Chapter 2 The Constitution

Question 1

Natural Rights

Answer 1

Rights of all human beings that are ordained by God, discoverable in nature and history, and essential to human progress

Question 2

Patrick Henry

Answer 2

Individual who refused to attend the Constitutional Convention because he “smelled a rat”

Question 3

Declaration of Independence

Answer 3

A document written in 1776 declaring the colonists’ intention to throw off British rule

Question 4

Articles of Confederation

Answer 4

The government charter of the states from 1776 until the Constitution of 178

Question 5

Coalition

Answer 5

An alliance of factions

Question 6

Unalienable

Answer 6

Based on nature or God

Question 7

Constitutional Convention

Answer 7

A meeting of delegates in Philadelphia in 1787 charged with drawing up amendments to the Articles of Confederation

Question 8

Reserved Powers

Answer 8

Powers that are given exclusively to the states

Question 9

Pennsylvania Constitution

Answer 9

A governing document considered to be highly democratic yet with a tendency toward tyranny as a result of concentrating all powers in one set of hands

Question 10

Massachusetts Constitution

Answer 10

A state constitution with clear separation of powers but considered to have produced too weak a government

Question 11

Shay’s Rebellion

Answer 11

An armed attempt by Revolutionary War veterans to avoid losing their property by preventing the courts in western Massachusetts from meeting

Question 12

Concurrent Powers

Answer 12

Those powers that are shared by both the national and state governments

Question 13

John Locke

Answer 13

A British philosopher whose ideas on civil government greatly influenced the Founders

Question 14

Federalist papers

Answer 14

A series of political tracts that explained many of the ideas of the Founders

Question 15

Virginia Plan

Answer 15

A constitutional proposal that the smaller states’ representatives feared would give permanent supremacy to the larger states

Question 16

New Jersey Plan

Answer 16

A constitutional proposal that would have given each state one vote in a new congress

Question 17

Thomas Jefferson

Answer 17

Author of the Declaration of Independence

Question 18

Great Compromise

Answer 18

A constitutional proposal that made membership on one house of Congress proportional to each state’s population and the membership in the other equal for all states

Question 19

Faction

Answer 19

A group with a distinct political interest

Question 20

Separation of powers

Answer 20

A constitutional principle separating the personnel of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government

Question 21

Federalism

Answer 21

A constitutional principle reserving separate powers to the national and state levels of government

Question 22

James Madison

Answer 22

A principal architect of the Constitution who felt that a government powerful enough to encourage virtue in its citizens was too powerful

Question 23

Bill of Rights

Answer 23

First ten amendments to the Constitution

Question 24

Enumerated powers

Answer 24

Those powers that are given to the national government exclusively

Question 25

Charles A. Beard

Answer 25

A historian who argued that the Founders were largely motivated by the economic advantage of their class in writing the Constitution

Question 26

Constitutional Convention

Answer 26

A meeting of delegates in 1778 to revise the Articles of Confederation

Question 27

Checks and Balances

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Republic

Answer 28

A form of democracy in which leaders and representatives are selected by means of popular competitive elections

Question 29

Coalition

Answer 29

An alliance between different interest groups or parties to achieve some political goal

Question 30

Inalienable Rights

Answer 30

Rights thought to be based on nature and providence rather than on the preferences of the people

Question 31

Amendment (constitutional)

Answer 31

Change in, addition to, a constitution

Question 32

Faction

Answer 32

A group of people sharing a common interest who seek to influence public policy for their collective benefit

Question 33

Judicial review

Answer 33

The power of the courts to declare acts of the legislature and of the executive unconstitutional and therefore null and void

Question 34

Bill of rights

Answer 34

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution

Question 35

Federalist papers

Answer 35

A series of eighty five essays published in New York newspapers to convince New Yorkers to adopt the newly proposed Constitution

Question 36

Federalists

Answer 36

Supporters of a stronger central government who advocated ratification of the Constitution and then founded a political party

Question 37

Line-item veto

Answer 37

The power of an executive to veto some provisions in an appropriations bill while approving others

Question 38

Antifederalists

Answer 38

Those who opposed giving as much power to the national government as the Constitution did, favoring instead stronger states' rights

Question 39

Bill of attainder

Answer 39

A law that would declare a person guilty of a crime without a trial

Question 40

Ex post facto law

Answer 40

A law that would declare an act criminal after the act was committed

Question 41

Madisonian view of human nature

Answer 41

A philosophy holding that accommodating individual self-interest provided a more practical solution to the problem of government than aiming to cultivate virtue

Question 42

Confederation

Answer 42

An agreement among sovereign states that delegates certain powers to a national government

Question 43

Writ of habeas corpus

Answer 43

A court order requiring police officials to produce an individual held in custody and show sufficient cause for that person's detention

Question 44

Constitution

Answer 44

A set of principles, either written or unwritten, that makes up the fundamental law of the state