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Govt. Terms-semester
Vocabulary Terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Affirmative Action | A plan or program to redress grievances toward a minority group for past discrimination. |
| Absolute Monarchy | Autocracy in which a king, queen, or emperor exercises unlimited powers of government. |
| Amendment | Formal change in a document. |
| Appellate Jurisdiction | The legal authority of a court to hear appeals from a lower court. |
| Authoritarian | A form of government in which those in power hold absolute and unchangeable authority |
| Articles of Confederation | The first Constitution of the US in 1781 |
| Beyond a Reasonable Doubt | 95 percent positive a suspect on trial has committed a crime |
| Balanced Budget | A plan requiring that what the governments spend will not exceed its income |
| Bicameral | A legislative body composed of two houses |
| Bill | A proposal presented to legislative body with the possibility of becoming a law |
| Budget | an itemized summary of expenses and income for a given period of time |
| Bill of rights | First 10 amendments to the constitution |
| Budget Surplus | A positive balance at the end of the business year |
| Budget Deficit | A negative balance at the end of the business year |
| Checks and Balances | Allows one branch of the government to check on another branch of government to limit its power |
| Capitalism | Both Private and government ownership of goods and services |
| Civil Law | Deals with relationships between individuals or groups of individuals |
| Civil Disobedience | Peaceful refusal to obey laws |
| Civil Rights Act (1964) | An act of Congress designed to protect the rights of individuals to fair treatment |
| Civil Rights | Protections and privileges given to all citizens regardless to race, gender, or national origin |
| Command Economy | All economic decisions and means of production are owned by the central government |
| Civil War Amendments | 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution |
| Communism | Collective ownership of all economic productions |
| Concurrent Jurisdiction | Both the federal and the state courts are able to hear certain types of cases. (Civil Cases) |
| Concurrent Powers | Powers that both the rational govt and the states have |
| Confederation | A group of independent states or nations under a weak central govt. that has little influence over the independent states |
| Constituents | Residents of a district or members of a group represented by an elected official |
| Constitution | A set of customs, traditions, rules, and laws that sets forth the way a government is organized and operated |
| Consumer Price Index (CPI) | A measure of the changes in the cost of selected consumer goods and services from a fixed base period |
| Criminal Case | A case in which a defendant is tried for committing a crime as defined by the law |
| Criminal Law | Law and law proceedings that deal with the investigation and trial of those accused of crimes against society |
| Declaration of Independence | Written in 1776, it is a statement of philosophy on govt., a list of colonists' grievances against the King of England and a declaration of separation |
| Delegated Powers | Powers expressly given to the national/federal govt. |
| Democracy | People elect representatives to govern the country. (Type of government the U.S. has) |
| Desegregation | To integrate schools and other public facilities to reduce discrimination |
| Dictatorship | A government in which the leader has absolute power and authority |
| Discrimination | Actions where people of various minority groups are treated differently due to race, color, gender, religion, class, etc. |
| Double Jeopardy | You cannot tried twice for the same crime |
| Due process of law | Rights of citizens between arrest and the decision of guilty or innocent |
| Economic Sanctions | Foreign policy strategy to stop trading with a country to penalize it for something that the US does not feel is right to influence that country to change |
| Economics | Supply and demand of goods and services |
| Elastic Clause | Necessary and proper. Do what is in the best interest of the citizens |
| Electoral College | How the U.S. elects the president. It takes 270 electors to win |
| Eminent Domain | Power of the government to take private land for public use |
| Enumerated Powers | Expressed powers are not directly written in the constitution but the federal and state governments can still carry out |
| Entitlements | Welfare programs that help individuals in need |
| Equal protection under the law | Everyone is equal and no one is given special privileges |
| European Union | Organization of European nations to establish a common currency and trade union |
| Executive Order | Law to review all laws before they are paseed |
| Ex Post Facto Law | Law to review all laws before they are passed |
| Expressed Powers | Powers directly written in the constitution |
| Federal System/ Federalism | Division of powers between the federal and state governments |
| Felony | U.S. interaction in world affairs |
| Foreign Policy | U.S interaction in world affairs |
| Formal Amendment | Ratified by 2/3rd of Congress and 3/4 of the states |
| Full faith and credit | Each state accepts public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state |
| General Assembly | The legislative body in the state of MD consisting of the senate and the House of delegates |
| Gerrymandering | The dividing of a geographic area into an electoral district to give an unfair political advantage to a party or group |
| Grand Jury | Group that hears the charges against a suspect and decides if there is sufficient evidence to bring the person to trial |
| Gross domestic Product (GDP) | The total dollar value of all final goods and services produced within a country's borders in a given time period |
| Gross National Product (GNP) | The total dollar value of all final goods and service's produced by a country's citizens, business, and governments, both in and out of the country's borders in a given time |
| impeachment | charging a public official with a crime in office for which they can be removed from office |
| Implied Powers | Not directly stated in the constitution, helps to carry out the "necessary and proper" clause |
| Import | A good or service purchased from an individual, business, or government in another country |
| Indictment | A written statement issued by a grand jury that charges the accused with one or more crimes |
| Inflation | Occurs when the measurement of overall prices (CPI) shows that prices are rising |
| Informal Amendment | A change made in the Constitution, not by written amendment but by the experience of the government, ie. passage of laws by congress, actions taken by the president, Supreme Court decisions, and customs |
| Inherent Powers | Powers delegated to the national govt. simply because its a government |
| International Monetary Fund (IMF) | An organization of 184 countries established to promote monetary cooperation and exchange stability |
| Interest Groups | An organized group of people who share goals and try to influence public policy to meet these goals |
| Isolationism | The views that the US should withdrawal from world affairs, limit foreign aid, and avoid involvement in foreign wars |
| Jim crows Laws | Laws that separate people based on race |
| Judicial Review | The power of the courts to determine the constitutionality of the actions of the legislative and executive branches of government |
| Jury | A group of 12 individuals selected to decide upon the facts at issue in a criminal case |
| Laissez-Faire | A government doctrine of noninterference in business practices and in the economic affairs of individuals |
| Law of demand | The price and quantiy demanded of a resource are inversely related |
| Law of supply | The price and quantity demanded of a resource are inversely related |
| Limited Government | A higher law such as a constitution which declares it necessary to limit the powers of government in order to protect individual civil liberties |
| Lobbyist | A person who represents a special interest group and tries to influence the legislators |
| Local/State Powers | State governments determine the authority and powers that local governments will have |
| Majority Rule | A principle of democracy that asserts that the greater number of citizens in any politicl unit should select officials and determine policies |
| Manifest Destiny | A mid 19th-century belief in the ievitablility of the US expansion to the Pacific Ocean |
| Market Economy | An economy in which decisions of what, how, and for whom are decided in markets through the interaction of buyers ans sellers |
| Maryland General Assembly | The bicameral congress for Maryland |
| Medicad | A social program that gives the states money to help those who can not afford to pay their medical expenses |
| Medicare | A social program that helps pay for the medical care of the elderly |
| Minority Rights | The rights of people who are under-represented, under-served and have fewer numbers and less power than the majority ruling class of people |
| Mixed Economy | Traditional economy where there is private ownership with government involvment |
| NAFTA | Agreement between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada where there are no trade barriers |
| NATO | Orginization involving countries in the North Atlantic who will fight together in a time of war |
| Necessary and Proper Clause | The govt. makes all laws necessary for its citizens without taking advantage of them |
| Opportunity Cost | Foregone benefit of the next best alternative when an economic decision is made |
| Original Jurisdiction | The legal authority of a court to be rhe first to hear a case |
| Pardon | The offical release of a person charged with a crime |
| Petit Jury | Trial Jury composed of 6-12 persons |
| Plaintiff | Civil Law- the party that brings the lawsuit against someone |
| Plea Bargaining | A defendant pleads gulity to the crime for a lesser charge |
| Political Party | Loosly organized group that raise money, campaign, and run for office |
| Popular sovereignty | Rule by the pepople |
| Primary Election | The first election to choose a political candidate to run for an elected office |
| Preponderance of the Evidence | Civil Case0- to win the evidence of one party has to be more convincing than the other. (More than 51%) |
| Probably Cause | Sufficient reason to search someone's propery |
| Propaganda | Commercials set out to influence the way people think |
| Reasonable Doubt | You must be 95% posotive a person on trial committed the crime to find them gulilty |
| Redistricting | A state is responsible to set up new election districts after reapportionment |
| Referendum | Special elections |
| Reapportionment | Redistribution of political representation of the basis of population changes after a census |
| Representative Democracy | Rule by the people where people vote representatives to make laws and decisions |
| Reserved Powers | Powers reserved in the Constitution to the states- Marriage laws, elections, education |
| Rule of law | Everyone must follow the law no matter who you are |
| Scarcity | limited resources |
| Segregation | The seperation of or isolation of a race, class, or ethnic group |
| Seperate But Equal Doctrine | People could be separated as long as public facilities are equal |
| Smart Growth | Rebuild infrastructure that is old and torn down |
| Sovereignty | Supreme and absolute authority to rule |
| Special Interest Group | Organization to influence people on 1 specific topic. MADD, SADD, NRA, Peta |
| State | A defined territory |
| Supply and Demand | Supply- total amount of a good Demand- how many people want the good |
| Supreme Court | Highest Court in the United States |
| Totalitarian | Exercising dictatorial power by government for nearly every aspect of human life |
| Traditional Economy | Customs and values dictate economical interactions |
| Unitary Government | All powers of the government belong to a single, central agency |
| United Nations (UN) | An international organization formed after WWII, it hoped to settle disputes between nations and prevent future wars |
| Unlimited Government | A government in which there are no effective controls over the powers of its rulers who cannot be easily removed from office |
| Urban Sprawl | Sprawl is the spreading out of a city and its suburbs over more and more rural land |
| Veto | Chief executive's power to reject a bill passed by a legislature |
| Voting Rights Act (1965) | Federal law passed in 1965 to require that the states protect the rights of each citizen to vote |
| War Powers Act | President can deploy the troops for 60 days |
| World bank | One of the worlds largest sources of development assistance with helping the poorest people and the poorest countries |
| World Trade Organization (WTO) | International organizations based in Geneva that monitors and enforces rules governing a global trade |
| World Health Organization (WHO) | UN agency committed to assisting under-developed nations combat health related issues including simple childhood diseases and vaccines |
| Writ of Certiorari | An order by a higher court directing a lower court to send up the record in a given case foe review |
| Writ of Habeas Corpus | A court order to require an individual accused of a crime to appear in court to determine whether he or she has been legally detained |
Created by:
Shockley
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