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POS 110
Chapter 2
36
Political Studies
Undergraduate 2
09/19/2007

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Term
advice and consent
Definition
Support for a Presidential action by a designated number of senators.
Term
Annapolis Convention
Definition
1786 meeting to discuss constitutional reform.
Term
Anti-Federalists
Definition
Those who opposed ratification of the constitution.
Term
Articles of Confederation
Definition
The first (1781-1789) basic governing document of the United States and forerunner to the Constitution.
Term
Bill of Rights
Definition
The first 10 ammendments to the Constitution, which protect individual and state rights.
Term
checks and balances
Definition
Constitutional divison of power into separate institutions, giving each institution the power to block the actions of the others.
Term
colonial assembly
Definition
Lower legislative chamber elected by male property owners in a colony.
Term
colonial council
Definition
Upper legislative chambers whose members were appointed by British officials on the reccomendation of the governor.
Term
Connecticut Compromise
Definition
Constitutional convention proposal that created a House proportionate to population and a Senate in which all states were represented equally.
Term
Constitution
Definition
Basic governing document of the United States.
Term
Declaration of Independence
Definition
Document signed in 1776 declaring the United Staes to be a country independent of Great Britain.
Term
divine right
Definition
Doctrine that says God elects the sovereign for the people.
Term
electoral college
Definition
Those chosen to cast a direct vote for president by a process determined by each state.
Term
Federalist Papers
Definition
Essays that were written in support of the Constitution's ratification and have become a classic argument for the American constitutional system.
Term
Federalists
Definition
Those who wrote and campaigned on behalf of the ratification of the Constitution.
Term
First Continental Congress
Definition
The first quasi-governmental institution that spoke for nearly all the colonies.
Term
judicial review
Definition
Power of the courts to declare null and void laws of Congress and state legislatures they find unconstitutional.
Term
majority
Definition
Fifty percent plus one.
Term
Mayflower Compact
Definition
First document in colonial America in which the people gave their expressed consent to be governed.
Term
necessary and proper clause
Definition
Constitutional clause that gives Congress the power to take all actions that are "necessary and proper" to the carrying out of it delegated powers. Also known as the elastic clause.
Term
New Jersey Plan
Definition
Small-state proposal for constitutional reform.
Term
Patriots
Definition
Political group defending colonial American liberties against British infringements.
Term
patronage
Definition
Appointment of individuals into public office in exchange for their political support. Widely present in the 18th and 19th centuries and continues to present day.
Term
proprietary colony
Definition
Colony governed by either a prominent English noble or by a company.
Term
royal colony
Definition
Colony governed by the King's representative with the advice of an elected assembly.
Term
Second Continental Congress
Definition
Political authority that directed the struggle for independence beginning in 1775.
Term
separation of powers
Definition
A system of government in which different institutions exercise different components of governmental power.
Term
Shays' Rebellion
Definition
Uprising in Massachusetts in 1786 led by Revolutionary war captain Daniel Shays.
Term
Stamp Act Congress
Definition
A meeting in 1765 of delegates from nine colonies to oppose the Stamp Act; the first political organization that brought leaders from several colonies together for a common purpose.
Term
stamp tax
Definition
Passed by Parliament in 1765, it required people in the colonies to purchase a small stamp to be affixed to legal and other documents.
Term
supremacy clause
Definition
Constitutional provisison that says the laws of the national government "shall be the supreme Law of the Land."
Term
taxation without representation
Definition
Levying of taxes by a government in which the people are not represented by their own elected officials.
Term
three-fifths compromise
Definition
Constitutional provision that counted each slave as three-fifths of a person when calculating representation in the House of Representatives; repealed by the fourteenth ammendment.
Term
Tories
Definition
Those colonists who opposed independence from Great Britain.
Term
Virginia Plan
Definition
Constitutional proposal supported by convention delegates from large states.
Term
Whigs
Definition
Political opposition in eighteenth- century England that developed a theory of rights and representation.
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