Unit I Vocabulary

The method by which changes or additions can be made to the Constitution, requiring a significant consensus at both federal and state levels

• Amending Process

• Bill of Rights

• Landmark Legislation

• Judicial Review

An agreement made during the Constitutional Convention that determined how slaves would be counted when apportioning representation & taxation. The people who were enslaved would be counted as 3/5ths of a person for purposes of representation & taxation

• The Great Compromise

• The Connecticut Compromise

• The 3/5ths Compromise

• Freedom Compromise

An influential anti-federalist essay that argues against the proposed United States Constitution, warning that a strong central government could threaten individual liberties & state sovereignty

• Federalist No. 01

• Brutus No. 01

• Federalist No. 10

• Federalist No. 51

A constitutional guarantee that a law shall not be unfair or unreasonable & that individuals will be given a fair trial & legal representation

• Equal Protection

• Plead the Fifth

• Due Process

• Right to Privacy

An implicit agreement among individuals to form a government that protects their natural rights in exchange for some degree of personal freedom

• Equal Protection

• Right to Revolution

• Social Contract

• The Constitution

The first governing document of the United States, ratified in 1781, which established a loose alliance of independent states & a weak central government

• The Constitution

• The Magna Carta

• The Declaration of Independence

• Articles of Confederation

The theory that a government's legitimacy & the right to use power is justified & lawful only when derived from the consent of the people

• Social Contract

• Governmental Power

• Congressional Oversight

• Consent to be Governed

The division of government responsibilities into distinct branches to limit any one branch from having too much power over the other branches

• Checks & Balances

• The Consent to be Governed

• Separation of Powers

• Federalism

The principle that the authority of a government is created & sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives

• Popular Sovereignty

• Representative Democracy

• Indirect Democracy

• Articles of Confederation

A political principle that restricts the powers & authority of government, ensuring that it cannot infringe upon individual rights & freedoms by emphasizing that government should operate within defined boundaries set by laws and the constitution

• Federal Oversight

• Federalism

• Limited Government

• Minority Rights