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| "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;" rights that can't be taken away from us |
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| party or interest group that James Madison saw as arising from the unequal distribution of property or wealth and attacked as having the potential to cause instability in government |
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| a group of individuals with a common interest on which every political party depends |
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| Colony (Royal, Proprietary, Charter) |
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| settlements created in one country by another country |
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| a series of attacks on courthouses by a small band of farmers led by the Revolutionary War Captain Danial Shays to block forclosure proceedings |
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| Constitutional Convention |
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| meeting called by the Continental Congress to create the Constitution |
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| the proposal at the Constitutional Convention that called for representation of each state in Congress in proportion to that states share of the U.S. population |
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| a union of different states/countries, each having some form of authority |
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| the proposal at the Constitutional Cnvention that called for equal representation of each state in Congress regardless of the state's population |
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| Great (Connecticut) Compromise |
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| the compromise reached at the Constitutional Convention that established two houses of Congress: the House of Representatives, in which representation is based on a state's share of the U.S. population; and the Senate, in which each state has two representatives |
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| Three-Fifths (3/5) Compromise |
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Definition
| representation and taxation were to be based on the "number of free persons," plus three-fifths of the number of "all other persons" |
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| ordinance that encouraged the development of the Great Lakes region |
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| Federalists v. Antifederalists |
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Definition
| the battle between those that supported the Constitution and those that didn't |
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| a collection of 85 articles written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison under the name "Publius" to defend the Constitution in detail |
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| a way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels of government have formal authority over the same land and people |
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| a feature of the Constitution that requires each of the three branches of government to be relatively independent of the others |
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| powers not shared by the national or federal government |
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| powers shared by the federal and state government |
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| powers of the federal government that are specifically addressed in the Constitution |
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| powers that aren't given to the national government, so they belong to the states and the people |
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| powers of the federal government that go beyond those enumerated in the Constitution, in accordance with the statement in the Constitution that Congress has the power to "make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution" the powers enumerated in Article I |
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| those powers an authority such as a court or government must have in order to achieve the purpose for which it was created |
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| the idea that certain restrictions should be placed on government to protect the natural rights of citizens |
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Term
| Full Faith and Credit Clause |
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Definition
| reuires each state to recognize the public acts, records, and judical proceedings of all other states |
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| Necessary and Proper Clause |
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Definition
| empowers Congress to make all laws which shall be "necessary and proper" for carrying into execution the enumerated powers of Congress |
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Definition
| Congress shall have power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes |
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| features of the Constitution that limit government's power by requiring that power to be balanced among the different governmental institutions |
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| Constitutional Construction |
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| states that the Constitution has a dual nature |
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| the power of the courts to determine whether acts of Congress and, by implication, the executive are in accord with the U.S. Constitution |
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| the power possessed by 42 state governors to veto only certain parts of a bill while allowing the rest of it to pass into law |
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| Amendment (Constitutional) |
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Definition
| a change or addition to a legal or statutory document |
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| a legislative act that punishes people without a judicial trial |
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| a legislative act that punishes people or increases the penalties for acts that were not illegal or not as punishable when the act was committed |
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| a court order requiring jailers to explain why they are holding a prisoner in custody |
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| Declaration of Independence |
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| the document approved by representatives of the American colonies in 1776 that stated their grievances against the British monarch and declared their independence |
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| Articles of Confederation |
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| the first Constitution of the U.S., adopted by Congress in 1777 and enacted in 1781. The Articles established a national legislature, the Continental Congress, but most authority rested with the state |
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| the document written in 1787 and ratified in 1788 that sets forth the institutional structure of U.S. government and the tasks these institutions perform |
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| the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, drafted in response to some of the Anti-Federalist concerns |
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| Pennsylvania Constitution |
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| reatified in 1776 and was the state's first constitution following the Declaration of Independence |
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| Massachusetts Constitution |
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| the fundament governing document of Massachusetts |
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| contributed to the writings of the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and the Constitution |
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| contributed to the writings of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution |
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| feared a centralization of power and did not attend the Constitutional Convention |
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| claimed that the principal motivation to the Framers of the Constitution for seeking to strengthen the economic powers of the government was to increase their personal wealth |
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| suggested, "it is scarcely to be doubted that in some of the adopting states, a majority of the people were in opposition," refering to the ratification of the Constitution |
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| the 1803 case in which the Supreme Court asserted its right to determine the meaning of the U.S. Constitution. The decision esablished the court's power to judicial review over acts of Congress |
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| an 1819 Supreme Court decision that established the supremacy of the national government over state governmments. The court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, held that Congress had certain implied powers in addition to the enumerated powers found in the Constitution |
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