Foundational Ideals
This political principle states that all government power comes directly from the consent and will of the people ("We the People").
What is popular sovereignty?
This document served as the very first national constitution for the United States, creating a loose union of sovereign states.
What are the Articles of Confederation?
The group of 55 state delegates who met in Philadelphia in 1787 to draft the new U.S. Constitution are collectively called this.
Who are the Framers?
This branch of government is explicitly charged with creating and passing federal legislation.
What is the Legislative Branch (Congress)?
This term defines a constitutional system that divides governing power between a national government and individual state governments.
What is Federalism?
Enlightenment philosopher John Locke argued that every human being is born with these core protections that cannot be taken away by any government.
What are natural rights?
This major economic weakness of the central government under the Articles left Congress unable to pay off national debts or fund military forces.
What is the lack of power to levy/collect taxes?
Small states opposed this Constitutional Convention plan because it proposed linking a state's representation in Congress directly to its population size.
What is the Virginia Plan?
This principle divides government powers into three separate branches (Executive, Legislative, Judicial) so no single branch becomes too powerful.
What is Separation of Powers?
According to the Tenth Amendment, powers not delegated to the federal government and not denied to the states belong to the states under this name.
What are Reserved Powers?
Under this philosophical agreement, citizens give up absolute freedom and obey laws in exchange for government protection of their lives, liberties, and property.
What is the Social Contract Theory?
The central government under the Articles of Confederation consisted of only this single branch of government.
What is the Legislative Branch (or Congress)?
Large states opposed this proposal, which called for a single-house legislature where every state received exactly one equal vote regardless of population.
What is the New Jersey Plan?
This constitutional system gives each branch of government specific power to restrain or limit the actions of the other two branches.
What are Checks and Balances?
Article VI of the U.S. Constitution contains this clause, stating that federal law and the Constitution take precedence over state laws when they conflict.
What is the Supremacy Clause?
Thomas Jefferson drew heavily on John Locke’s natural rights theory when drafting this famous 1776 founding document.
What is the Declaration of Independence?
This 1786 armed uprising by Massachusetts farmers against farm foreclosures exposed the national government's weakness and lack of military enforcement power.
What is Shays' Rebellion?
The Great (Connecticut) Compromise resolved the debate between large and small states by creating a bicameral legislature containing these two specific houses.
What are the House of Representatives and the Senate?
Give ONE concrete example of how the Executive Branch can check the power of the Legislative Branch.
What is by vetoing a bill passed by Congress?
Identify ONE power held exclusively by the federal government and ONE power reserved exclusively to state governments.
According to the Social Contract Theory and the Declaration of Independence, citizens have the right to alter or abolish a government under this specific condition.
What is when the government consistently violates rights or fails to protect the citizens?
Name TWO distinct powers or branches missing from the Articles of Confederation that were later included in the U.S. Constitution.
What are an Executive Branch (President), a Judicial Branch (National Courts), or the power to regulate interstate commerce/collect taxes?
To persuade the Anti-Federalists to ratify the Constitution, the Federalists agreed to add these first ten amendments to protect civil liberties.
What is the Bill of Rights?
Established in cases like Marbury v. Madison, this term describes the judicial power to review laws and declare government actions unconstitutional.
What is Judicial Review?
Powers shared by BOTH national and state governments simultaneously—such as the power to collect taxes and build infrastructure—are called this.
What are concurrent powers?