representation |
| bicameral legislature | legislature is split into two separate houses or entities that occasionally cooperate |
| electoral college | the method of electing the chief executive of the government in which electors are chosen from each state; the number of electors depends on the population of the state |
| staggering elections | different offices have different amount of years per term to avoid any one faction gaining all the power at once |
| executive agencies | small, federal organizations with presidential control |
| 10th Amendment | states should have substantial power |
| Marbury v. Madison | the 1803 Supreme Court case which led to the adoption of the power of Judicial Review by the courts |
| globalization | when the executives become more involved in global affairs |
| divided government | when one party holds the presidential office and the other controls Congress |
| independent regulatory commissions | organizations with focused responsibilities without presidential control |
| direct primary | election in which voters choose party nominees |
| initiative | procedure whereby a certain number of voters may, by petition, propose a law or constitutional amendment and have it submitted to the voters |
| referendum | when a legislative act is referred for final approval to a popular vote by the electorate |
| recall | the act of removing an official by petition |
| impeachment | when a public official is charged with misconduct in office, then tried in the Senate |
| executive order | a rule issued by the president that has the force of law |
| executive privilege | The power to keep executive communications confidential, especially if they relate to national security |
| impoundment | presidential refusal to allow an agency to spend funds that Congress authorized and appropriated |
| extradition | the legal process by which a fugitive from criminal charges in one state is returned to that state |
| Americans With Disabilities Act | act that prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability |
| Plessy v. Ferguson | a 1896 Supreme Court decision which legalized state ordered segregation so long as the separate facilities were equal |
| Brown v. Board of Education | the case in which the Court ruled that segregation was unconstitutional, overturned Plessy v Ferguson. |
| senatorial courtesy | presidential custom of submitting the names of prospective appointees for approval to senators from the states in which the appointees are to work |
| legislative veto | The authority of Congress to block a presidential action after it has taken place. The Supreme Court has held that Congress does not have this power |
| Federalist Papers | a series of essays that defended the Constitution and tried to reassure Americans that the states would not be overpowered by the federal government |
| Natural Law | law that defines right from wrong |
| Human Law | law that is defined by humans |
| Legislative Branch | branch of government that makes laws |
| Executive Branch | branch of government that enforces laws |
| Judicial Branch | branch of government that applies/interprets laws |
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