An Act from the British government that imposed a direct tax on the American Colonies for any paper products.

Rights that all people are born with and cannot be taken away... even by man made laws

The supreme authority within a territory

A principle of government under which separate branches are empowered to prevent any one branch from becoming all powerful.

The division of a government into branches, each with separate powers and responsibilities, so that no branch is more powerful than the other

A Monarchy (king/queen) that has power that is limited by laws and a written Constitution

A government where the people select and choose who leads the government

A document approved by Congress on July 4th, 1776, that announced the separation of the 13 American Colonies from British rule

A monarchy (king/queen) who holds 100% of the power and authority to govern

An implicit agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits by sacrificing some individual freedom for state protection

A doctrine that a government's authority is determined by a body of laws (a constitution)