Citizenship
This amendment, ratified in 1920, extended the right to vote to women.
What is the 19th Amendment?
Thomas Hobbes used this term to describe a world of total chaos with a complete absence of government.
What is the State of Nature?
This Founding Father is famously credited with drafting the Declaration of Independence.
Who is Thomas Jefferson?
These are the iconic first three words of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
What is "We the People"?
The Great Compromise, which blended the Virginia and New Jersey plans into a bicameral legislature, is also known by the name of this state.
What is Connecticut?
In Ancient Greece—the birthplace of democracy—these two major social groups did not have a say in government.
Who are women and enslaved people? (Or non-citizens).
This radical 1776 pamphlet, written by Thomas Paine, convinced thousands of American colonists to support independence from Britain.
What is Common Sense?
This major weakness of the Articles of Confederation—highlighted by Shays' Rebellion—prevented the national government from stopping domestic uprisings.
What was the lack of a standing army (and the inability to levy federal taxes)?
This article of the Constitution details the powers, structures, and responsibilities of the Executive Branch.
What is Article II?
This Massachusetts Founding Father and future president is credited with writing the Massachusetts State Constitution.
Who is John Adams?
In early American history, this was the exclusive group of people who held the right to vote.
Who were white, male property owners?
This philosopher argued that human beings are born as a Tabula Rasa, the Latin phrase for this concept.
What is a "Blank Slate"? (John Locke).
Introduced at the Constitutional Convention, this plan favored highly populated states by proposing representation based purely on population.
What is the Virginia Plan?
This amendment guarantees due process, protects against self-incrimination and double jeopardy, and regulates eminent domain.
What is the 5th Amendment?
(DOUBLE JEOPARDY): Local public schools, police departments, and fire departments are primarily funded by this specific type of local tax.
What are property taxes?
To become a citizen through naturalization, an applicant must meet these six core requirements.
What are: being 18+ years old, being a legal permanent resident for 5 years, having good moral character, passing an interview, speaking/reading English, and passing the civics test?
This 1620 document was a governing agreement signed by English Puritans before stepping ashore in Massachusetts.
What is the Mayflower Compact?
In 1774, delegates from twelve colonies met in this specific Philadelphia building for the First Continental Congress to discuss the Intolerable Acts.
What is Carpenter's Hall?
Found at the very end of Article I, Section 8, this specific clause grants Congress implied powers not explicitly written in the text, allowing the federal government to drastically expand its authority over time
What is the Elastic Clause? (Also accepted: The Necessary and Proper Clause )
Sharing is caring: This specific power is the most common "concurrent power" (shared) exercised simultaneously by both federal and state governments.
What is the power to levy and collect taxes?
(DOUBLE JEOPARDY): Ratified during the Vietnam War in 1971, this amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.
What is the 26th Amendment?
While Thomas Hobbes famously defended absolute rule in The Leviathan, he also introduced this highly radical Enlightenment concept, arguing that a government's political legitimacy must ultimately come from the explicit permission and shared consensus of the people it governs.
What is the Consent of the Governed? (Alternatively: The Social Contract theory - Popular Sovereignty.)
(DOUBLE JEOPARDY): Because of his pivotal role in drafting the Virginia Plan and floor-managing the Constitutional Convention, this man earned this specific honorary title.
Who is James Madison, the "Father of the Constitution"?
If the President disagrees with a bill passed by Congress, they can issue a regular veto. However, if Congress adjourns (ends its legislative session) within 10 days of sending a bill to the President and the President simply refuses to sign it, the bill dies automatically, and Congress cannot vote to override it. This specific constitutional maneuver is known by this term.
What is a Pocket Veto?
To permanently change the framework of the country, a proposed amendment must be ratified by this specific fraction (or number) of states.
What is 3/4 (or 38 out of 50) states?