Be able to Define or Explain the following: Foundations of Government: Popular Sovereignty: The idea that government power should belong to the people. Dictatorship: System of government where one ruler has absolute power and those who live in the country usually have no rights. Theocracy: System of government that officially recognizes God or a religion as the highest authority or power Monarchy: System of government that is ruled by a King or Queen Direct Democracy: System of government where all citizens directly participate in running the government. For example they will directly propose laws and vote on them. Representative Democracy: System of government where citizens elect representatives to run the government John Locke: A philosopher who believed that people were born good and with natural rights. If government infringed on people s rights, he believed the people had the right to rebel against the government and replace it with a new one. Thomas Hobbes: A philosopher who believed that people were born bad and that the world would be nasty, brutish, and short without government. Believed people gave up all their freedom to the government and in exchange received complete protection. The Virginia Plan: A plan to create a Congress where every state would have a different number of representatives based on their population. For example, a state of 50,000 people would get 1 representative and state of 200,000 people would get 4 representatives. The New Jersey Plan: A plan to create a Congress where every state would get an equal number of representatives regardless of their population. So the state of 50,000 people and the other state of 200,000 people would both receive just 1 representative.
Connecticut Compromise/Great Compromise: This Compromise at the Constitutional Convention combined the New Jersey Plan and Virginia Plan together, so the Congress has two houses. One house has proportional representation and the other house has equal representation. Both houses have the same amount of power. 3/5ths Compromise: A compromise made at the Constitutional Convention between the Northern states and Southern states that counted a slave as 3/5ths of a person towards the overall population. At the time it was done to give the Southern states representation that was similar to the Northern states in the House of Representatives. This also ended up giving the southern states more electoral votes than they would have had if slaves had not been counted towards their population in the census. Federalists: Strongly supported the Constitution. Desired a country that had a strong national (central) government and weaker state government. Many Federalists were merchants that wanted a more unified country for easier and efficient trade/business. Anti-Federalists: People who were against the Constitution. Most were farmers who feared a strong national government would take away their rights. Instead Anti- Federalists desired strong and powerful state governments. They were successful in ensuring a Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution. Declaration of Independence: Declared the Colonies were free from British rule (basically it s a fancy break up letter with the British if you remember that lesson). It is significant to us today because it establishes the value THAT the government can, and should be, changed when it infringes on people s rights. It has been used in many civil rights movements since the founding of the US. Social Contract: Simply the idea that you give up some personal freedom in exchange for protection. Hobbes and Lockes had different ideas on this same concept. Political Parties and Elections: Political Party: A group of like-minded people who seek to control government by winning elections and holding Public Office
Third Party: A Political Party that is NOT Republican or Democrat. Can steal votes away from the major parties or influence their platforms. For example Green Party, Libertarian Party Gerrymandering: Drawing Congressional District lines to benefit a Political Party. Independent: A person that does not belong to any political party. 15 th Amendment: cannot discriminate the right to vote based on race or ethnicity. 19 th Amendment: cannot discriminate the right to vote based on gender 26 th Amendment: must allow 18 year olds (or older) to vote Primary Election: Process where a Political Party chooses its candidate for public office Open Primary: Any person can vote for any candidate, do not need to belong to a party Closed Primary: Must be registered with a certain political party to vote in a Closed primary. Caucus: Essentially a meeting of local party members where they vote for a primary candidate National Convention: After all states have held a primary or caucus, delegates from each state gather to formally vote for a Presidential candidate for the Political Party. Both the Democrats and Republicans hold separate national conventions. Electoral College: Electors from each state formally cast votes for President/Vice President. Two Party System: Democrats and Republicans are our two main parties, largely due to the Winner Takes All nature of our political system (leads to just two main parties).
What has the greatest influence on how people vote? Family What types of elections draw the largest number of voters? Presidential or Mid Term? Presidential The Constitution Bill of Rights: Amendments 1-10, protect people s rights. Amendment: A formal change made to the Constitution. ¾ of the states need to ratify it for it to become official. What are the three main branches of the Federal Government and what are their main jobs? Legislative Branch: This branch makes the laws Executive Branch: This branch enforces the laws Judicial Branch: This branch interprets the laws CHECKS AND BALANCES: Write down 3 checks the Legislative Branch has over the other branches and 2 checks the Executive and Judicial branches have over other branches. Legislative Branch can override a President s veto, control funding, and has the power to confirm any appointments a President makes to his/her cabinet or the Supreme Court. Also don t forget Congress can impeach (or remove) any elected or appointed official in government for high crimes and misdemeanors. Executive Branch President can veto a bill passed by Congress (stop it from becoming a law), Select new Supreme Court justices when one resigns (but has to be confirmed by Congress) Judicial Branch Supreme Court and lower courts can declare laws unconstitutional, Federal judges serve for life and thus do not need to fear the President or Congress firing them. Define FEDERALISM: Expressed Powers are a specific list of powers given to Congress in the Constitution, what are three examples of these powers? Create a Post Office, Create an Army and Navy, Create a National Currency (dollar bills!)
Implied Powers are also given to Congress, but this is not a specific list, rather it is anything that Congress needs to do in order to make the Expressed Powers happen. This is often called the necessary and proper clause. What are two examples of these powers? Purchase mail trucks for the Postal Service, Provide a salary to those who serve in the Army Reserved Powers are any powers that are NOT expressed or implied and thus are only the powers of the States (10 th Amendment). What are three examples of these powers? Create a School System, Control local governments, Provide Drivers licenses and marriage licenses Concurrent Powers are powers that are shared by both the States and Federal Government. This means that they are both an expressed powers but are not denied to the states either. Two examples of these powers are: Taxing citizens, Building Roads, Creating a Court System.