AP Government CH 2

Connecticut Compromise

"The Great Compromise" an agreement that large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. It retained the bicameral legislature as proposed by Roger Sherman, along with proportional representation in the lower house, but required the upper house to be weighted equally between the states. Each state would have two representatives in the upper house.

Magna Carta

(1215) A charter agreed to by King John of England to make peace between the unpopular King and a group of rebel barons. It promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons

Petition of Rights

(1628) petition sent by the English Parliament to King Charles I complaining of a series of breaches of law. The petition sought recognition of four principles: no taxation without the consent of Parliament, no imprisonment without cause, no quartering of soldiers on subjects, and no martial law in peacetime. To continue receiving subsidies for his policies, Charles was compelled to accept the petition, but he later ignored its principles.

English Bill of Rights

(1689) The Bill incorporated into law the growing conviction that although some people may inherit privileges, all women and men enjoy the same basic rights which can not be violated even by a Head of State, who is also subject to, not above, the law. The Bill also took the view that the Heads of State, and others in authority, have responsibilities towards the governed, and that they are answerable to the people, not to themselves. The Bill of Rights still privileged the Protestant religion, however. It was a significant legal advance in recognizing individual rights and in giving them protection in law but it was also a child of its own time.

Marbury v. Madison

(1803) The Court formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States. The landmark decision helped define the boundary between the executive and judicial branches. The case resulted from a petition to the Supreme Court by William Marbury, who had been appointed Justice of the Peace by President John Adams but whose commission was not subsequently delivered. Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court to force the new Secretary of State, James Madison, to deliver the commission. The Court, with John Marshall as Chief Justice, found firstly that Madison's refusal to deliver the commission was both illegal and correctible. Nonetheless, the Court stopped short of ordering Madison (by writ of mandamus) to hand over Marbury's commission, instead holding that the provision of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that enabled Marbury to bring his claim to the Supreme Court was itself unconstitutional, since it purported to extend the Court's original jurisdiction beyond that which Article III established. The petition was therefore denied.

Schenck v. United States

(1917) The government accused Schenck of violating the Espionage Act. It said that Schenck's pamphlets were intended to weaken the loyalty of soldiers and to obstruct military recruiting. Schenck answered by saying that the Espionage Act was unconstitutional. He said that it broke the First Amendment's promise the "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech." After working its way through the federal courts, the case was judged by the Supreme Court in 1919. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote the decision for the unanimous Supreme Court. It upheld (supported) Schenck's conviction, saying that it did not violate his First Amendment right to free speech.

Koromatsu v. United States

(1944) During World War II, a military commander ordered all persons of Japanese descent, whether or not they were United States citizens, to leave their homes on the West Coast and to report to "Assembly Centers." Korematsu (Petitioner), a United States citizen of Japanese descent, was convicted for failing to comply with the order and was convicted under a federal law making it an offense to fail to comply with such military orders during wartime.

Texas v. Johnson

(1989)Gregory Lee Johnson burned an American flag outside of the convention center in Dallas, Texas to protest the policies of President Ronald Reagan. He was arrested and charged with violating a Texas statute that prevented the desecration of a venerated object if such action were likely to incite anger in others. A Texas court tried and convicted Johnson. His case ruled that his actions were "symbolic speech" protected by the First Amendment.

U.S. v. Eichman

(1990) Eichman and others were prosecuted under the federal Flag Protection Act for setting fire to American flags. Eichman and the others stated that the Act violated the First Amendment, and courts in Washington State and in the District of Columbia agreed. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court held that flag burning was a form of expression protected under the First Amendment.

Writ of Habeus Corpus

A court order which prevents unjust arrests and imprisonments

Judicial Review

Allows the court to determine the constitutionality of laws (marbury v. madison)

Judicial Activism

An interpretation of the U.S. constitution holding that the spirit of the times and the needs of the nation can legitimately influence judicial decisions (particularly decisions of the Supreme Court)

Separation of Powers

Constitutional division of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, with the legislative branch making law, the executive applying and enforcing the law, and the judiciary interpreting the law

Anti-federalist

Opposed the adoption of the U.S. Constitution b/c it gave too much power to the national govt at the expense of the state govts and it lacked a bill of rights

Consent of the governed

Rights that people supposedly have under natural law. The Declaration of Independence of the United States lists life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as natural rights.

Natural Rights

Rights that people supposedly have under natural law. The Declaration of Independence of the United States lists life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as natural rights.

Federalist

Supported a strong central government, advocated the ratification of the new constitution; included Alexander Hamilton

Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer under British rule. Instead they formed a new nation—the United States of America. John Adams was a leader in pushing for independence, which was passed on July 2 with no opposing vote cast. A committee of five had already drafted the formal declaration, to be ready when Congress voted on independence. John Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the document. The term "Declaration of Independence" is not used in the document itself.

Mayflower Compact

The Mayflower Compact, signed by 41 English colonists on the ship Mayflower on November 11, 1620, was the first written framework of government established in what is now the United States. The compact was drafted to prevent dissent amongst Puritans and non-separatist Pilgrims who had landed at Plymouth a few days earlier.

Check and balances

The distribution and balancing of power among different branches of government so that no one branch is able to dominate the others.

Factions

a group or clique within a larger group, party, government, organization, or the like:

Virginia Plan

a plan, unsuccessfully proposed at the Constitutional Convention, providing for a legislature of two houses with proportional representation in each house and executive and judicial branches to be chosen by the legislature.

New Jersey Plan

a proposal for the structure of the United States Government presented by William Paterson at the Constitutional Convention on June 15, 1787. The plan was created in response to the Virginia Plan, which called for two houses of Congress, both elected with apportionment according to population. The less populous states were adamantly opposed to giving most of the control of the national government to the more populous states, and so proposed an alternative plan that would have kept the one-vote-per-state representation under one legislative body from the Articles of Confederation. The New Jersey Plan was opposed by James Madison and Edmund Randolph (the proponents of the Virginia state Plan).

Shay's Rebellion

a series of protests in 1786 and 1787 by American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections and judgments for debt. Although farmers took up arms in states from New Hampshire to South Carolina, the rebellion was most serious in Massachusetts, where bad harvests, economic depression, and high taxes threatened farmers with the loss of their farms. The rebellion took its name from its symbolic leader, Daniel Shays of Massachusetts, a former captain in the Continental army.

Limited government

government that is set up to have limited power over its citizens. A limited government has hard restrictions set on its powers and abilities. These limits have powerful effects on both personal and economic freedom.

Constitution

originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government. Its first three articles entrench the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress; the executive, consisting of the President; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. Articles Four, Five and Six entrench concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments and of the states in relationship to the federal government. Article Seven establishes the procedure subsequently used by the thirteen States to ratify it.

Ratify

sign or give formal consent to (a treaty, contract, or agreement), making it officially valid.

Bill of rights

the first ten amendments to the US Constitution, ratified in 1791 and guaranteeing such rights as the freedoms of speech, assembly, and worship.