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American Civics Exam
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| limited government | the government can only do things the constitution gives it the power to do |
| precedent | old court decision that present day judges rely on |
| separations of powers | the constitution divides powers of the government into three separate but equal branches |
| checks and balances | each branch has the power to stop/check the power of other branches |
| constitution | plan that is a higher law for a government |
| constitutional government | government that a constitution places limits on those who govern |
| monarchy | form of government where one person has great power |
| Founders | political leaders in the 13 colonies who worked to get freedom from Great Britain |
| democracy | ruled by the people |
| direct democracy | form of government that the people govern themselves and vote firsthand |
| representative democracy | form of government where citizens choose leaders to make decisions on their behalf |
| republic | a representative democracy where citizens choose their lawmakers the society belongs to the whole public no to a king |
| bill | proposed law |
| law | set of rules by which a society is run |
| rule of law | all people are bound by the law |
| legislature | a group or body of elected officials |
| legislator | ONE member of a group or body of elected officials think of senators and members of the house |
| legislative | having the power to make and change laws |
| legislation | bill that is being considered by a legislature |
| delegate | a person chosen to act for others |
| representative | a person chosen to act for others |
| inalienable rights | rights that every person is born with |
| segregation | separation based on skin color |
| Jim Crow laws | laws in the south that separated black and white people |
| civil rights | rights of full citizenship and equality under law |
| political party | group that seeks to elect candidates to office |
| primary election | election to choose a nominee from a party to the general election |
| party convention | meeting of delegates to formally select the party's candidates for President and Vice for the general election |
| two-party system | system of government that two major parties compete for power |
| third parties | parties besides Republican and Democratic |
| incumbent | current holder of a position that is running again |
| swing states | states that do not regularly vote for democrat or republican |
| independents | voters who do not affiliate with either main parties |
| partisanship | strong attachment to a particular party |
| bipartisanship | cooperation between two major political parties |
| confederation | alliance of individual states that untie for a common purpose |
| Framers | 55 men who attended the Constitutional Convention |
| civil discourse | discussion that encourages many points of views |
| abolition | officially ending slavery |
| abolitionist | person who advocated for the end of slavery |
| freedom suit | lawsuits after 1776 filed by enslaved people to claim freedom |
| suffrage | right to vote |
| federalism | division between national and state government |
| constituent | person represented by and elected official |
| unicameral | containing one chamber or house |
| bicameral | containing two chambers or houses |
| repersentation | having a voice in the government through officials |
| proportional representation | determining the number of representatives for a state by size the population of the state shown in the House |
| Census | official counting of the population of the U.S. that occurs every 10 years to determine each state's representatives |
| apportionment | dividing seats in the House among the states according to the population of each state |
| Electoral College | system the Framers made to elect the President |
| electors | members of the Electoral College # members of the H of R + # Senators |
| winner takes all system | assigning all of a states Electoral College votes to the winner of the popular vote |
| electorate | group of people entitled to vote in an election |
| amendment | a change in a legal document |
| ratification | formal approval of a legal document |
| state conventions | meeting held in each state to vote on ratification of the Constitution |
| popular soverighty | idea that the government gets its power from the people it governs |
| Federalists | people in support of the ratification of the Constitution; they believed that federal law should have more weight than state laws |
| Anti-Federalists | people who opposed the ratification of the Constitution; favored a weaker federal government with less power over the states |
| The Federalist Papers | a series of 85 essays written by James Madison, John jay, and Alexander Hamilton to argue in favor of the ratification of the Constitution |
Created by:
Dbriones
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