Foundations of American Government
This document served as the first constitution of the United States but was eventually replaced due to its weaknesses.
What are the Articles of Confederation?
This clause allows Congress to pass laws deemed necessary to carry out its duties.
What is the Necessary and Proper Clause?
A government ruled by a single individual with absolute power.
What is an autocracy?
These are powers shared by both the national and state governments.
What are concurrent powers?
This plan favored large states in the structure of the national legislature.
What is the Virginia Plan?
These are freedoms and entitlements people are born with, often cited in the Declaration of Independence.
What are natural rights?
This clause gives Congress the power to regulate trade between states.
What is the Commerce Clause?
A system of government where power is divided between a central and state governments.
What is federalism?
This type of grant has strict federal guidelines on how money must be spent.
What is a categorical grant?
This plan favored equal state representation regardless of population size.
What is the New Jersey Plan?
This political theory emphasizes direct participation by all or most of the people in a society.
What is participatory democracy?
This clause affirms that federal laws take priority over state laws.
What is the Supremacy Clause (National Supremacy)?
A form of democracy where a small group of elites make decisions on behalf of the people.
What is elite democracy?
This type of federal directive requires states to comply, sometimes without funding.
What is a federal mandate?
This compromise created a two-house legislature combining both large and small state interests.
What is the Connecticut Compromise (Great Compromise)?
This Enlightenment idea supports the division of government power into different branches.
What is the separation of powers?
This term refers to the powers explicitly listed in the Constitution.
What are enumerated (or expressed) powers?
This theory of democracy argues that multiple groups compete for power and influence.
What is pluralist democracy?
This type of grant gives states broad discretion on how to spend federal funds.
What is a block grant?
This Federalist Paper argues for checks and balances and separation of powers.
What is Federalist No. 51?
This Enlightenment thinker argued that people are born with natural rights to life, liberty, and property, and that governments exist to protect those rights.
Who is John Locke?
This doctrine, part of the 14th Amendment, applies parts of the Bill of Rights to the states.
What is selective incorporation?
This system features a two-house legislature.
What is bicameralism?
This legal concept allows the federal government to override state laws under certain conditions.
What is preemption?
This event exposed weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation and spurred calls for a stronger federal government.
What is Shays’ Rebellion?