| Fifth Amendment |
an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that guarantees certain rights to accused criminals by providing due process of law, forbidding double jeopardy, and protecting persons from testifying against themselves. |
| framer |
(usu. cap.) someone who writes a new law, esp. one of the statesmen who helped write the U.S. Constitution. [1/2 definitions] |
| John Hancock |
a prominent merchant and statesman who took part in the American Revolution and was a signer of the United States Constitution (b. 1737--d. 1793). [1/2 definitions] |
| judicial activism |
judicial practice based on the belief that courts may play a role in the creation of new policy by broadly interpreting and reinterpreting the language of the Constitution and other laws when doing so best enables the service of justice. |
| limited democracy |
a form of government in which the power of the people is limited to the parameters of a constitution. |
| metamorphic |
exhibiting, characterized by, or pertaining to geologic changes in the structure or constitution of rock. [1/2 definitions] |
| monarchy |
government by a ruler such as a king or queen, or in the name of such monarch, whose power is either absolute or limited by a constitution. [1/3 definitions] |
| Necessary and Proper Clause |
the provision in the U.S. Constitution that Congress will have the power to make laws that are necessary and proper for executing the powers vested by the Constitution. |
| Netherlands |
a country in northern Europe on the North Sea. According to the constitution, Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. However, the government is located in another city called The Hague. In earlier history, the term "Netherlands" referred to the "Low Countries" of Holland, Luxembourg, and Belgium, which are small, low-lying countries of western Europe located next to the sea. |
| Philadelphia |
a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, the largest city in the state and one of the most populous in the U.S., important as a government center during the Revolutionary War and home to Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and The U.S. Constitution were signed. |
| preamble |
(cap.) the introductory section of the U.S. Constitution. [1/3 definitions] |
| reserved powers |
under the U.S. Constitution, those powers not delegated to the U.S. federal government, which are therefore, unless prohibited by the Constitution, reserved for the states and the people. |
| state sovereignty |
the right or power of a U.S. state to govern itself independently of the control of the federal government. In the U.S. Constitution, states are granted sovereignty over all matters that are not specifically delegated to the federal government. [1/2 definitions] |
| states' rights |
in the United States, all rights and powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution nor denied by it to the states. |
| strict construction |
the judicial practice or principle of relying on literal interpretation of the language of a nation's constitution and other laws. |
| tyrant |
a ruler whose power is not constrained by a constitution or by law. [1/3 definitions] |
| unconstitutional |
not according to the constitution of a state or country. |
| Volstead Act |
an act of Congress passed in 1919 and repealed in 1933, enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and forbidding the sale of alcoholic beverages. |