This Enlightenment thinker argued that liberty is best protected when governmental power is divided among separate branches.
Who is Montesque?
This event demonstrated that the national government lacked the military strength to maintain domestic order under the Articles.
What is Shays’ Rebellion?
This plan proposed representation in Congress based solely on state population.
What is the Virginia Plan?
This case expanded the role of the federal government by allowing them to create banks.
What is McCulloch v. Maryland?
This constitutional principle allows courts to declare laws unconstitutional.
What is judicial review?
This democratic ideal is reflected in the Constitution’s opening phrase, “We the People.”
What is popular sovereignty?
Because amendments required unanimous consent, this structural feature made the Articles effectively rigid and difficult to reform.
What is unanimity requirement of all 13 states?
This plan proposed equal representation for each state in a unicameral legislature.
What is the New Jersey Plan?
This case curbed federal power over states...
What is US v. Lopez?
This Supreme Court case established judicial review at the federal level.
What is Marbury v. Madison?
According to pluralist theory, political power in the United States is primarily distributed among these groups.
What are competing interest groups?
Congress’s inability to compel states to contribute funds under the Articles reflected the absence of this core sovereign power.
What is taxation / power to tax directly?
This constitutional mechanism was created as a compromise between election by Congress and direct popular vote for president.
What is the Electoral College?
This Supreme Court case established that states cannot tax federal institutions.
What is McCulloch v. Maryland?
The 10th Amendment gives states these powers...
What are reserved powers?
Madison’s solution in Federalist No. 10 was not to eliminate factions, but instead to control their effects through this institutional design.
What is a representative democracy?
The inability of Congress to respond effectively to interstate tariff disputes highlighted weakness in this governmental power.
What is regulating interstate commerce/trade?
This future president took meticulous notes, authored the Constitution, and later wrote the Bill of Rights. Also known as a short king.
Who is James Madison?
This constitutional clause has historically been used to expand federal regulatory power over economic activity crossing state lines.
What is the Commerce Clause?
This Anti-Federalist concern predicted that the Constitution would make the national government too powerful was realized in this clause that gave the federal government banking powers...
What is the Necessary and Proper clause or "Elastic" clause?
This democratic theory contends that policy outcomes reflect bargaining among organized groups rather than the will of the average citizen.
What is pluralism?
The Annapolis Convention was called primarily to address this problem before leading to the Constitutional Convention.
What is interstate commerce/trade disputes among states?
This state, known as the "Constitution State," helped author the compromise that framed the modern legislative branch.
What is Connecticut?
This constitutional clause requires states to honor the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of other states.
What is the Full Faith and Credit Clause?
In Federalist No. 51, Madison argued that this feature of human nature makes government and checks on government necessary.
What is that “men are not angels” / human self-interest and ambition or FACTIONS!