American Cit Exam
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Created by:
mhop2 on May 27, 2009
Subjects:
mollaun, american citizenship, freshman, saint ursula
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165 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 14th Amendment | Which amendment grants citizenship to former slaves? |
| 24th Amendment | Which amendment grants the right to vote? |
| 3/5 Compromise | What is the compromise where every 5 slaves is the equivalent of 3 white men |
| Absolute Monarchy | A monarchy that has complete and unlimited power to rule his or her people |
| Acid Rain | Rain containing high amounts of chemical pollutants |
| Affirmative Action | Programs intended to make up for past discrimination by helping minority groups and women gain access to jobs and opportunities |
| Aliens | A non citizen |
| Anti-federalist | Those who opposed the ratification of the Constitution |
| Apartheid | A system of laws that separated racial and ethnic groups and limited the rights blacks in South Africa |
| Authoritarian | A government in which one leader or group of people holds absolute power |
| Balance of Trade | the difference between the value of a nation's exports and its imports |
| Bicameral | A legislative consisting of two parts, or houses |
| Bill of Rights | The first 10 amendments to the Constitution |
| Capital | Previously manufactured goods used to make other goods and service |
| Capitalism | A system in which private citizens own most, if not all, of the means or production and decide how to use them within legislated limits |
| Censorship | The banning of printed materials or films due to alarming or offensive ideas |
| Checks and Balances | a system in which each branch of government is able to check, or restrain, the power of the others |
| Civics | The study of the rights and duties of citizens |
| Civil Liberties | Freedoms to think and act without government interference or fear of unfair legal treatment |
| Collective Farm | A farm in which the land is owned by the government, but rented to a family |
| Common law | a system of law based on precedent and customs |
| Competition | the struggle that goes on between buyers and sellers to get the best products at the lowest prices |
| Complements | Product often used with another product |
| Concurrent Power | Powers shared by the federal and state government |
| Constitution | A detailed written plan for the government |
| Constitutional Convention | Meeting of state delegates in 1787 leading to adoption of new Constitution |
| Constitutional monarchy | The power of the hereditary ruler is limited by the country's constitution |
| Consumer Sovereignty | the role of consumer as the ruler of the market, determining what products will be produced |
| Cost-benefit analysis | economic model that compares the marginal costs and marginal benefits of a decision |
| Demand | The desire, willingness, and ability to buy a good or service |
| Demand Curve | Downward-sloping line that graphically shows the quantities demanded at each possible price |
| Demand Elasticity | measure of responsiveness relating change in amount demanded to a change in price |
| Demand Schedule | Table showing quantities demanded at different possible prices |
| Devolution | The surrender of powers to local authorities by a central government |
| Dictator | A ruler who exercises complete over a state |
| Direct Democracy | A form of democracy in which the people vote firsthand |
| Discrimination | Unfair treatment based on prejudice against a certain group |
| Division of labor | the breaking down of a job into separate, smaller tasks to be performed individually |
| Dynasty | Line of rulers from the same family |
| Economics | The study of how individuals and nations make choices about ways to use scarce resources to fulfill their needs and wants |
| Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) | A program that gives tax credits and even cash payments to qualified workers |
| Electoral College | a group of people named by each state legislature to select the president and vice president |
| Equilibrium Price | The price at which the amount producers are willing to supply is equal to the amount consumers are willing to buy |
| Exchange Rate | The price of one nation's currency in terms of another nation |
| Executive Branch | the branch of government that carries out the laws |
| Factor Markets | a market where productive resources are bought and sold |
| Federalism | The division of power between the state and federal government |
| Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) | the most powerful committee of the Fed, because it makes the decisions that affect the economy as a whole by manipulating the money supply |
| Free Trade | policy of reducing trade barriers |
| Gross Domestic Product (GDP) | total dolalr value of all final goods and services produced in a country during a single year |
| Genocide | mass murder of a people because of their race, religion, ethnicity, politics, or culture |
| Globalization | individuals and nations working across barriers of a distance, culture, and/or technology |
| Great Compromise | agreement providing a dual system of a congressional representation |
| Human Rights | fundamental freedoms of individuals |
| Immigrants | a person who moves permanently to another country |
| Implied Powers | powers that Congress has that are not directly stated in the Constitution |
| Incentive | reward offered to try and pursuade people to make certain economic decisions |
| Inflation | sustained increase in the general level of prices |
| Interest Groups | a group of people who share a point of view about an issue and unite to promote their beliefs |
| International Tribunals | court with authority to hear cases about human rights violations |
| Internationalism | involvement in world affairs |
| Judicial Branch | the branch of government that interprets laws |
| Jurisdiction | a court's authority to hear and decide cases |
| Labor | human efforts directed toward producing goods and services |
| Law of Demand | the concept that people are normally willing to buy less of a product if the price is high and more if the price is low |
| Law of Supply | suppliers will normally offer more for sale at higher prices and less at lower prices |
| Legislative Branch | the lawmaking branch of government |
| Libel | written untruths that are harmful to someone's reputation |
| Lobbyist | representative of an interest group who contacts lawmakers or other government officials directly to influence their policy making |
| Market Economy | system in which individuals own the factors of production and make economic decisions through free interaction |
| Mercantilism | the theory that a country should sell more goods to other countries than it buys |
| Mixed Economy | system combining characteristics of more than one type of economy |
| Monetary Policy | policy that involves changing the rates of growth of the money supply in circulation in order to affect the cost and availability of credit |
| Multinationals | firm that does business or has offices in many countries |
| Natural Resources | gifts of nature that make production possible |
| Naturalization | a legal process to obtain citizenship |
| Needs | requirements for survival, such as food, clothing, and shelter |
| Opportunity Cost | the cost of the next best use of time and money when choosing to do one thing or another |
| Original Jurisdiction | the authority to hear cases for the first time |
| Parliamentary System | a system of government in which both executive and legislative functions reside in an elected assembly |
| Patriotism | the love for one's country |
| Popular Sovereignty | the notion that power lies with the people |
| Precedent | a ruling that is used as the basis for a judicial decision in a later, similar case |
| Supply Elasticity | responsiveness of quantity supplied to a change in price |
| Prime Minister | the leader of the executive branch of a Parliamentary government |
| Product Market | a market where producers offer goods and services for sale |
| Productivity | the degree to which resources are being used efficiently to produce goods and services |
| Profit | the money a bussiness recieves for its products or services over and above its costs |
| Protectionism | policy of trade restrictions to protect domestic industries |
| Public Opinion | the ideas and attitudes that most people hold about elected officials, candidates, governments and political issues. |
| Public Policy | the course of action the government takes in response to a problem |
| Reserve Powers | powers that the Constitution does not give to the national government that are kept by the states |
| Sanction | measure such as withholding economic aid used to influence a foreign government |
| Satellite | nation politically and economically dominated or controlled by another, more powerful country |
| Scarcity | not having enough resources to produce all the things we would like to have |
| Segregation | the social separation of the races |
| Shortage | situation in which quantity demanded is greater than the quantity supplied |
| Socialism | economic system in which government owns some factors of production and distributes the production and wages |
| Special-interest Group | an organization of people with some common interest who try to influence government decisions |
| Specialization | when people, businesses, regions, and/or nations concentrate on goods and services that they can produce better than anyone else |
| Standard of Living | the material well-being of an individual, group, or nation measured by how well their necessities and luxuries are satisfied |
| Subsidy | a government payment to an individual, business, or group in exchange for certain actions |
| Substitute | a competing product that consumers can use in place of another |
| Suffrage | the right to vote |
| Supply | the amount of goods and services that producers are willing to ell at various prices during a specified time period |
| Supply Curve | upward-sloping line that graphically shows the quantities supplied at each possible price |
| Supply Elasticity | responsiveness of a quantity supplied to a change a change in price |
| Supply Schedule | table showing quantities supplied at different possible prices |
| Surplus | situation in which quantity supplied is greater than quantity demanded; situation in which government spends less than it collects in revenues |
| Tariff | a customs duty; a tax on an imported good |
| Totalitarian | a system in which government controls extends to almost all aspects of people's lives |
| Trade Deficit | situation in which the value of the products imported by a country exceeds the value of its exports |
| Trade-off | the alternative you face if you decide to do one thing rather than the other |
| Unitary System | government that gives all key powers to the national or central government |
| Utility | the amount of satisfaction one gets from a good or service |
| Voluntary Exchange | the act of buyers and sellers freely and willingly engaging in market transactions |
| Workfare | programs that require welfare recipients to exchange some of their labor in return for benefits |
| Coercive Acts | Acts the British put on the colonists, restricted the colonist's rights and forced them to house soldiers |
| Communism | a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership |
| Court of Justice | Another word for world court |
| Declaratory Act | Parliament made an act that they had the right to tax and make decisions for the colonists without their say |
| Demand Elasticity | The extent to which a change in price causes a change in quantity demanded |
| Demand Inelastic | price changes have little effect on the quantity demanded |
| Direction | Weather the public is for or against something |
| Discount Rate | the rate banks are charged for loans |
| Endorsements | When a famous person says to vote for someone |
| Bandwagon | peer pressure, "everyone else is doing it" |
| Card Stacking | Only showing the positive sides of a person, one-sided |
| Federal Communications Commission | punishes violators of regulations, sets up regulations for newspapers |
| Fixed cost | cost or expenses, that are the same no matter how many units of goods are produced |
| George Washington | Leader over the meeting that made the Constition |
| Glittering general | broad statements that a candidate uses ex: I |
| Global interdependence | people and nations all over the world now depend on one another for many goods and services |
| House of Lords | A party in Great Britain, little power, 500 life peers, 92 hereditary peers, and 26 clergy |
| House of Commons | A party in Great Britain, 646 seats, serves 5-year terms, law makers, and people elect the representatives |
| Intensity | The public's strength of opinion |
| Labour Party | Gordon Brown's party, democratic party of Great Britain, more active |
| Mayflower Compact | The act that set up direct democracy, aloud all men to vote, and majority rules |
| Name calling | rude commercials, slaying commercials |
| Plain folks | when a candidate tries to be "just one of us" |
| Polls | surveys that allow representatives to be more in tune with what we believe |
| Price | the amount a consumer buys something for |
| Security Council | United Nations structure; 5 permanent members, 10 non permanent members (2 year terms) |
| Stability | how firmly the public holds their views |
| Supply Inelastic | if quantity changes very little when price goes up or down |
| Symbols | when a candidate acts patriotic and wears things to promote his/her cause ex: a flag pin |
| Townshed Acts | The British taxed imported goods for the colonists |
| Unitary System | What type of system does Great Britain run by? |
| United Nation | main goal: peace; wants to promote peace among the nations |
| Variable cost | expenses that change with the number of products produced |
| sign declaration of intention | What is the first step to becoming a citizen? |
| file with immigration and naturalization | What is the second step to becoming a citizen? |
| Live in US for 5 years | What is the third step to becoming a citizen? |
| take exam | What is the fourth step to becoming a citizen? |
| pledge an Oath of Allegiance | What is the final step to becoming a citizen? |
| Articles of Confederation | the plans made for a union of states in the Second Continental Congress in 1777 |
| citizenship | A person born in the United States already has__________ |
| Electoral votes | The votes from the electoral college that go to the president |
| Intolerable Acts | The name colonists called the coercive acts? |
| President Pro Tempore | The person who usually acts as a chairperson of the senate |
| Republic | a system of government in which the people elect representatives to exercise power for them |
| Reserve Requirement | the certain percentage of a bank's money in the Federal Reserve Bank |
| Secretary General | the chief executive officer of the United Nation |
| Security Council | The United Nation's peacekeeping arm |
| Speaker of the House | the most powerful leader within the House of Representatives |
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