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Articles of Confederation
| This created America's first government in 1782. However it created a weak national government with no executive or judicial branches, and so was replaced by the U.S. Constitution in 1789. |
Amendment
| A change or addition to the Constitution. It must be proposed by a two-thirds of the state legislatures. It must be ratified (approved) by three-fourths of the states. |
Anti-Federalists
| People who opposed the ratification of the U.S. Constitution because it made the national (federal) government too powerful and did not include a Bill of Rights. |
Consent of the Governed
| The principle that the government gets its right to govern from the people. This idea of John Locke's was later included in the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson. |
Civil Liberties
| Freedoms that protect citizens from the government by settinglimits on it so that it can not abuse its power and interfere with the lives of its citizens. |
Concurrent Powers
| Powers (like taxation) that both the national and state governments have. |
Bill of Rights
| The first then amendments to the Constitution that restrict the federal government's power to take away certain basic rights of the people. |
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