Foundations of American Democracy

Question	Answer
Republic	A form of government in which citizens choose their leaders by voting
Separation of Powers	An act of vesting the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of government in separate bodies
Mandates	Terms set by the national government that states must meet in order to get the federal grant money
Necessary and Proper Clause	Constitutional authorization for Congress to make any law required to carry out its expressed powers
Implied Powers	Powers not specifically mentioned in the Constitution
Factions	Political groups that agree on objectives and policies
Supremacy Clause	Constitution is supreme over federal law and federal law is supreme over state law
Commerce Clause	A clause stating that Congress can regulate interstate and international trade
Checks and Balances	A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power
Majority Rule	Idea that more than 50% will have the power to make decisions binding upon the whole
Limited Government	Everybody has to follow the same laws, even members of the government
Popular Sovereignty	the government is controlled by the people
Federalism	a system of government in which powers are shared by a national and local governments
Judicial Review	The Supreme Court has the authority to decide if government actions are constitutional or not
Article	Seven sections of the Constitution that detail the core components of how the framers wanted the government to run the country.

Resource summary

	Created by Brian Grismore over 1 year ago