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Class Definitions
Forms of Government
Notable Names
Events
The US Constitution
100
A state that serves a nation.
What is a Nation-State?
100
A form of government where absolute sovereignty often lies with a single ruler that is cruel or oppressive.
What is a Tyranny?
100
Writer of The Leviathan (1651), presented a materialistic and warlike view of humankind in the state of nature; believed the only escape from this vile state was to surrender all individual powers and rights to a sovereign.
Who is Thomas Hobbes?
100
A clash on March 5th, 1770 between British soldiers and a Boston mob that left five colonists dead and eight wounded.
What was the Boston Massacre?
100
Written in the Continental Congress in 1776 and 1777, these Articles outlining America's first national government were adopted on March 1st, 1781, but were ultimately replaced by the US Constitution on March 4th, 1789.
What are the Articles of Confederation?
200
A territorial unit division within a state; looks very much like a state, but shares sovereignty with a state.
What is a Province?
200
A government by the best individuals or by a small, privileged class that ideally works towards the benefit of the citizenry.
What is an Aristocracy?
200
This influential British philosopher wrote Two Treatises of Government, had an influential role on the US Constitution, and shares a name with a character on the TV show Lost.
Who is John Locke?
200
Boston patriots opposing British attempts to tax colonies without giving them representation dumped shipments of tea into the Boston Harbor.
What was the Boston Tea Party?
200
Met in Philadelphia between May 25th and September 17th 1787; origins of the US Constitution. Also referred to as the Federal Convention or Philadelphia Convention.
What was the Constitutional Convention?
300
A region with loosely defined boundaries, generally acknowledged to exist, usually has contested boundaries.
What is a Country?
300
Undivided rule or absolute sovereignty by a single person.
What is a Monarchy?
300
Greatly influenced puritan beliefs, taught that the Bible was the final authority on matters of faith, and the doctrine of predestination.
Who is John Calvin?
300
An act passed by British Parliament in March 1766 declaring that the British King and Parliament had the right to pass binding laws on the colonies in America "in all cases whatsoever".
What was the Declaratory Act?
300
The first ten amendments to the US Constitution, proposed by the first Federal Congress and ratified by the states in 1791; they were intended to protect individual rights and liberties from action by the new national government.
What is the Bill of Rights?
400
A territory with well defined borders, united under a single sovereign government, usually defined by a constitution; has laws, taxation power over citizenry, military and police forces.
What is a State?
400
A government by the few in which a small group of people exercise control especially for selfish and corrupt reasons.
What is an Oligarchy?
400
An English philosopher, scientist, statesman, juror and author who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. He rejected aspects of Aristotelian philosophy and encouraged the scientific method.
Who is Francis Bacon?
400
In 1803, Chief Justice John Marshall derived the power of judicial review from the Constitution by reasoning that the document was supreme and therefore the court should invalidate legislative acts that run to counter it.
What is Marbury vs. Madison?
400
The last paragraph of Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution, which states that Congress may make all laws deemed necessary and proper to carry into execution the powers specifically enumerated in Article 1, Section 8.
What is the "Necessary and Proper" clause?
500
A people who share common DNA, Language, History, and Traditions.
What is a Nation?
500
Government by the people; rule of the majority. A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.
What is Democracy?
500
A French writer who influenced England, France and USA governments; believed in tolerance and freedom, checks and balances by separation of power.
Who is Baron de Montesquieu?
500
An uprising of Massachusetts farmers during the winter of 1786 - 1787 which convinced interested parties that a stronger national government was required due to the instability of state governments.
What is Shays's Rebellion?
500
Article IV, Section 1, of the Constitution requires that each state give "full faith and credit" to the legal acts of the other states.
What is Full Faith and Credit?