Constitutional Foundations
What document established the basic framework for the U.S. federal government and was ratified in 1788? Known as the Supreme Law of the Land...
What is the Constitution
Which branch of government is primarily responsible for making laws?
What is the legislative branch?
Which amendment protects freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition?
What is the 1st amendment?
A system of government where power is divided between a central (national) government and regional (state) governments.
What is Federalism?
“We the People” represents this principle, which holds that the government’s power comes from the consent of the governed.
What is popular sovereignty?
Name the plan at the Constitutional Convention that proposed proportional representation in the House and equal representation in the Senate as a compromise between large and small states.
Name the power of the legislative branch to remove a federal official through indictment and trial (two-step process).
What is impeachment?
Which amendment guarantees the right to a speedy and public trial?
What is the 6th amendment?
Defined as the powers shared by both the federal and state governments, such as the power to tax.
What are concurrent powers?
The first 10 amendments to the Constitution, which restrict government power and protect individual rights, are known by this name.
What are the Bill of Rights?
Which Enlightenment thinker’s ideas about natural rights and government by consent most directly influenced the Declaration of Independence?
Who is John Locke?
The process of examining actions by the legislative, executive, and administrative branches to determine their constitutionality and lawfulness.
What is judicial review?
What doctrine or Supreme Court case justified "separate but equal" and was later overturned —
What is "separate but equal" (Plessy v. Ferguson)?
The Tenth Amendment explicitly states the Constitution's principle of federalism by reserving powers not delegated to the national government to these entities.
What are states or the people?
Before the Constitution, this first governing document established a very weak central government.
What are the Articles of Confederation?
What clause in the Constitution allows Congress to pass laws "necessary and proper" to execute its powers?
What is the necessary and proper clause (elastic clause)?
A legislative body composed of two houses
What is bicameral?
This amendment, which includes the Equal Protection Clause, is the most frequently cited in civil rights cases.
What is the 14th amendment?
Article VI of the Constitution contains this clause, which establishes that federal law takes precedence over state law.
What is the Supremacy Clause?
This is the right to vote in political elections. Historically the movement for a woman's right to vote is associated with this word.
What is Suffrage?
Due to weaknesses found under the Articles of Confederation, this group wanted a stronger national government.
Who are the Federalists?
Part 1-While the President can veto legislation passed by Congress, this branch can override that veto with a two-thirds vote.
Part 2- What is this an example of.
Part 1-What is the legislative branch (Congress)?
Part 2-What are checks and balances?
This landmark federal legislation, signed in 1965, banned literacy tests and authorized federal supervision of voter registration.
What is the Voting Rights Act?
This landmark 1819 Supreme Court case established that a state cannot tax the federal government.
What is McCulloch v. Maryland?
What did Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 establish?
What is a prohibition (ban) of gender discrimination in education programs receiving federal assistance?