Term |
Definition |
Limited Government |
Basic principle of American government which states that government is restricted in what it may do and each individual has rights that government CANNOT take away. |
Representative Government |
System of government in which public policies are made by officials selected by the voters and held accountable in periodic elections. |
Magna Carta |
Great Charter forced upon King John of England by his barons in 1215; established that the power of monarchy was not absolute and guaranteed trial by jury and due process of law to the nobility. |
Petition of Rights |
Document prepared by Parliament and signed by King Charles I of England in 1682; challenged the idea of the divine right of kings and declared that even the monarch was subject to the laws of the land |
English Bill of Rights |
Document written up by Parliament and agreed on by William and Mary of England in 1689, designed to prevent abuse of power by English monarchs; Forms the basis for much in American government and politics today |
Charter |
A city's basic law, it's constitution; a written grant of authority from the King. |
Three-Fifths Compromise |
An agreement at the Constitutional Convention to count a slave as three-fifths of a person when determining the population of a state. |
Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise |
An agreement during the Constitutional Convention protecting slave holders; denied Congress the power to tax the export of goods from any state and for 20 years the power to act on the slave trade. |
Federalists |
Those persons who supported the ratification of the Constitution in 1787-1788 |
Anti-Federalist |
Those persons who opposed the ratification of the Constitution in 1787-1788Ex. Patrick Henry, John Hancock, Samuel Adams |
Bicameral |
An adjective describing a legislative body composed of TWO CHAMBERS |
Unicameral |
An adjective describing a legislative body with ONE CHAMBER |
Boycott |
A refusal to buy or sell certain goods |
Constitution |
The body of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and processes of a government |
Popular Sovereignty |
Basic principle of the American system of government which asserts that the people are the source of only with the consent of the governed |
Ratification |
Formal approval, final consent to the effectiveness of a constitution, constitutional amendment or treaty |
Articles of Confederation |
Plan of government adopted by the continental Congress after the American Revolution; established "a firm league of friendship" among the states, but allowed few important powers to the central government |
Proprietor |
A person to whom the King had made a grant of landEx. William Penn |
Quorum |
Least number of members who must be present for a legislative body to conduct business; majority |
Framers |
Group of delegates who drafted the United States Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787 |
Virginia Plan |
Plan presented by delegates from VA at the Constitutional Convention; called for a three-branch government with a BICAMERAL legislature in which each states membership would be determined by its population or its financial support for the central gov |
New Jersey Plan |
Plan presented as an ALTERNATIVE to the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention; Called for a UNICAMERAL legislature in which each state would be equally represented. |
Connecticut Compromise |
Agreement during the Constitutional Convention that Congress should be composed of a Senate in which states would be represented equally and a House in which representation would be based on a states population |
Burgess |
A legislative representive |
Intolerable Acts |
In a series of new laws, parliament closed the port of Boston (until the Tea was paid for) and strictly limited self government in Massachusetts |