Government Test 1

compromise between south and north that allowed south to count 3/5^th of slaves for as well as for taxes distribution as for the apportionment of the members of the United States House of Representatives. By this compromise, south had to pay more taxes, but had more representatives in the house of representative.

Amendment is one of the ways of having Constitutional changes.  There are only 27 amendments since constitution creation. There are two amendment processes: national convention called by congress request of state legislators (never used in practice); proposal for change by 2/3 vote of the house of congress and then ratified by a) 3/4^th of state legislature (most common), b) vote by special ratifying conventions in 3/4^th of the state (only used for the 21 Amendment (repealing Prohibition)). Only 6 amendments were not ratified. Amendments are used to add and subtract national power, expand electorate and its power, reduce power, limit state power, and perform structural changes in government.

 A system when country, a republic, has a bigger and a stronger government, like national government in America, and smaller governments inside of it, like states. The national government shares the sovereignty between states and one federal district. 

Also known as the Anti-Nationalists, the Anti-Federalists favored states rights and strong state governments rather than a strong national government.  They prefer a government that is close to home because many Anti-Feds came from rural areas where they could not support themselves without some sort of government interference. The main Anti-Federalist we discussed in class was Patrick Henry.  Anti-Federalists’ biggest problem with adopting the constitution was the lack of a Bill of Rights.  They argued with the Federalists who believed it would be redundant to have a Bill of Rights because state constitutions already had them.

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States, adopted during the last stages of the Revolutionary War, that created a system of government with most power lodged in the states and little in the central government. A confederation is a loose association of states or territorial units formed for a common purpose. Good qualities of the Articles were: -There is a central government. Although it was weak and ineffective, it was still present. -The central government could make war or peace. -It established the first organized agreement between the states’ “league of friendship” Problems with the Articles of Confederation include:                         -The national government had no power to levy taxes to pursue goals of war or peace.                         -The national government could not regulate commerce between the states, nor could it deny the states the right to collect custom duties.                         -There wasn’t a chief independent executive to ensure that the laws passed by Congress would be enforced.                         -There wasn’t a national court system to settle disputes between the states.                         -There was no means to provide a sound national money system.                         -The rule requiring that all national laws be approved by 9 of the 13 states made lawmaking almost impossible.                         - Defects in the new constitution were difficult to remedy because amending the Articles required the unanimous approval of the states.                         -The national government was unable to prevent the outbreak of commercial warfare between the states. Important points about the Articles of Confederation:                         -The Articles treated the states as independent but loosely joined together countries.                         -Because of this, the national government basically had no power.

a Bill of Attainder is a legislative act that singles out an individual or group for punishment without a trial.  The constitution disallows such under Article 1, Section 9, Paragraph 3 where it says:  “No Bill of Attainder or Ex Post Facto Law will be passed.  It was established because Britain enforced such laws on the Colonies and the colonists believed they were unfair.

national grants with few/no "strings attached". It is a broad grant for specified activities/programs.

An economic system in which the government is not in control and means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market

Congress approved funds for a specific purpose. Federal grants to a state and/or local government that impose programmatic restrictions on the use of funds.  An example would be specific funds set aside for the Food Stamp Program or Head Start. See Notes from 9/16 for information and also definition in the book’s glossary.

The 13^th (abolish slavery), 14^th (due process, equal protection), and 15^th Amendments (male slaves the right to vote) to the Constitution adopted immediately after the Civil War. These constitutional changes subordinated the states to certain new national standards, enforced by the central government.

Ideas of individualism, limited government, and the free market that influence public policy. A) Individualism - That our inalienable rights take priority over rights that might be attributed to society or government. That our fate is in our own hands, rather than social and economic forces beyond our control. And that we endorse equal opportunity to allow one’s own efforts to control where they end up, we reject that people should be guaranteed equal rewards. B) Limited Government – Americans have never trusted government. When governments get too much power, it is believed that it is tempted to interfere with private property, individual rights, and economic efficiency. Currently, however, Americans expect the government to do more, i.e. stimulus programs, than the framers imagined C) Free Market – The institution that allows for buying and selling by private individuals and firms. The government should have little interference with markets as the laws of supply and demand will make the market efficient and effective on its own.

The idea that one’s own fate is in one’s own hands. that if you work hard and have ambition you will succeed. It is the idea that one’s own fortune should be a product of their efforts, not some product of impersonal social and economic forces beyond one’s control. This concept is widely accepted by Americans and is the reason many Americans are supporters of ‘equal opportunity’ acts (ex. Head Start, educational programs of various kinds, school lunch programs, etc.) and are typically non-supporters of programs that seem to redistribute income from the hard working middle classes to those that are considered ‘undeserving’ such as welfare.

A loose association of states or territorial divisions in which very little power is lodged in the central government. Example: constituent states get together for a certain common purpose but retain ultimate individual authority and can veto major central government action. The leaders of the American Revolution has in mind a government similar to a confederation.

Also called the Great Compromise, this report was presented by a committee of 11 people on July 5, 1787. It proposed a bicameral (two-house) national legislature in which each state’s representation in the House of Representatives was to be based on population (favoring larger states), at the same time representation in the Senate was to be equal for each of the states (favoring small states). This was a compromise between the New Jersey and Virginia Plan formulated by delegates at the Constitutional convention. (drafted by Roger Sherman of Conn.)

took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. Although the convention was meant to “fix” the articles, the major components George Washington, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton yearned to create a new government.