Principles, Document, & Compromises

A system where people elect leaders to make decisions and laws for them.

• Republicanism
• Federalism
• Checks and Balances
• Popular Sovereignty

A way of sharing power between the national government and the states.

• Federalism
• Separation of Powers
• Checks and Balances
• Popular Sovereignty

A system where each branch of government can stop the others from becoming too powerful.

• Checks and Balances
• Federalism
• Separation of Powers
• Republicanism

Dividing government into three branches: legislative (makes laws), executive (carries out laws), and judicial (interprets laws).

• Separation of Powers
• Federalism
• Checks and Balances
• Popular Sovereignty

The idea that the people have the power and give government its authority.

• Popular Sovereignty
• Federalism
• Checks and Balances
• Separation of Powers

A document from 1215 in England that limited the king's power and helped start the idea of rule of law.

• Magna Carta
• English Common Law
• Charters of the Virginia Company of London
• Virginia Declaration of Rights

Laws based on court decisions and customs rather than written codes, used in colonial America.

• English Common Law
• Virginia Declaration of Rights
• Declaration of Independence
• Preamble

Documents from the King of England that gave permission to start the colony of Virginia and guaranteed rights to the colonists.

• Charters of the Virginia Company of London
• Virginia Declaration of Rights
• English Common Law
• Magna Carta

A document that listed the rights of Virginians; it helped inspire the U.S. Bill of Rights.

• Virginia Declaration of Rights
• English Common Law
• Charters of the Virginia Company of London
• Declaration of Independence

A document written in 1776 that said the American colonies were free from British rule.

• Declaration of Independence
• Articles of Confederation
• Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
• Virginia Declaration of Rights