Foundations of Government
A system of government in which citizens choose representatives to govern them.
What is a republic?
A person who owes loyalty to a country and is entitled to its protection.
What is a citizen?
A proposed law.
What is a bill?
The supreme law of the land in the United States.
What is the U.S. Constitution?
I am the right to vote.
What is suffrage?
Rule by the people, often through voting.
What is democracy?
The right to express your opinions without fear of punishment.
What is freedom of speech?
The highest court in the United States.
What is the Supreme Court?
The document that declared the American colonies independent from Great Britain.
What is the Declaration of Independence?
I am a group of people who share the same ideas about how government should operate.
What is a political party?
A form of government where a single ruler holds all the power.
What is a dictatorship (or autocracy)?
The legal process by which an immigrant becomes a citizen.
What is naturalization?
To reject a bill passed by Congress.
What is to veto?
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
What is the Bill of Rights?
I am a set of rules and principles for how a country is governed.
What is a constitution?
A government where power is divided between a central government and state governments.
What is federalism?
The basic rights to which all people are entitled, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
What are unalienable (or natural) rights?
The system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches.
What are checks and balances?
This document, signed in 1215, limited the power of the English king.
What is the Magna Carta?
I am a count of the population, taken every ten years.
What is a census?
The idea that the power of the government is limited by the law.
What is limited government?
The money paid by citizens to support the government.
What are taxes?
A formal accusation of wrongdoing against a public official.
What is impeachment?
The first plan of government for the United States, which proved to be too weak.
What are the Articles of Confederation?
I am the power of a court to review laws and declare them unconstitutional.
What is judicial review?