Foundational Ideals
This Enlightenment thinker argued that people possess natural rights, including life, liberty, and property.
Who is John Locke?
This document formally announced the colonies' separation from Great Britain and asserted the existence of natural rights.
What is the Declaration of Independence?
The constitutional system in which governmental authority is divided between national and state governments.
What is federalism?
This 1819 Supreme Court case upheld the constitutionality of the national bank and strengthened federal power.
What is McCulloch v. Maryland?
Congress passes a bill, but the president refuses to sign it and prevents it from becoming law by exercising this power.
What is the veto?
The idea that legitimate government authority comes from the people.
What is popular sovereignty?
This compromise created a bicameral Congress with representation by population in one chamber and equal state representation in the other.
What is the Great (Connecticut) Compromise?
Powers such as establishing local governments and regulating intrastate commerce generally belong to the states and are known as these.
What are reserved powers?
McCulloch v. Maryland relied heavily on this clause to recognize implied congressional powers.
What is the Necessary and Proper Clause?
Congress can respond to a presidential veto through this action if it receives the required two-thirds vote.
What is overriding the veto?
According to social contract theory, citizens agree to give government some authority in exchange for this.
What is protection of their rights / security?
This compromise counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person when determining representation and direct taxation.
What is the Three-Fifths Compromise?
Powers exercised by both the national and state governments, such as taxation, are called these.
What are concurrent powers?
In McCulloch v. Maryland, the Court ruled that Maryland could not tax the national bank largely because federal law is superior to conflicting state law under this principle.
What is national supremacy / the Supremacy Clause?
The president exercises a check on the judicial branch by doing this when a Supreme Court vacancy occurs.
What is nominating a justice?
This model of democracy emphasizes broad participation by ordinary citizens in political decision-making.
What is participatory democracy?
Federalists agreed to support the addition of this in order to help secure ratification of the Constitution.
What is the Bill of Rights?
These federal funds are given to states for a narrowly defined purpose and usually come with more conditions attached.
What are categorical grants?
This 1995 Supreme Court case ruled that Congress exceeded its Commerce Clause authority when it attempted to regulate guns near schools.
What is United States v. Lopez?
Dividing government authority among legislative, executive, and judicial branches illustrates this principle.
What is separation of powers?
This model of democracy argues that organized groups compete with one another to influence government policy.
What is pluralist democracy?
This feature of the Constitution makes formal changes difficult by requiring unusually large levels of agreement at both the national and state levels.
What is the amendment process / supermajority requirement?
The federal government requires states to perform an action but provides little or no federal money to carry it out.
What is an unfunded mandate?
Taken together, McCulloch v. Maryland and United States v. Lopez demonstrate this continuing constitutional debate.
What is the balance between federal and state power?
Madison argued in Federalist No. 51 that giving each branch constitutional tools to resist the others would help prevent excessive concentrations of power. This system is known as what?
What are checks and balances?