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Civics
Unit 4 Vocabulary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Bicameral | a legislature consisting of two parts, or houses |
| Constituent | a person from a legislator’s district |
| Gerrymander | an oddly shaped district designed to increase the voting strength of a particular group |
| Majority Party | in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the political party to which more than half the members belong |
| Minority Party | in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the political party to which fewer than half the members belong |
| Expressed Powers | powers that Congress has that are specifically listed in the Constitution |
| Implied Powers | powers that Congress has that are not stated explicitly in the Constitution |
| Elastic Clause | clause in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution that gives Congress the right to make all laws “necessary and proper” to carry out its expressed powers |
| Impeach | to accuse government officials of misconduct in office |
| Reserved Powers | powers that the Constitution does not give to the national government that are kept by the states |
| Concurrent Powers | powers shared by the state and federal governments |
| Lobbyist | representative of an interest group who contacts lawmakers or other government officials directly to influence their policy making |
| Special Interest Group | an organization of people with some common interest who try to influence government decisions |
| Filibuster | a tactic for defeating a bill in the Senate by talking until the bill’s sponsor withdraws it |
| Veto | refusal to sign a bill or resolution |
| Pocket Veto | president’s power to kill a bill, if Congress is not in session, by not signing it for 10 days |
| Apportion | divide among districts |