Government Foundations Unit
Vocabulary Review
• He wrote “Spirit of the Laws” which advocated
separation of powers in government into
legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
• Montesquieu
• He believed the purpose of government was
to protect people’s natural rights of life, liberty
and property and that citizens could replace a
government that did not protect their rights.
• John Locke
• He introduced the idea of a social contract in
“Leviathan” by explaining his belief that
people give up their power to the government
in exchange for peace and security.
• Thomas Hobbes
• the concept that every member of society,
including the ruler and government, must
obey the law and is never above it.
• rule of law
• Under the principle of __________________,
the duties of governing are divided among
three branches: legislative, executive, and
judicial.
• separation of powers
• System that allows each branch to check and
monitor the power of the others to prevent
abuse of power
• Checks and balances
• ____________________ is the constitutional
principle under which the powers of
government are distributed between national
and state governments.
• federalism
• _____________________is the concept that
the government gets its authority from the
people and that the ultimate political power
remains with the people.
• Popular Sovereignty
• For the Constitution to be established Article
VII required 9 of 13 states to
_________________, or approve it.
• ratify
• The _______ ______________ Plan called for
the new constitution to provide for a
unicameral legislature with each state having
equal representation by having one vote
regardless of population.
• New Jersey Plan
• This Plan called for the new constitution to
have a bicameral legislature with the number
of representatives from each state based on
that state’s population.
• Virginia Plan
• This agreement at the Constitutional
Convention solved the issue of representation
in Congress by creating a bicameral legislature
with the numbers of representatives in the
lower house based on state population and
equal representation in the upper house
(Senate).
• Great Compromise
• This compromise settled the dispute over how
to count slaves toward population (and
therefore political power and representation)
by providing that three-fifths of the enslaved
people in state would be counted when
determining the states population.
• Three-Fifths Compromise
• Those who supported ratification of the U.S.
Constitution were called
_____________________.
• Federalists
• Those who opposed ratification of the U.S.
Constitution were called
____________________________.
• Anti-Federalists
• Essays written by Madison, Hamilton, and Jay
in defense of the Constitution and in response
to Anti-Federalist arguments against the
Constitution
• Federalist Papers (The Federalist)
• A list of citizens rights, specifically the first 10
amendments to the U.S. Constitution; a key to
ratification
• Bill of Rights
• The original constitution of the US, ratified in
1781, which was replaced because of its
weaknesses by the US Constitution in 1789
• Articles of Confederation
• This is authoritarian rule that controls nearly
every aspect of public and private life in a
country.
• Totalitarianism
• This is a political and economic system based
on the writings of Karl Marx in which the state
controls the production and distribution of
goods, and social classes and private
ownership is discouraged.
• Communism
• In this form of government power is
concentrated in the hands of a single leader or
small group.
• authoritarian
• The _________________ in Article VI of the
Constitution declares the Constitutiontogether with U.S. laws passed under the
Constitution and treaties made by the
national government-is the “supreme law of
the land”
• Supremacy Clause
• This is the power of the Supreme Court to
determine whether the actions of the
legislative and executive branches of
government are constitutional.
• Judicial Review
• The formal institutions and processes through
which decisions are made for a group of
people
• government
• theory that the first governments formed as a
result of people agreeing among themselves
to submit to the authority of the state
• Social Contract
• Principle that the powers and functions of the
government are restricted by the US
Constitution and other laws
• limited government
• life, liberty, and property; rights that Locke
says it is the purpose of governments to
protect
• natural rights
• A document signed by King John of England in
1215 that limited the power of the monarch
• Magna Carta
• British document signed by Williams and Mary
in 1689 that required the king to get
Parliament’s consent to raise taxes, keep an
army, or make laws.
• English Bill of Rights
• A British document signed by King Charles I in
1628 that required the king to get
Parliament’s consent to levy taxes. It also kept
king from unlawful imprisonment, forcing
citizens to house soldiers, and establishing
military rule during peace time.
• Petition of Right
• Government with power concentrated in the
hands of a single person or small group
• authoritarian
• A form of government organization in which
the chief executive is the leader whose party
holds the most seats in the legislature after
an election or whose party forms a major
part of the ruling coalition; United Kingdom
is an example
• parliamentary
• A form of government organization in which
power is divided among a central
government and territorial subdivisions;
United States in an example
• federalism
• A form of government ruled by a small group
of people like in Ancient Sparta
• oligarchy
• Indirect form of democracy in which people
elect representatives to make decisions on
their behalf; also called republic; United
States is an example.
• Representative democracy
• A form of government organization with an
alliance of independent states manifesting a
degree of national unity through a central
government of united powers; like the United
States under the Articles of Confederation
• Confederal system
• A type of authoritarian government in which
the political authority exercises absolute and
centralized control over all aspects of life
• totalitarianism
• A form of government organization headed
by a president who is elected by the people
for a limited term of office and whose
powers are balanced by an elected
legislature; like the United States today
• Presidential system
• A form of government organization in which
all authority is vested in a central
government from which regional and local
governments derive their power; like the
United Kingdom
• Unitary system
• A form of government in Ancient Athens in
which citizens met regularly in a popular
assembly to discuss issues of the day, pass
laws, and vote for leaders
• Direct democracy