American Politics and the US
Constitution - C963 WGU Questions
and Answers (100% Pass)
natrual rights
✓ Life, Liberty, and Property
John Locke
✓ 17th century English philosopher who opposed the Divine Right of Kings and who
asserted that people have a natural right to life, liberty, and property.
State of Nature
✓ Hypothetical condition assumed to exist in the absence of government where
human beings live in "complete" freedom and general equality.
Due Process
✓ involves the government's obligation to treat all citizens fairly. Such a requirement
lessens the extent to which government power can be exercised over the individual,
making the power differential between the two more fair, and ensuring a general
sense of political equality
Social Contract
✓ A voluntary agreement among individuals to secure their rights and welfare by
creating a government and abiding by its rules.
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
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✓ One of the first individuals to contribute to the idea of the social contract was a
pre-Enlightenment English philosopher
Leviathan (1651): Thomas Hobbes
✓ Hobbes argues that society is not something natural and immutable, but rather it is
something created by us.
Labor Movement
✓ the formation of labor unions, during the 1880's, for the workers to receive better
treatment by
Constitution
✓ A document which spells out the principles by which a government runs and the
fundamental laws that govern a society
Bill of Rights
✓ The first ten amendments to the Constitution
Declaration of Independence
✓ the document recording the proclamation of the second Continental Congress (4
July 1776) asserting the independence of the colonies from Great Britain
Thomas Jefferson
✓ Wrote the Declaration of Independence
Shays's Rebellion (1786-1787)
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✓ which almost resulted in potential mob rule, suggested there might be too much
democracy at play, and that maybe individual liberty was going too far
Articles of Confederation
✓ A weak constitution that governed America during the Revolutionary War.
Federalist no. 51
✓ Argues that separation of powers within the national government is the best way to
prevent the concentration of power in the hands of one person or a single group.
First Amendment
✓ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a
redress of grievances.
Second Amendment
✓ Right to keep and bear arms
Third Amendment
✓ The government may not house soldiers in private homes without consent of the
owner
Forth Amendment
✓ It protects people against unfair searches of their homes; search and seizure.
Fifth Amendment
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✓ A constitutional amendment designed to protect the rights of persons accused of
crimes, including protection against double jeopardy, self-incrimination, and
punishment without due process of law.
Sixth Amendment
✓ Right to a speedy and public trial
Seventh Amendment
✓ Right to a trial by jury in civil cases
Eighth Amendment
✓ No cruel and unusual punishment
Nineth Amendment
✓ peoples rights are not just limited to those listed in the Constitution and Bill of
Rights
Tenth Amendment
✓ Amendment stating that the powers not delegated to the federal gov. are reserved
to the states
bicameral legislature
✓ A law making body made of two houses (bi means 2). Example: Congress (our
legislature) is made of two house - The House of Representatives and The Senate.
House of Representatives
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