American Government - Key Terms Chapter 2

Anti-Federalist: An individual who opposed the ratification of the new Constitution in 1787. The Anti-Federalists were opposed to a strong central government. bicameral legislature: The division of a legislature into two separate assemblies. Checks and Balances: A major principle of the American system of government whereby each branch of the government can check the actions of the others. Confederation: A political system in which states or regional governments retain ultimate authority except for those powers they expressly delegate to a central government. A voluntary association of independent states, in which the member states agree to limited restraints on their freedom of action. Electoral College: A group of persons called electors selected by the voters in each state and the District of Columbia; this group officially elects the president and vice president of the United States. The number of electors in each state is equal to the number of each state's representatives in both chambers of Congress. Federalist: The name given to one who was in favor of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and the creation of a federal union with a strong central government. Federal System: A system of government in which power is divided between a central government and regional, or subdivisional, governments. Each level must have some domain in which its policies are dominant and some genuine political or constitutional guarantee of its authority. Great Compromise: The compromise between the New Jersey and Virginia plans that created one chamber of the Congress based on population and one chamber representing each state equally; also called the Connecticut Compromise. Madisonian Model: A structure of government proposed by James Madison in which the powers of the government are separated into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Natural Rights: Rights held to be inherent in natural law, not dependent on governments. John Locke stated that natural law, being superior to human law, specifies certain rights of "life, liberty, and property." These rights, altered to become "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," are asserted in the Declaration of Independence. Ratification: Formal approval. Representative Assembly: A legislature composed of individuals who represent the population. separation of powers: The principle of dividing governmental powers among different branches of government. social contract: A theory of politics that asserts that individuals form political communities by a process of mutual consent, giving up a measure of their individual liberty in order to gain the protection of government. State: A group of people occupying a specific area and organized under one government; may be either a nation or a subunit of a nation. supremacy doctrine: A doctrine that asserts the priority of national law over state laws. This principle is rooted in Article VI of the Constitution, which provides that the Constitution, the laws passed by the national government under its constitutional powers, and all treaties constitute the supreme law of the land. unicameral legislature: A legislature with only one legislative chamber, as opposed to a bicameral (two-chamber) legislature, such as the U.S. Congress. Today, Nebraska is the only state in the Union with a unicameral legislature.