Principles of Government and the Basics of Democracy
Match the following terms to the definitions: Power, authority, and legitimacy
1. A society’s belief that their ruler/government has the right to rule, usually granted by law or constitution
2. The ability to get people to behave in certain ways; get others to do what you want them to do
3. The right to rule, have power.
1. Legitimacy
2. Power
3. Authority
Name the type of government:
A type of democracy where every individual gets to participate directly in the democratic process.
Direct Democracy
What civilization or city-state was known to have the first democracy?
Athens
This is a basic principle of American government which states that government is restricted in what it may do, and each individual has rights that cannot be taken away.
Limited Government
This plan was a plan of government adopted by the Continental Congress after the American Revolution; it established “a firm league of friendship” among the states but allowed few important powers to the Federal Government.
The Articles of Confederation
What is the relationship between government and public policies?
The government is the institution that makes and enforces public policies.
Name the type of government:
A form of government in which the executive branch is made up of a prime minister/premier and their cabinet, but they are also part of the legislature.
Parliamentary Government
Match the terms to the definitions: Patricians and Plebeians
1. The common folk in the Roman Republic
2. Rich upper class, landowning aristocrats of the Roman Republic.
1. Plebeians
2. Patricians
List two of the three documents discussed in class that limited the British monarchs' powers, while also giving British citizens more guaranteed rights and freedoms.
The Magna Carta, Petition of Right, and English Bill of Rights.
What event occurred in Massachusetts as a result of angry farmers and property holders losing their land and possessions because they were unable to pay taxes and other debts? (Hint: this event also revealed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation)
Shays' Rebellion
List the three branches of government in the United States and describe the powers they have.
Legislative Power: The power to make and frame public policies, laws
Executive Power: The power to execute, enforce, and administer laws
Judicial Power: The power to determine their meaning, and to settle disputes that arise within society
Name the type of government:
An alliance of independent states; the government only has the power to handle issues that the member states have assigned to it.
Confederation
A system where vassals serve lords and serfs farm the land and then give crops to vassals in exchange for protection describes what type of system?
The feudal system or feudalism
What document reflected the principles of natural rights and social contract theory and served as the break-up letter between the Colonies and Britain?
The Declaration of Independence
What group supported the ratification of the Constitution and what group opposed the ratification of the Constitution?
Federalists supported ratification of the Constitution, while Anti-Federalists opposed it.
List the four characteristics of a State.
Population: Large or small, every state must be inhabited- that is, have a population.
Territory: Every state must have land, with known and recognized borders.
Sovereignty: The state has absolute power within its territory. It can decide its own foreign and domestic policies.
Government: Government is the mechanism through which a state makes and enforces its policies.
Name the type of government:
Sovereign power is held by those eligible to vote, but political power is exercised by representatives chosen by and held responsible to those citizens
Republic
What is the vocabulary term described by:
The control of one nation over foreign lands.
Colonialism
This plan was a plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 for cooperation among the thirteen colonies. The delegates who met were supposed to have the power to raise military and naval forces, make war and peace with the Native Americans, and regulate trade with them, tax, and collect customs duties.
The Albany Plan
What two plans eventually resulted in the Connecticut Compromise, also known as the Great Compromise?
The Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan
1. Recognition of the fundamental worth and dignity of every person
2. Respect for the equality of all persons
3. Faith in majority rule and insistence upon minority rights
4. Acceptance of the necessity of compromise
5. Insistence upon the widest possible degree of individual freedom
What are the three characteristics that help classify governments?
Who can participate in the governing process
The geographic distribution of governmental power within the state
The relationship between the legislative and executive branches of government
List three Enlightenment thinkers, that we have discussed in class, that helped inspire our government and democracy to become what it is today.
John Locke’s ideas of natural rights in life, liberty, and property
Thomas Hobbes outlining his idea of a social contract
Adam Smith’s economic policies of a free market with competition; and the criticism of the monarchy growing wealthier, while their subjects became poorer
Voltaire’s advocacy for freedom of religion and speech
Baron de Montesquieu’s ideas of separation of power in government to create checks and balances
William Blackstone’s idea of “common law”
List three of the five common features that many of the first State Constitutions shared.
Some of the common features included: popular sovereignty, limited government, civil rights and liberties, separation of powers, and checks and balances.
What is the connection between the Three-Fifths Compromise and the Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise?
They both involved how to handle slaves.
Three-Fifths Compromise: an agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention that a slave would be counted as three-fifths of a person when counting the population of a State.
Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise: an agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention to protect slaveholders; it denied Congress the power to tax the export fo goods from any State and, for twenty years (until 1808), denied Congress the power ot act on the slave trade.