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| the political orientation of those who favor government by the people or by their elected representatives |
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| a political system governed by a single individual |
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| The rebellion started on August 29, 1786, and by January 1787, over one thousand Shaysites had been arrested. A militia that had been raised as a private army defeated an attack on the federal Springfield Armory by the main Shaysite force on February 3, 1787, and four rebels were killed in the action. There was a lack of an institutional response to the uprising, which energized calls to reevaluate the Articles of Confederation and gave strong impetus to the Philadelphia Convention which began in May 17, 1787. Shays' Rebellion produced fears that the Revolution's democratic impulse had gotten out of hand. |
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| The Virginia Plan (also known as the Randolph Plan, after its sponsor, or the Large-State Plan)[1] was a proposal by Virginia delegates, drafted by James Madison while he waited for a quorum to assemble at the Constitutional Convention of 1787.[2][3] The Virginia Plan was notable for its role in setting the overall agenda for debate in the convention and, in particular, for setting forth the idea of population-weighted representation in the proposed national legislature. |
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| The Anti-Federalists found many problems in the Constitution. They argued that the document would give the country an entirely new and untested form of government. They saw no sense in throwing out the existing government. |
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| The system of dividing the powers and duties of a government into different branches. |
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| the act of removing an official by petition |
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| An executive order in the United States is an order issued by the President, the head of the executive branch of the federal government. |
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| the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group |
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| Devolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level. |
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| implied powers/necessary and proper clause/elastic clauses |
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| Implied powers are those powers authorized by a legal document (from the Constitution) which, while not stated, are seemed to be implied by powers expressly stated. |
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| The Commerce Clause is an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes". |
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| An interstate compact is an agreement between two or more states of the United States of America. Article I, Section 10 of the United States Constitution provides that "no state shall enter into an agreement or compact with another state" without the consent of Congress. |
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| national supremacy (supremacy clause) |
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| The Supremacy Clause is a clause in the United States Constitution, Article VI, Clause 2. The clause establishes the Constitution, Federal Statutes, and U.S. treaties as "the supreme law of the land. |
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| In a federal system of government, a block grant is a large sum of money granted by the national government to a regional government with only general provisions as to the way it is to be spent. |
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| This case involved New York trying to grant a monopoly on waterborne trade between New York and New Jersey. Judge Marshal, of the Supreme Court, sternly reminded the state of New York that the Constitution gives Congress alone the control of interstate commerce. |
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| judicial activism/loose constructionist |
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| judicial rulings that are suspected to be based upon personal and political considerations other than existing law. |
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| Classical pluralism is the belief that politics and decision making is located mostly in the governmental framework, but many non-governmental groups are using their resources to exert influence. The central question for classical pluralism is how power is distributed in western democracies. |
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| No. 10 addresses the question of how to guard against "factions," or groups of citizens, with interests contrary to the rights of others or the interests of the whole community. In today's discourse the term advocacy group or special interest group often carries the same denotation. Madison argued that a strong, large republic would be a better guard against those dangers than smaller republics—for instance, the individual states. Opponents of the Constitution offered counterarguments to his position, which were substantially derived from the commentary of Montesquieu on this subject. |
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| Dual federalism, a legal theory which prevailed in the United States from 1789-present day, is the belief that the United States consists of two separate and co-sovereign branches of government. |
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| A form of democracy in which political power is exercised by the citizens without representatives acting of their behalf. |
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| Articles of Confederation |
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| a written agreement ratified in 1781 by the thirteen original states; it provided a legal symbol of their union by giving the central government no coercive power over the states or their citizens |
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| he Annapolis Convention was a meeting at Annapolis, Maryland of 12 delegates from five states (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia) that called for a constitutional convention. |
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| proposal presented by New Jersey delegates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention which recommended that Congress be unicameral, and that all states be equally represented in Congress. Small states developed the proposal to counter the Virginia Plan. |
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| a compromise between Southern and Northern states reached during the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 in which three-fifths of the population of slaves would be counted for enumeration purposes regarding both the distribution of taxes and the apportionment of the members of the United States House of Representatives. It was proposed by delegates James Wilson and Roger Sherman. |
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| The separation of powers, also known as trias politica, is a model for the governance of democratic states. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the uncodified Constitution of the Roman Republic. |
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| review by a court of law of actions of a government official or entity or of some other legally appointed person or body or the review by an appellate court of the decision of a trial court |
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| Presidents from George Washington forward have claimed that the constitutional principle of separation of powers implies that the Executive Branch has a privilege to deny requests from the other branches for information. |
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| In voting, a plurality is the largest number of votes to be received by any candidate or referendum.Robert, Henry M. "" Robert's Rules of Order Revised. 4th ed. 1915. RulesOnline.com It is contrasted with a majority, which is more than half of the votes. |
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| a form of government in which authority is concentrated in the central government. |
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| Expressed powers given to one branch of government by the Constitution, which are assigned to another government agency with express consent of the first. For example, Congress delegating certain powers to the President. |
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| full faith and credit clause |
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| the familiar name used to refer to Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, addresses the duties that states within the United States have to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings" of other states. |
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| federal funds given for a specific project but which have less restrictions than categorical grants |
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| ntroductory and explanatory statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the subject of the statute. |
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| A strict interpretation of the actual words and phrases used in law, rather to any underlying intent |
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| a form of government in which the citizens choose their leaders and the people (or at least a part of its people) have an impact on its government. |
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| addresses means by which appropriate checks and balances can be created in government and also advocates a separation of powers within the national government. One of its most important ideas is the pithy and often quoted phrase, "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition." |
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| a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to either autocracy or direct democracy. |
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| a form of government in which the sovereign power of the people is spelled out in a governing constitution. |
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| constitutional convention |
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| Meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives in the House Chamber to consider and vote on proposed constitutional amendments. |
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| Connecticut(Great) Compromise |
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| an agreement between large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. It proposed a bicameral legislature, resulting in the current United States Senate and House of Representatives. |
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| a series of 85 articles or essays advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution. |
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| provides a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote (plebiscite) on a proposed statute, constitutional amendment, charter amendment or ordinance |
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| This case resulted from a petition to the Supreme Court by William Marbury, who had been appointed by President John Adams as Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia but whose commission was not subsequently delivered. Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court to force Secretary of State James Madison to deliver the documents, but the court, with John Marshall as Chief Justice, denied Marbury's petition, holding that the part of the statute upon which he based his claim, the Judiciary Act of 1789, was unconstitutional. |
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| the refusal of a President of the United States to spend money that has been appropriated by the U.S. Congress. The precedent for presidential impoundment was first set by Thomas Jefferson in 1801 |
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| process of formally altering or adding to a document or record. |
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| n association of sovereign member states, that by treaty have delegated certain of their competences to common institutions, in order to coordinate their policies in a number of areas, without constituting a new state on top of the member states |
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| the United States of America and many other Federalist Nations, concurrent powers are held by both the states and the federal government and may be exercised simultaneously within the same territory and in relation to the same body of citizens. |
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| a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. Though the law, by its language, was generally applicable to all banks not chartered in Maryland, the Second Bank of the United States was the only out-of-state bank then existing in Maryland, and the law was recognized in the court's opinion as having specifically targeted the U.S. Bank. The Court invoked the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution, which allowed the Federal government to pass laws not expressly provided for in the Constitution's list of express powers, provided those laws are in useful furtherance of the express powers of Congress under the Constitution. |
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| the process of dispersing decision-making governance closer to the people and/or citizen. |
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| categorical-formula grant |
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| which may be spent only for narrowly-defined purposes. Additionally, recipients of categorical grants are often required to match a portion of the federal funds. About 90% of federal aid dollars are spent for categorical grant. |
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| a written agreement ratified in 1781 by the thirteen original states; it provided a legal symbol of their union by giving the central government no coercive power over the states or their citizens |
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| judicial restraint/strict constructionist |
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| udicial restraint is a theory of judicial interpretation that encourages judges to limit the exercise of their own power. It asserts that judges should hesitate to strike down laws unless they are obviously unconstitutional. It is sometimes regarded as the opposite of judicial activism. |
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| theory of the state which seeks to describe and explain the power relationships in modern society. |
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| believed that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience |
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| cooperative federalism (marble cake) |
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| a concept of federalism in which national, state, and local governments interact cooperatively and collectively to solve common problems, rather than making policies separately but more or less equally (such as the nineteenth century's dual federalism) |
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| a constitutional system of government (usually with a written constitution) |
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| a political unit governed by a deity (or by officials thought to be divinely guided) |
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| the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. |
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| A system of national government in which power is divided between a central authority and a number of regions with delimited self-governing authority; Advocacy of such a system |
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| a situation in which one party controls the White House and another party controls one or both houses of the United States Congress. ... |
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| direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. |
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| a formal document charging a public official with misconduct in office |
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| A system of national government in which power is divided between a central authority and a number of regions with delimited self-governing authority |
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| “any provision in statute or regulation or any Federal court ruling that imposes an enforceable duty upon State, local, or tribal governments including a condition of Federal assistance or a duty arising from participation in a voluntary Federal program.” |
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| those powers that a sovereign state holds. The President derives these powers from the loosely worded statements in the Constitution that "the executive Power shall be vested in a President" and that the President should "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"; defined through practice rather than through constitutional or statutory law. |
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| the surrender of an accused or convicted person by one state or country to another (usually under the provisions of a statute or treaty) |
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| advocating centralization (power in government) |
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| grant from a central government to a local government |
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| The powers not delegated to the national government by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the states, are reserved to the states, or the people. |
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| A constitutional amendment is a change to the constitution of a nation or a state. In jurisdictions with "rigid" or "entrenched" constitutions, amendments require a special procedure different from that used for enacting ordinary laws. |
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| a statement of fundamental rights and privileges (especially the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution) |
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| describes a broad class of theories that try to explain the ways in which people form states to maintain social order. |
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| education that results in understanding and the spread of knowledge |
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