American Government

1. Judicial Review:

Marbury Vs Madison started judicial review. President Thomas Jefferson denied a job to William Marbury to be justice of peace and the court was unable to force the president to seat him. This new court ruling gave the courts more power. Basically if the court had two opposing laws they would be the ones to decide whether or not which law was constitutional and would approve in favor of the law that they deemed constitutional.          Source: history.com

1. Washington’s Farewell Address:

It was in Washington’s farewell address within a newspaper to the public that he made known that he would not be running for a third term as president. The address was 32 pages long and took two years to write. He encouraged the American people to not make permanent alliances with any country and to have temporary alliances only in emergencies. He wanted America to truly be independent.                Source: ourdocuments.gov

1. Ex post Facto:

Creating a law and then backdating it so that the law was technically created at a specified date in the past so that individuals who had committed the crime when it was not a crime can now be prosecuted.  Source: about.com

1. Social Contract:

A social contract is the theory of where the government came from originally. This theory was started by Thomas Hobbes. He states that the people as a group decided to give up some of their power for the overall wellbeing of the group. John Locke believed that the role of the individual was very important and the people had an obligation to have a revolution if at any time the government became too powerful. These men greatly influenced the founding fathers. Source: about.com

1. Electoral College:

Each state has representatives that were chosen indirectly by those states residents. The representative has the same views as the popular vote of the state. When a presidential election occurs it is the Electoral College’s votes that truly pick the next president. Although the representative does have the same views as the popular opinion of the state representatives can vote how they choose. Hence, Bush was reelected. Source: howstuffworks.com

1. Civil Liberties:

Basic rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the constitution.  These rights include:  freedom of speech, the right to privacy, the right to a fair court trial, the right to marry and the right to vote.

Source: civilrights.findlaw.com

1. De facto segregation:

Schools where legally there was no segregation but segregation continued anyway because of social racism. Source: law.cornell.edu

1. Unilateralism:

The concept of approaching foreign policy without regard of what other countries may say or do. Whether or not to use this approach is highly debated over the years within the USA. One major example is the Iraqi War. Some say we should not have become involved and others say it was our duty as one of the most powerful countries in the world to go in and “keep the peace.”