Unconventional Times
This 1786-87 armed insurrection in Massachusetts led many in the newly established American republic to wonder if a stronger national government would be necessary for maintaining "domestic tranquility."
What is Shays' Rebellion?
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.
What is Article 2? (Section 1: Vesting clause)
"a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State..."
What is the 2nd Amendment?
This is the name for the clause of Article 6 of the US Constitution that establishes that the federal Constitution and federal laws take priority over state constitutions and state laws.
What is the supremacy clause?
This was the number of votes granted to each state in the Confederation Congress.
What is one?
The Declaration of Independence speaks of governments as "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," invoking this key idea that is a staple of political liberalism.
What is popular sovereignty?
Brutus worried that a republican form of government was impossible to maintain in a country that is too this.
What is large?
Since THIS case was decided, courts must provide an attorney to defendants who cannot afford one.
What is Gideon v. Wainwright?
The "Great" or "Connecticut" Compromise reconciled two "plans" associated with these two states.
What are Virginia and New Jersey?
"All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate..."
What is Article 1? (Section 7: "Origination clause")
"Excessive bail shall not be required"
What is the 8th Amendment?
The term "federalism" in the American usage generally refers to the ways in which sovereignty is shared between the national and the state governments, but this subset of federalism concerns relationships between states.
What is horizontal federalism?
Under the Articles of Confederation, unanimous consent was required to do this.
What is amend the Articles of Confederation?
Thirteenth century document that included language granting rights to free men, although this referred primarily to property owners and excluded the majority of adults in Britain at the time.
What is the Magna Carta?
Federalist No. 51 discusses several key norms of American political culture, including separation of powers and this principle, a phrase that describes the legal mechanisms designed to make the separation of powers effective and stable.
What are checks and balances?
THIS case in 1971 affirmed the principle that the state cannot engage in prior restraint of the press.
What is NYT vs. US?
This "ism" word, from the Latin for "two chambers," refers to the Constitution's approach to disagreements between those who wanted proportional representation in the legislature and those who wanted each state to have an equal number of votes.
What is bicameralism?
"The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."
What is Article 1? (Section 9: "Suspension Clause")
The 1st Amendment states that Congress "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" and also enumerates these four rights and freedoms.
What are freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to peaceably assemble, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.
The clause of the Constitution that grants implied powers to the federal government is known by these two names.
What are "elastic clause" and "necessary and proper clause"?
This was the length of each delegate's term under the Articles of Confederation.
What is one year?
This document is widely considered the first written blueprint for American self-government, even though it was likely prompted less by democratic ideals than by a shipboard power struggle.
What is the Mayflower Compact?
In Brutus 1, the author expressed serious concern that these two clauses of the Constitution would allow the power of Congress to spiral out of control.
What are the "necessary and proper" (or "elastic") clause and the supremacy clause.
THIS ruling held that requiring Amish parents to send their children to public school was an unconstitutional restriction of their free exercise rights.
Wisconsin v. Yoder
Rather than prescribing a nation-wide popular vote, the Constitutional Convention created this institution to elect the American president.
What is the Electoral College?
"shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office"
What is Article 3? (Section 1: "Good Behavior Clause")
"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed..."
What is the 9th Amendment?
This clause of Article 4 of the Constitution requires states to respect the laws and judicial rulings of other states, although with successive SCOTUS decisions, this clause has come to focus primarily on court judgments rather than statutes.
What is the "Full Faith and Credit" clause.
Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress had no power to tax. Instead, it could do this.
What is spend money and then requisition funds from the states?
One of the most memorable phrases in the Declaration of Independence is a slight alteration of one of John Locke's most memorable phrases, composed of these three abstract nouns.
What are life, liberty, and property?
What is faction?
THIS ruling held that reciting a non-denominational prayer in school was a violation of the establishment clause.
Engel v. Vitale
The dates (months and year) during which the Constitutional Convention convened.
May through September, 1787.
"when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof..."
What is Article 5?
"In Suits at common law..."
What is the 7th Amendment?
This landmark SCOTUS case marked a shift in Constitutional interpretation because it reversed several decades of expanding federal power under the commerce clause.
What is US v. Lopez?
According to the exact language of the Articles of Confederation, the 13 states entered into a "firm league" of this.
What is friendship?
Philosopher famous for his bleak view of humanity’s capacity to live peacefully in the absence of authority.
Who is Thomas Hobbes?
In Federalist 10, Publius argues that contrary to the concerns of the Anti-Federalists, a republican form of government in a large country may actually work better than in a small country. This form of democracy, however, can only function in a small country.
What is a pure democracy?
This ruling held that federal courts can rule on the constitutionality of a state's redistricting.
Baker v. Carr