Question 1

bicameral

Accepted Answer

a legislative body composed of two chambers.

Question 2

term

Accepted Answer

two year period of time during which Congress meets.

Question 3

session

Accepted Answer

period of time during which, each year, Congress assembles and conducts business.

Question 4

convenes

Accepted Answer

to begin a new session of Congress.

Question 5

adjourn

Accepted Answer

suspend, as in a session of Congress.

Question 6

recess

Accepted Answer

a time when both houses of Congress temporarily suspend business.

Question 7

prorogue

Accepted Answer

adjourn, as in a legislative session.

Question 8

special session

Accepted Answer

an extraordinary session of a legislative body called to deal with an emergency situation.

Question 9

apportion

Accepted Answer

assign to a particular use.

Question 10

reapportion

Accepted Answer

redistribute, as in seats in a legislative body.

Question 11

off-year election

Accepted Answer

a congressional election that occurs between presidential election years.

Question 12

single-member district

Accepted Answer

the electoral district from which one person is chosen by voters for each elected office.

Question 13

at-large

Accepted Answer

election of officeholder by voters of an entire government unit (state or country) rather than by voters of a district of a subdivision.

Question 14

gerrymander

Accepted Answer

drawing of electoral district lines to the advantage of a party or group.

Question 15

incumbent

Accepted Answer

current officeholder.

Question 16

continuous body

Accepted Answer

governing unit (e.g. the US Senate) whose seats are never all up for election at the same time.

Question 17

constituency

Accepted Answer

people and interests that an elected official represents.

Question 18

delegate

Accepted Answer

representatives; congress members who cast votes based on the wishes of their constituents.

Question 19

trustee

Accepted Answer

the lawmaker who votes based on their conscience and judgment, not the views of their constituents.

Question 20

partisan

Accepted Answer

believe they owe their first allegiance to their political party.

Question 21

bill

Accepted Answer

a proposed law presented to a legislative body for consideration.

Question 22

politico

Accepted Answer

a lawmaker who attempts to balance the basic elements of trustee, delegate, and partisan roles.

Question 23

floor consideration

Accepted Answer

a process by which proposed laws are considered and acted upon by full membership of House or Senate.

Question 24

oversight function

Accepted Answer

review by legislative committees of policies and programs of the executive branch.

Question 25

franking privilege

Accepted Answer

benefit allowing members of Congress to mail letters and other materials postage-free.

Question 26

Expressed powers

Accepted Answer

Powers that are stated in the constitution.

Question 27

Implied powers

Accepted Answer

Powers that aren't implied in the constitution but are draw from expressed powers.

Question 28

Inherit powers

Accepted Answer

Powers that belong to all sovereign nations.

Question 29

strict constructionist

Accepted Answer

an approach to constitutional interpretation that emphasizes the Framers' original intentions.

Question 30

liberal constructionist

Accepted Answer

an approach that argues for a broad interpretation of the provisions of the Constitution, particularly those granting powers to the Federal Government.

Question 31

consensus

Accepted Answer

general agreement among various groups on fundamental matters; broad agreement on public questions.

Question 32

chief of state

Accepted Answer

term for the President as the ceremonial head of the U.S., the symbol of all the people of the nation.

Question 33

chief executive

Accepted Answer

A term used for the President as vested with the executive (meaning the power to carry out/enforce the law) power of the United States.

Question 34

chief administrator

Accepted Answer

President is the head of the administration which includes all the various components of the executive branch of the Federal Government; the Federal bureaucracy.

Question 35

chief diplomat

Accepted Answer

President is the main architect of foreign policy and the U.S. spokesperson to other countries.

Question 36

commander in chief

Accepted Answer

President is the top-ranking official in charge of all the U.S. military forces.

Question 37

chief legislator

Accepted Answer

President is the architect of public policy and the one who sets the agenda for Congress previewed annually at the State of the Union.

Question 38

chief of party

Accepted Answer

President acts as the most visible figure and therefore the leader of her/his political party.

Question 39

chief citizen

Accepted Answer

President is the representative of the people; works for the public interest.

Question 40

Presidential Succession Act of 1947

Accepted Answer

law specifying the order of presidential succession following the Vice President.

Question 41

balance the ticket

Accepted Answer

when a presidential candidate chooses a running mate who can strengthen her/his chance of being elected by virtue of certain ideological, geographic, racial, ethnic, gender, or other characteristics.

Question 42

presidential electors

Accepted Answer

People elected by the voters to represent them in making a formal selection of the Vice President and President.

Question 43

electoral college

Accepted Answer

Group of persons chosen in each State and the District of Columbia (D.C) every four years who make a formal selection of the President and Vice President.

Question 44

electoral votes

Accepted Answer

Votes cast by electors in the electoral college.

Question 45

presidential primary

Accepted Answer

An election in which a party's voters choose state party organization's delegates to their party's presidential nomination and/or express a preference for their party's presidential nomination.

Question 46

winner-take-all

Accepted Answer

An almost obsolete system whereby a presidential aspirant who won the preference vote in a primary automatically won all the delegates chosen in the primary.

Question 47

proportional representation

Accepted Answer

Proposal by which each presidential candidate would receive the same share of a State's electoral vote as he or she received in the State's popular vote.

Question 48

national convention

Accepted Answer

Meeting at which a party's delegates vote to pick their presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

Question 49

platform

Accepted Answer

A political party's formal statement of basic principles stands on major issues, and objectives.

Question 50

keynote address

Accepted Answer

Speech given at a party convention to set the tone for the convention and the campaign to come.

Question 51

district plan

Accepted Answer

Proposal for choosing presidential electors by which two electors would be selected in each State according to the Statewide popular vote and the other electors would be selected separately in each of the State's congressional districts.

Question 52

proportional plan

Accepted Answer

Proposal by which each presidential candidate would receive the same share of a State's electoral vote as he or she received in the State's popular vote.

Question 53

direct popular election

Accepted Answer

Proposal to do away with the electoral college and allow the people to vote away with the electoral college and allow the people to vote directly for President and Vice President.

Question 54

electorate

Accepted Answer

All of the people entitled to vote in a given election.

Question 55

national bonus plan

Accepted Answer

Proposal for electing a President by which the winner of the popular vote would receive a bonus of 102 electoral votes in addition to his or her State-based electoral college votes. If no one received at least 321 electoral votes, a run-off election would be held.

Question 56

inferior courts

Accepted Answer

the lower federal courts, beneath the Supreme Court.

Question 57

jurisdiction

Accepted Answer

the authority of a court of hear a case.

Question 58

exclusive jurisdiction

Accepted Answer

power of the federal courts alone to hear certain cases.

Question 59

concurrent jurisdiction

Accepted Answer

power shared by federal and State courts to hear certain cases.

Question 60

plaintiff

Accepted Answer

in civil law, the party who brings a suit or some other legal action against another (the defendant) in court.

Question 61

defendant

Accepted Answer

in a civil suit, the person against whom a court action is brought by the plaintiff; in a criminal case, the person charged with the crime.

Question 62

original jurisdiction

Accepted Answer

the power of a court to hear a case first, before any other court.

Question 63

appellate jurisdiction

Accepted Answer

the authority of a court to review decisions of inferior (lower) courts.

Question 64

criminal case

Accepted Answer

a case in which a defendant is tried for committing a crime as defined by the law.

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