Power & Authority
A leader who holds absolute power, often ruling brutally without any accountability or constitutional limits.
What is a dictator?
The supreme law of the Land that outlines the structure, powers, and limits of the national government.
What is the Constitution?
One major benefit of the Articles of Confederation was that it protected individual states from this type of harsh central government.
What is a tyranny (or overly powerful national government)?
The Declaration of Independence asserts that people are endowed by their Creator with these kinds of rights.
What are unalienable Rights?
Settling differences by having each side give up part of its demands.
What is a compromise?
The power of the people to vote, elect leaders, and govern themselves through popular vote.
What is popular sovereignty?
A political system made up of a loose union or alliance of sovereign states that keep most of their own power.
What is a confederation?
Under the Articles of Confederation, the central government lacked this authority, making it nearly impossible to raise money.
What is the power to collect taxes?
For 250 years, activists have pointed to the phrase "all men are created equal" to demand equal treatment under this.
What is the law (or the government)?
The official approval of a constitution, law, or treaty by voting.
What is ratification?
Fundamental rights belonging to all humans—such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—that cannot be taken away.
What are human rights (or unalienable rights)?
The national legislative body of the United Kingdom, which served as a model for America's Congress.
What is Parliament?
Because there was no national court system under the Articles, states had to resolve these on their own.
What are interstate legal disputes (or border/trade disputes)?
Abolitionists in the 1800s cited the Declaration of Independence to fight against this institution.
What is slavery?
The judicial branch uses this power to check whether laws passed by Congress violate the Constitution.
What is judicial review?
The principle that a government is only legitimate when its citizens agree to be ruled by it.
What is consent of the governed?
A ruling body or political system organized to direct the affairs of a nation or state.
What is a government?
Under the Articles, making changes to the document required this impossible percentage of state votes.
What is unanimous approval (all 13 states)?
Women at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention modeled their Declaration of Sentiments on this historic American document.
What is the Declaration of Independence?
Dividing powers among legislative, executive, and judicial branches prevents any one branch from becoming a dictating force.
What is separation of powers?
A sovereign head of state, such as a king or queen, who inherits power through a royal bloodline.
What is a monarch?
The political group that opposed the new Constitution because they feared a national government would become too powerful.
Who were the Anti-Federalists?
The inability of Congress to regulate trade between states led directly to this economic problem.
What are trade wars (or tariffs between states)?
When a government violates unalienable rights, the Declaration states that citizens have the right to do this to their government.
What is alter or abolish it?
A government where power is shared between the federal level and state levels.
What is federalism?