government exam study

John Jay

John Jay was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, Founding Father, abolitionist, negotiator, slave owner, and signatory of the Treaty of Paris of 1783. He served as the second governor of New York and the first chief justice of the United States.

Declaration of Independence

The United States Declaration of Independence is the pronouncement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1776

Electoral College

The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president.

House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is the lower house of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper house. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States

Senate

The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.

Virginia Plan

The Virginia Plan was a proposal to the United States Constitutional Convention for the creation of a supreme national government with three branches and a bicameral legislature. The plan was drafted by James Madison while he waited for a quorum to assemble at the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

Constitution

the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. This founding document, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government.

Scab

Scab (union), a pejorative term for a person who works despite strike action or against the will of other employees.

Bill

A bill is proposed legislation under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act of the legislature, or a statute.

Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S.

A case in which the Court found that hotels did not have the right to discriminate against black guests under Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Dictatorship

A dictatorship is a form of government characterized by a single leader or group of leaders that hold government power promised to the people and little or no toleration for political pluralism or independent media.

Grand Jury

A grand jury is presented with evidence from the U.S. attorney, the prosecutor in federal criminal cases. The grand jury determines whether there is "probable cause" to believe the individual has committed a crime and should be put on trial.

Legislative

A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial branches of parliamentary government in the separation of powers model. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as primary legislation.

Plea Bargain

A plea bargain is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or nolo contendere

Republic

A republic is a form of government in which "supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives". In republics, the country is considered a "public matter", not the private concern or property of the rulers

Foreign Policy

A state's foreign policy or external policy is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through multilateral platforms.

Election

An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865.

Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton was an American statesman, who was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was an influential interpreter and promoter of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the founder of the nation's financial system, the Federalist Party, the United States Coast Guard, and the New York Post newspaper

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was an American lawyer, soldier, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, Jackson gained fame as a general in the United States Army and served in both houses of the U.S. Congress

Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Democrat who ran with Lincoln on the National Union ticket, coming to office as the Civil War concluded.

Anti-Federalist

Anti-Federalism was a late-18th century movement that opposed the creation of a stronger U.S. federal government and which later opposed the ratification of the 1787 Constitution. The previous constitution called the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, gave state governments more authority.

Aristocracy

Aristocracy is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the Greek aristokratíā, meaning 'rule of the best.

Arraignment

Arraignment is a formal reading of a criminal charging document in the presence of the defendant, to inform them of the charges against them. In response to arraignment, the accused is expected to enter a plea.

Bail

Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. ... Under this usage, bail can be given both before and after charge.

Black Codes

Black codes were restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and ensure their availability as a cheap labor

Brown v. Board of Education

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality.

Communism

Communism is a philosophical, social, political, and economic ideology and movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, namely a socioeconomic order structured upon the ideas of common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes, money, and the state.

Direct Democracy

Crispus Attucks was an American whaler, sailor, and stevedore of African and Native American descent, generally regarded as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre and thus the first American killed in the American Revolution.

Democracy

Democracy is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation, or to choose governing officials to do so.

Due Process

Due process is a requirement that legal matters be resolved according to established rules and principles, and that individuals be treated fairly. Due process applies to both civil and criminal matters.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-1800s.

Federalism

Federalism is a mixed or compound mode of government that combines a general government with regional governments in a single political system, dividing the powers between the two. It has its roots in ancient Europe

Frederick Douglas

Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, becoming famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings.

Boston Massacre

George III was both King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death in 1820.

Gideon v. Wainwright

Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires U.S. states to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who are unable to afford their own.

Petit Jury

In common law, a petit jury hears the evidence in a trial as presented by both the plaintiff and the defendant. After hearing the evidence and often jury instructions from the judge, the group retires for deliberation, to consider a verdict. The majority required for a verdict varies

Unicameral

In government, unicameralism is the practice of having a single legislative or parliamentary chamber. Thus, a unicameral parliament or unicameral legislature is a legislature that consists of a single chamber or house.

Appeal

In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and interpreting law.

Parliament

In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries.

Miranda Rights

In the United States, the Miranda warning is a type of notification customarily given by police to criminal suspects in police custody advising them of their right to silence; that is, their right to refuse to answer questions or provide information to law enforcement or other officials.

James Madison

James Madison was an American statesman, diplomat, expansionist, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the 4th president of the United States from 1809 to 1817.

Lewis Hine

Lewis Wickes Hine was an American sociologist and muckraker photographer. His photographs were instrumental in bringing about the passage of the first child labor laws in the United States.

Loving v. Virginia

Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, was a landmark civil rights decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that laws banning interracial marriage violate the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Miranda v. Arizona

Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution restricts prosecutors from using a person's person's statements made in response to interrogation in police custody as evidence at their trial unless they can show that the person was informed of the right to consult with an attorney before and during questioning

Obergefell v. Hodges

Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644, is a landmark civil rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Oligarchy

Oligarchy is a form of the power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, religious, political, or military control.

Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry was an American attorney, planter, politician, and orator best known for his declaration to the Second Virginia Convention: "Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786

Rights

Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory.

Shays' Rebellion

Shays's Rebellion, (August 1786-February 1787), uprising in western Massachusetts in opposition to high taxes and stringent economic conditions. ... In September 1786 Daniel Shays and other local leaders led several hundred men in forcing the Supreme Court in Springfield to adjourn

Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to social equality, she collected anti-slavery petitions at the age of 17.

Reagan/Evil Empire

The "Evil Empire" speech was a speech delivered by U.S. President Ronald Reagan to the National Association of Evangelicals on March 8, 1983 during the Cold war

ADA

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.

Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 original states of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate by the Second Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, and sent to the states for ratification.

Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773.

Freedmen's Bureau

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an important agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South.

Civil Rights Act

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, and later sexual orientation and gender identity.

Connecticut Compromise

The Connecticut Compromise was an agreement reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation each state would have under the United States Constitution

Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation, or Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, during the Civil War

Fair Labor Standards Act

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 29 U.S.C. § 203 is a United States labor law that creates the right to a minimum wage, and "time-and-a-half" overtime pay when people work over forty hours a week. It also prohibits employment of minors in "oppressive child labor"

Federalist

The Federalist is an American conservative online magazine and podcast that covers politics, policy, culture, and religion, and publishes a newsletter. The site was co-founded by Ben Domenech and Sean Davis and launched in September 2013

French and Indian War

The French and Indian War was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes.

LBJ/Great Society

The Great Society was an ambitious series of policy initiatives, legislation and programs spearheaded by President Lyndon B. Johnson

National Labor Committee

The National Child Labor Committee was a private, non-profit organization in the United States that served as a leading proponent for the national child labor reform movement.

FDR/New Deal

The New Deal included new constraints and safeguards on the banking industry and efforts to re-inflate the economy after prices had fallen sharply. New Deal programs included both laws passed by Congress as well as presidential executive orders during the first term of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

New Jersey Plan

The New Jersey Plan was a proposal for the structure of the United States Government presented by William Paterson during the Constitutional Convention on June 15, 1787

Quartering Act

The Quartering Acts were two or more Acts of British Parliament requiring local governments of the American colonies to provide the British soldiers with housing and food. Each of the Quartering Acts was an amendment to the Mutiny Act and required annual renewal by Parliament.

Reconstruction Amendments

The Reconstruction Amendments, or the Civil War Amendments, are the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments to the United States Constitution, adopted between 1865 and 1870. The amendments were a part of the implementation of the Reconstruction of the American South which occurred after the war.

Revenue Act

The Revenue Act of 1861 had levied the first-ever income tax on American citizens. The act taxed imports, provided for a direct land tax, and imposed a tax of 3% on individual incomes over $800. 1 Against this background, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1862 to expand federal tax revenue to support the war effort.

Seneca Falls

The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention in the United States. Held in July 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, the meeting launched the women's suffrage movement, which more than seven decades later ensured women the right to vote

Sons of Liberty

The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized clandestine political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It played a major role in most colonies in battling the Stamp Act in 1765.

Speaker of the House

The Speaker of the House is responsible for administering the oath of office to the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, giving Members permission to speak on the House floor, designating Members to serve as Speaker pro tempore, counting and declaring all votes, appointing Members to committees

Sugar Act

The Sugar Act 1764, also known as the American Revenue Act 1764 or the American Duties Act, was a revenue-raising act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on 5 April 1764.

Executive

The executive is the part of the government that enforces the law and has responsibility for the governance of a state.

judiciary

The judiciary is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law in legal cases.

KKK

The meaning of Ku Klux Klan is a violent secret fraternal society founded in 1915 in Georgia to maintain white Protestant cultural and political power

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809.

President of the Senate

Under the Constitution, the vice president serves as the president of the Senate and presides over the Senate's daily proceedings. In the absence of the vice president, the Senate's president pro tempore (and others designated by them) presides

Workman's Compensation

Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence.

Veto

a constitutional right to reject a decision or proposal made by a law-making body.

Trial

a formal examination of evidence before a judge, and typically before a jury, in order to decide guilt in a case of criminal or civil proceedings.

Treaty

a formally concluded and ratified agreement between countries.

Union

a political unit constituting an organic whole formed usually from units which were previously governed separately (such as England and Scotland in 1707) and which have surrendered or delegated their principal powers to the government of the whole or to a newly created government (such as the U.S. in 1789)

Appointment

an act of appointing; assigning a job or position to someone.

Stamp Act

an act of the British Parliament in 1765 that exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents. Colonial opposition led to the act's repeal in 1766 and helped encourage the revolutionary movement against the Crown.

Popular Vote

an act of voting by the electorate of a country or area.

Budget

an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time.

Bicameral

bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature.

Constitutional Monarchy

constitutional monarchy, a system of government in which a monarch (see monarchy) shares power with a constitutionally organized government. The monarch may be the de facto head of state or a purely ceremonial leader. The constitution allocates the rest of the government's power to the legislature and judiciary.

Checks and Balances

counterbalancing influences by which an organization or system is regulated, typically those ensuring that political power is not concentrated in the hands of individuals or groups.

Committee

is a group of people appointed for a specific function, typically consisting of members of a larger group.

Totalitarianism

is a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state.

Ratify

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

Supersede

take the place of (a person or thing previously in authority or use); supplant.

Investigation

the action of investigating something or someone; formal or systematic examination or research.

Platform

the declared policy of a political party or group.

Sentence

the judgment formally pronounced upon a person convicted in criminal proceedings, esp the decision as to what punishment is to be imposed. an opinion, judgment, or decision.

Minimum Wage

the lowest wage permitted by law or by a special agreement (such as one with a labor union).