Models of Democratic Government
A political system in which leaders and representatives acquire political power by means of a competitive struggle for the people's vote.
What is Representative Democracy?
The constitutional power of Congress to raise and spend money.
What is Power of the Purse?
The state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views.
What is Liberty?
The states' decision during the Constitutional Convention to count each slave as three-fifths of a person in a state's population for the purposes of determining the number of House members and the distribution of taxes.
What is Three-Fifths Compromise?
A negative or checking power over the other branches that allows Congress to remove the president, the vice president, or other officials (including federal judges) for abuses of power.
What is Impeachment?
A model of democracy in which a small number of people, usually those who are wealthy and well-educated, influence political decision making.
What is Elitist Democracy?
Part of Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution that gives Congress "the power to regulate Commerce ... among the several States."
What is Commerce Clause?
Also known as "unalienable rights," the Declaration of Independence defines them as "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The Founders believed that upholding these rights should be the government's central purpose.
What are Natural Rights?
A plan proposed by the larger states during the Constitutional Convention that based representation in the national legislature on population.
What is Virginia Plan?
Those at the Constitutional Convention who favored a strong national government and a system of separated powers.
What are Federalists?
A model of democracy in which citizens have the power to decide directly on policy and politicians are responsible for implementing those policy decisions.
What is Participatory Democracy?
Part of Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution that grants Congress the power to pass all laws related to its expressed powers; also known as the elastic clause.
What is Necessary and Proper Clause?
A seventeenth-century philosopher who argued that without government life would be "nasty, brutish, and short" - pioneered ideas like inalienable rights and social contract that influenced the Constitution.
Who is John Locke?
Those at the Constitutional Convention who favored strong state governments and feared that a strong national government would be a threat to individual rights.
What are Anti-Federalists?
A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power.
What are Checks and Balances?
A model of democracy in which no group dominates politics and organized groups compete with each other to influence policy.
What is Pluralist Democracy?
Powers explicitly granted to Congress, the president, or the Supreme Court in the first three articles of the Constitution.
What are Enumerated Powers?
The idea that government derives its authority by sanction of the people.
What is Consent of the Governed?
An uprising of about 4,000 men in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787 to protest oppressive laws and gain payment of war debts. The unrest highlighted the flaws of the government under the Articles of Confederation and prompted calls for a new Constitution.
What is Shay's Rebellion?
The Supreme Court's power to strike down a law or an executive branch that it finds unconstitutional.
What is Judicial Review?
Part of Article VI, Section 2, of the Constitution stating that the constitution and the laws and treaties of the United States are the "supreme Law of the Land," meaning national laws take precedence over state laws of the two conflict.
What is National Supremacy Clause?
A concept developed by political philosophers of the eighteenth century that defined the legitimacy of the state. The people recognize the authority of the state to govern over them, and in turn, the government protects the rights and freedoms of the people.
What is Social Contract?
A compromise between the large and small states, proposed by Connecticut, in which Congress would have two houses: a Senate with two legislators per state and a House of Representatives in which each state's representation would be based on population.
What is the Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise)?
The landmark 1803 case in which the Supreme Court for the first time declared that part of a law passed by Congress was unconstitutional. This case helped establish the Court as an equal player in the system of checks and balances.
What is Marbury v. Madison?