Constitution Vocabulary

A plan that provides the rules for government

• Legislative Branch

• Constitution

• Supreme Court

• President

America's first government that gave the states too much power and made the federal government too weak.

• The Constitution

• The Declaration of Independence

• Articles of Confederation

• The Virginia Plan

The first 10 amendments to the Constitution that describe 10 rights all Americans have.

• The Bill of Rights

• The New Jersey Plan

• The Big Ten

• The Right Stuff

Created a bicameral legislature: one house had equal representation for each state, the other house had representation based on population.

• Articles of Confederation

• Declaration of Independence

• House of Representatives

• The Great Compromise

Each slave counted as 3/5 of a person when counting a state's population.

• The Slave Compromise

• The Racist Compromise

• The Great Compromise

• Three-Fifths Compromise

A legislature consisting of two parts, or houses

• Bicameral

• Unicameral

• Dual Legislature

• Double House Legislature

A system in which power is divided between the national and state governments: Central governments do some jobs and local governments do others.

• Federalism

• Division of Powers

• Checks and Balances

• Localism

the system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other two branches

• Federalism

• Separation of Powers

• Checks and Balances

• Congress

A change or addition to the Constitution

• Bill

• Appendix

• Amendment

• Glossary

To reject a bill

• Veto

• Amendment

• Ratify

• Overrule