Government Basics
This branch of government interprets the laws and ensures they are applied fairly.
What is the Judicial Branch?
The authority of a state to govern itself.
What is sovereignty?
A government that favors strict obedience at the expense of freedom
What is authoritarian?
A system where citizens elect representatives to make decisions.
What is representative democracy?
The first ten amendments to the Constitution
What is the Bill of Rights?
This branch of government is responsible for enforcing the laws.
What is the Executive Branch?
The belief that a king’s authority comes from God.
What is divine right theory?
A system where one person has absolute power.
What is autocracy?
The document declaring the American colonies' independence from Britain
What is the Declaration of Independence?
The agreement Pilgrims made to govern themselves in 1620.
What is the Mayflower Compact?
The national legislative body of the United States.
What is Congress?
The theory that individuals consent to the government to protect their rights, and they give up some of their rights in the process.
What is social contract theory?
A centralized, dictatorial government controlling all aspects of life.
What is totalitarian?
The agreement that created a two-house legislature at the Constitutional Convention.
What is the Great Compromise?
The first U.S. Constitution of the United States.
What are the Articles of Confederation?
The division of government responsibilities into distinct branches.
What is the Separation of Powers?
Which Enlightenment thinker influenced Jefferson with ideas about natural rights?
Who is John Locke?
A form of government where a small, powerful group is in charge.
What is an oligarchy?
This principle states that government power must be limited by law to protect individual rights.
What is limited government?
What major compromise dealt with enslaved people and representation in Congress?
What is the Three-Fifths Compromise?
The principle that government power comes from the people’s consent.
What is popular sovereignty?
This theory says governments are created when one person or group claims control over an area and forces others to submit.
What is the Force Theory?
This political theory argues for a society without private property or social classes, where all resources are publicly owned.
What is communism?
Passed in 1787, this law created a process for admitting new states, guaranteed rights in the Northwest Territory, and banned slavery there.
What is the Northwest Ordinance?
The biggest disagreement between Federalists and Anti-Federalists was over this.
What is ratifying the Constitution without a Bill of Rights?