| 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 |