Chapters 1-3

The ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person's intentions.

The right to use power.

Political authority conferred by law, public opinion or constitution.

A political system in which all or most citizens participate directly by either holding office or making policy.

A political system in which leaders and representatives acquire political power by means of a competitive struggle for the people's vote.

The government operates according to the principle of majority rule.

More than 50% of the total number of votes.

An electoral system in which the winner is the person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not receive a majority of the votes.

A constitution drafted in 1777 and ratified in 1781. It created a weak national government that could not levy taxes or regulate commerce. In 1789 it was replaced by the current constitution to create a stronger national government.

An armed uprising in Central and Western Massachusetts from 1786 to 1787. The rebels, led by Daniel Shays, were mostly poor farmers angered by crushing debt and taxes. Failure to repay such debts often resulted in imprisonment in debtor's prisons or the claiming of property by the state.

The principle of dividing legislative bodies into two groups with complementary powers and limitations designed to provide checks and balances against one another.

3 branches. Legislature chose executive and judiciary. 2 houses. The legislature could regulate interstate trade, strike down laws deemed unconstitutional and use armed forces to enforce laws. Favored by large states.

3 branches. Legislature chose executive, executive chose judiciary. 1 house.The national government could levy taxes and import duties, regulate trade, and state laws would be subordinate to laws passed by the national legislature. Favored by small states.

Great Compromise - 65 member house based on pop., senate with 2 senators from each state. Compromise b/t small and large states.

A compromise between Southern and Northern states reached during Convention of 1787 in which three-fifths of the population of slaves would be counted for enumeration purposes regarding both the distribution of taxes and the apportionment of the members of the United States House of Representatives.

A principle of American government whereby constitutional authority is shared by three separate branches of government-- the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.

The power of the legislature, executive, and judicial branches of government to block some acts by the other two branches.

A government in which one party controls the White House and another party controls one or both houses of Congress.

The power of the courts to declare acts of the legislature and of the executive to be unconstitutional and hence null and void.

A court order directing a police officer, sheriff, or warden who has a person in custody to bring the prisoner before a judge and show sufficient cause for his or her detention.

After the fact. The Constitution prohibits the enactment of ex post facto laws. These are laws that permit conviction and punishment for a lawful act performed before the law was changed and the act made illegal.

A law that declares a person, without a trial, to be guilty of a crime. The state legislatures and Congress are forbidden to pass such acts by Article I of the Constitution.

The practice of submitting a law to a popular vote at election time. The law may be proposed by a voter's initiative or by the legislature.

A procedure allowing voters to submit a proposed law to a popular vote by obtaining a required number of signatures.

Orders a public agency or governmental body to perform an act required by law when it has neglected or refused to do so.

A formal accusation against a public official by the lower house of a legislative body. Impeachment is merely an accusation and not a conviction.

The refusal of the president to spend money that has been appropriated by the United States Congress.

The power claimed by the President and other members of the executive branch to resist certain search warrants and other interventions by the legislative and judicial branches of government.

A political system in which ultimate authority is shared between a cental government and state or regional governments.

A system in which sovereignty is wholly in the hands of the national government so that subnational political units are dependent on its will.

A political system in which states or regional governments retain ultimate authority except for those powers that they expressly delegate to a central government.

Powers specifically granted to one of the branches of the national government by the Constitution.

The powers of the national government in the field of foreign affairs that the Supreme Court has declared do not depend on the constitutional grants but rather grow out of the very existence of the national government.

Powers exercised by Congress which are not explicitly given by the constitution itself.

The final paragraph of Article I, section 8, of the Constitution, which authorizes Congress to pass all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out the enumerated powers. Sometimes called the "elastic clause" because of the flexibility that it provides to Congress

Powers held by both the states and the federal government and may be exercised simultaneously within the same territory and in relation to the same body of citizens.

Article 4, Section 1, addresses the duties that states within the United States have to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial rulings" of other states.

The surrender of an accused or convicted person by one state or country to another.

According to James Madison, a group of people who seek to influence public policy in ways contrary to the public good.

An alliance among different interest groups (factions) or parties to achieve some political goal.

A law providing for the distribution of a fixed amount or share of federal tax revenues to the states for spending on almost any government purpose. Distribution was intended to send more money to poorer, heavily taxed state and less to richer, lightly taxed ones. Ended in 1986.

aid - Federal rules attached to the grants that states receive.
mandate - rules imposed by the federal government on the states as conditions for obtaining federal grants or requirements that the states pay the costs of certain nationally defined programs.