Unit 2 Vocabulary:
Foundations and Principles of Government and the Constitution
Directions: Match each term with its definition found below.
Word Bank A
14th Amendment
18th Amendment
Amendment
Anti-Federalists
Articles of Confederation
Bill of Rights
Checks and Balances
Citizen
Civil Liberties
Common Law
Consent of the Governed
Concurrent Powers
Delegated Powers
Eminent Domain
English Bill of Rights
1. ________________________ This created America's first government in 1781. However it created a weak national
government with no executive or judicial branches, and so was replaced by the U.S. Constitution in 1789.
2. ________________________ A change or addition to the Constitution. It must be proposed by a two-thirds vote of
both houses of Congress or by a convention called by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures.
It must be ratified (approved) by three-fourths of the states.
3. ________________________ People who opposed the ratification of the U.S. Constitution because it made the national
(federal) government too powerful and did not include a Bill of Rights.
4. ________________________ The principle that the government gets its right to govern from the people. This idea of
John Locke's was later included in the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson.
5. ________________________ Freedoms that protect citizens from the government by setting limits on it so that it can
not abuse its power and interfere with the lives of its citizens.
6. ________________________ Powers (like taxation) that both the national and the state governments have.
7. ________________________ The first ten amendments to the Constitution that restrict the federal government's power
to take away certain basic rights of the people.
8. ________________________ This guarantees equal protection to all citizens, and applies the Bill of Rights to state and
local governments (known as incorporation).
9. _______________________ A person who is a legal member of a country by birth or by law.
10. ________________________ An act passed by Parliament in 1689 which limited the power of the monarch. The
United States later adopted this concept of limited government into its Constitution.
11. ________________________ The body of unwritten law based on customs and the decisions of judges. It originated
in England and was later applied in the United States.
12. ________________________ Powers specifically given to Congress by the U.S. Constitution found in Article One,
Section Eight. For example: raising an army, coining money, and regulating interstate commerce.
13. ________________________ This established prohibition (outlawing alcohol), later repealed by the 21st Amendment.
14. ________________________The way in which the powers of government are divided among the three branches so
that each branch may limit the other branches. For example: the President may veto laws passed by Congress;
Congress can override presidential vetoes; while the Supreme Court may declare laws unconstitutional.
15. ________________________ Power of the government to take private property for public use as long as a fair price is
paid (just compensation). This power is found under the 5th Amendment.
Directions: Match each term with its definition found below.
Word Bank B
Equal Protection Under Law
Federalism
Federalists
Framers of the Constitution
Judicial Review
Limited Government
Magna Carta
Majority Rule
Mayflower Compact
Popular Sovereignty
Ratification
Reserved Powers
Separation of Powers
Veto
16. ________________________ A principle of democracy whereby the greater number of votes should elect officials,
pass laws, and determine governmental policies.
17. ________________________ The right of all persons to have the same access to the law and courts, and to be treated
equally by the law, the courts, and by government. This right is found in the 14th Amendment.
18. ________________________ Chief executive's power to reject a bill passed by a legislature. This power belongs to
both the President of the U.S. and the Governor of a state.
19. ________________________ The name given to the supporters of a strong national (federal) government who urged
approval (ratification) of the U.S. Constitution by the thirteen original states.
20. ________________________ The power of the Supreme Court to determine if a government law or action is
constitutional or unconstitutional. This power was established in the 1803 case of Marbury v. Madison.
21. ________________________ A document drawn up by English nobles in 1215 that limited the King's power, spelled
out certain rights, and recognized that all people, including the government and monarch, are subject to the law.
22. ________________________ This was the governing document of the Plymouth Colony founded in 1620 and became
the first basis for written laws in the New World. It was named after the ship that brought the Pilgrims.
23. ________________________ Formal approval or consent given to a constitution, constitutional amendment, or treaty
before it goes into effect.
24. ________________________ A basic principle of American government by which the government is restricted in
what it may do, and that each person has rights the government cannot take away without due process.
25. ________________________ Rule by the people. Basic principle of the American government in which the people
are the source of any and all governmental power, and that government can exist only with the consent of the
governed.
26. ________________________ A form of political organization in which government power is divided between a
central (national) government and the state governments.
27. ________________________ The division of governmental power among the three branches (legislative, executive,
and judicial) that must cooperate in decision-making.
28. ________________________ Group of delegates who drafted the United States Constitution at the Philadelphia
Convention in 1787.
29. ________________________ Those powers that the Constitution does not grant to the national (federal) government
and belong only to the states. For example: marriage and divorce laws, driver licenses, requirements for high
school diplomas.