AP®︎ US History: Topic 3.9 Flashcards

The 1787 framework, operating in 1789, that replaced the loose confederation with a federal republic whose stronger national government could act directly on individuals

A national government restrained by federalism, separated powers, checks, and a written constitution but empowered to tax, regulate commerce, enforce laws, and address national problems

The principle that legitimate political authority comes from the people, expressed by the Constitution’s opening words, “We the People.”

A system in which citizens choose representatives to govern for them rather than deciding national policy through direct democracy

The constitutional division of sovereignty between the national government and state governments, with each exercising authority over the same people

Powers specifically granted to the national government, including taxation, borrowing, regulating commerce, coining money, declaring war, and maintaining armed forces

Powers exercised by both the national and state governments, such as the power to levy taxes

Powers not delegated to the United States or prohibited to the states and therefore retained by the states or the people

The amendment reserving powers not delegated to the United States or prohibited to the states to the states or the people

The rule that the Constitution, valid federal laws, and treaties are the supreme law, prevailing over conflicting state laws

Congress’s authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the states, and with American Indian tribes

The clause allowing Congress to use reasonable means not expressly listed when carrying out its enumerated powers

The horizontal division of national authority among legislative, executive, and judicial branches to prevent concentrated power

The system in which each branch can limit the others through powers such as vetoes, overrides, confirmation, impeachment, and judicial review

The two-house legislature created by Article I, consisting of the population-based House and the equal-state Senate

The directly elected chamber of Congress whose members serve two-year terms and whose state delegations are apportioned by population

The chamber giving every state two senators serving staggered six-year terms, originally selected by state legislatures

The House approves formal charges against a civil officer, and the Senate tries the case and may convict by a two-thirds vote of those present

The president may reject legislation, but two-thirds of each house of Congress can enact it over the veto

The Senate confirms major presidential appointments and approves treaties, with treaties requiring two-thirds of senators present

The Article II executive, chosen for a four-year term, who enforces federal laws, commands the armed forces, vetoes bills, and conducts diplomacy subject to checks

The indirect presidential selection system in which each state receives electors equal to its total representation in the House and Senate

The Article III court system headed by the Supreme Court, with life-tenured judges and authority over cases arising under federal law

Amendments are proposed by two-thirds of both houses or a convention requested by two-thirds of the states and ratified by three-fourths of the states

The first ten amendments, ratified in 1791, that added explicit protections for individual liberties and reserved powers

A legislative act declaring a person guilty without a judicial trial, prohibited by the Constitution

A law that criminalizes conduct retroactively, prohibited by the Constitution

The right of a detained person to challenge the legality of imprisonment, suspendable only during rebellion or invasion when public safety requires it

The provision counting enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation and direct taxation, increasing slaveholding states’ political power

The provision preventing Congress from prohibiting the international slave trade before 1808

The constitutional provision requiring the return of people held to service or labor who escaped into another state

Both preserved republicanism and state governments, but the Constitution added federal supremacy, direct taxation, commerce power, bicameralism, and separate executive and judicial branches

The power to declare laws or executive actions unconstitutional; not explicitly stated in the Constitution and firmly established through Marbury v. Madison in 1803