Chapter 2 Terms

"The Constitution"

Constitution

A nation's basic law

Natural Rights

Rights inherent in human beings, not dependent on goverments.

Limited Goverment

A goverment that has clear restrictions on what goverments can do.

Articles of Confederation

The first constitution of the USA. It gave lots of power to the states and little power to the national goverment.

Shay's Rebellion

A series of armed attacks on courthouses to prevent judges from foreclosing farms.

U.S. Constitution

The document written in 1787 and ratified in 1788 hat sets reform to the institutional structure on U.S. goverment and taks these institutional reforms.

Factions

Parties of interest groups

New Jersey Plan

Called for equal representation of each state in Congress regardless of the state's population.

Virgina Plan

Called for representation of each state in Congress in proportion to that state's share of the US population.

Connecticut Compromise

Established 2 houses of Congress: the House of Re[resentatives is based on population, and the Senate has equal representation.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

A court order requiring jailers to explain to a judge why they are holding a prisoner in custody.

Seperation of Powers

A feature of the Constitution that requires each of the three branches of goverment to be relatively independent of the others so that one cannot control the others. Power is shared among these three institutions.

Checks and Balances

Feature of the Constitutution that limits goverment's power by requring that power to be balanced among the different goverment institutions. These institutions continually constrain one another's activites.

Republic

A form of goverment in which the people select representatives to govern them and make laws.

Federalists

Supporters of the US Constitution at the time the states were contemplating its adoption.

Anti-Federalists

Opponets of the US Constitution at the time of its adoption.

Federalist Papers

A collection of 85 articles written by Alexander Hamiliton, John Jay, and James Madison under the name of Publius to defend the Constitution in detail.

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendements to the US Constitution. Drafted in concern to some Anti-Federalist concerns.

Equal Rights Amendement

A constitutional amedement passed by Congress in 1972 stating that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abriged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Marbury v. Madision

The 1803 case in which cheif justice John Marshall and his associates first asserted the right to determine the meaning of the US Constitution.

Judicial Review

The power of the courts to determine whether acts of Congress are in accord with the US Constitution.