| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Amendment | Changes in, or additions to, a constitution |
| Articles of Confederation | First framework of government of the United States, 1781 |
| Authority | Right to control or direct the actions of others |
| Autocracy | A government in which one person possesses unlimited power |
| Bill of Rights | First Ten Amendments to the Constitution |
| Caucuses | A private meeting of members of a political party to plan action or to select delegates for a nominating convention |
| Checks and Balances | Constitutional mechanisms that authorize each branch of government to share powers with the other branches and thereby check their activities |
| Citizen | Member of a political society who therefore owes allegiance to and is entitled to protection by and from the government |
| Citizenship | Status of being a member of a state |
| Civic life | A manner of existence of an individual concerned with the affairs of communities and the common good rather than solely in pursuit of private and personal interests. |
| Civic responsibilities | obligation of citizens to take part in the government of the school, community, tribe, state or nation |
| Civil disobedience | Refusal to obey laws |
| Civil Rights | Protections and privledges given to all U.S. citizens by the Constitution and Bill of Rights |
| Civil society | The spheres of voluntary individual, social and economic relationships and organizations that although limited by law are not part of government institutions |
| Classical republicanism | Refers to gov. that seeks the public or common good rather than the good of a particular group or class of society |
| Common or public good | Benefit or interest of a politically organizes society as a whole |
| Confederal | Relating to a league of independant states |
| Constitutional government | A form of authority in which a legal structure details the powers available to each branch of gov. and the rights of the individual in relation to the gov. |
| Democracy | Form the gov. in which political control is exercised by the people, either directly or through their elected representatives |
| Diplomacy | The art of practice of conducting negotiations between nations |
| Direct democracy | Form of government in which people completely exercise political decisions |
| Diversity | State of being different: variety |
| Documents of government | papers necessary for the organization and powers of gov. |
| Double jeopardy | a concept established by law that says a person cannot be tried twice for the same offense |
| Due process of law | right of every citizen to be protected against arbitrary action by government |
| Economic rights | financial choices and privledges that individuals may select without governement prohibition |
| Electoral college | the group of presidental electors that casts the official votes for president after the presidental election |
| Enumerated powers | powers that have specifically granted to Congress by Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution |
| Equal protection | an idea that no individual or group may receive special privledges from nor by unjustly discriminated against by the political authority of the legal system |
| Equality | the condition of possessing substantially the same rights, privleges and immunities, and being substantially responsible for the same duties as other members of society |
| Federal Supremacy Clause | Article VI of the Constitution provides that the constitution and all federal laws and treaties shall be the "Supreme law of the Land" |
| Federal system | Form of political organization in which governmental power is divided between a central gov and territorial divisions |
| Federalism | Distribution of power in a government between a central authority and states |
| Foreign policy | Actions of the federal gov directed to matters beyond U.S. borders |
| Government | Institutions and procedures through which a territory and its people are ruled |
| Habeas corpus | Court order demanding that the individual in custody be brought into court and shown the cause for detention |
| Individual responsibility | fulfilling the moral and legal obligations of membership in society |
| Individual Rights | Just claims due a person by law, morality or tradition as opposed to those due to groups |
| Interest group | Organized body of individuals who share same goals and try to influence public policy to meet these goals |
| International organizations | Groups formed by nation-states to achieve common political, social or economical goals |
| Judicial review | Docterine tha permits the federal courts to declare unconstitutional, and thus null and void, acts of the Congress, the executive branch and states. Est. by Marbury vs. Madison |
| Justice | that which may be obtained through fair distribution of benefits and burdens, fair correction of wrongs and injuries, or use of fair procedures in gathering information and making decisions |
| Leadership | State or condition of one who guides or governs |
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