 | Term | Definition |
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government |
a political system which provides rulers and services for people |
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politician |
a person elected to a government job (presidents,governer) |
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democracy |
v.s political system in which the people have a voice in decision making and having rights |
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republic |
a political system in which people elect representitives to speak to them |
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dictatorship |
rule by one person (dictator). citizens have few rights. |
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Declaration of Independence |
July 4 1776, stated the reasons why the united states was seperating from great britian |
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Constitution |
1787, our written plan of government. |
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preamble |
introduction to the constitution, it begins "We the people..." and explains why we have a constitution. |
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Branches |
parts of our government:Legislative,Executive,and Judical |
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seperation of powers |
Dividing the power of government into 3 branchesd so no branh becomes too powerful. |
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Legislative |
branch which makes the law |
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Executive |
branch which enforces or carries out the law |
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judicial |
branch which judges or interprets the law |
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checks and balences |
each branch has ways to make sure other branches do not have too much power. |
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federalism |
dividing the power of governments between the national (federal) and the state or local governments |
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federal |
national level,for the whole new country |
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state |
level of government for new york state |
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local |
level of government for county,city,town,and village |
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amendment |
to change or add to the constituion. amendments keep our contitution able to adapt to changing conditions in our history |
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bill of rights |
first 10 amendments to the constitution |
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constituional |
agrees with the constituion |
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unconstitutional |
goes against the constitution |
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majority |
more than half |
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minority |
less than half |
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repeal |
when the legislative branch takes back a law so that it is no longer a law |
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appeal |
to ask a higher court to hear a case |
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sufferage |
the right to vote |
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census |
count of the number of people used to decide representation |
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compromise |
to give in to form an agreement. one compromise in the constititon was called the "Great Compromise" and gave us two houses of congress |
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Civil rights |
legal rights of citizens of the united states |
