Vocabulary and
Review Notes
• This weeks vocabulary words:
• article
• Amendment
• preamble
• Constitution
• Separation of power
• Limited government
• Checks and balances
• Individual rights
• One of several main parts of a document
• Example: Newspapers have many articles in them.
Article
• A formal or official change made to a law, contract,
constitution, or other legal document.
• Example: There are many amendments that have been
added to the Constitution to help us better define what it
means.
Amendment
• An introduction to a formal document that explains its
purpose.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30OyU4O80i4
Preamble
• Montesquieu’s idea that power should be distributed
amongst many parts of government, not just one person
or branch.
• Example: The United States government exhibits separation
of power through the three branches of government:
executive, legislative, and judicial.
Separation of Power
• Gives citizens more control on how they shape their local
environment and policy; the government can only do
what the people allow it to.
• Example: The state of Florida cannot declare war on the
country of Japan because the Constitution does not give the
state that power.
Limited government
• A system in which each branch of government is able to
check, or restrain, the power of the others.
• Example: Congress is responsible for writing the budget
every year, but the president has to approve it. This shows a
check that the executive branch has on the legislative
branch
Checks and balances
• A detailed written plan of government.
• Example: Every state has a constitution, as well as the
national government in the federalist structure.
Constitution
• The rights that allow people to pursue “life, liberty, and
happiness”
Individual rights
• Colonies were established by King George of England
• The King taxed the colonists so much that they decided to
create a new country with the Declaration of
Independence
• The colonists fought the war for independence and wrote
the first constitution: the Articles of Confederation
History of the Constitution
• When the A of C ended up being too weak to handle the
United States’ problems, the Founding Fathers met to
revise the Articles.
• This meeting ended up being called the Constitutional
Convention.
History of the Constitution
• Virginia Plan: 2-house legislature with a president where
representation was based off population.
• New Jersey Plan: one-house legislature with equal
representation
• Connecticut Compromise (Great Compromise): 2-house
legislature, executive, and judicial branch. Upper house in the
legislature has equal representation based on the New Jersey
Plan, the lower house had proportional rep. based on the
Virginia Plan.
• 3/5 Compromise: When the Founding Father’s decided on the
Great Compromise to create the legislature, they needed to
figure out a way to determine population in the states with
slaves for the House of Representatives. They decided that
slaves would count as 3/5ths of a free person.
Constitutional Convention
• Creates a government with three branches:
• Executive Branch: President, Vice President, and the
Cabinet (advisors)
• Legislative Branch: Congress
• Senate (Equal)
• House of Representatives (proportional)
• Judicial Branch: Supreme Court
U.S. Constitution