goods, such as clean air and clean water, that everyone must share a choice that government makes in response to a political issue; a policy is a course of action taken with regard to some problem a basic principle of traditional democratic theory that describes the relationship between the few leaders and the many followers groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics; these features distinguish them from traditional interest groups a theory about how a democratic government makes its decisions; its cornerstones are equality in voting, effective participation, enlightened understanding, final control over the agenda, and inclusion opponents of the Constitution at the time when the states were contemplating its adoption; they argued that the Constitution was a class-based document, that it would erode fundamental liberties, and that it would weaken the power of the states the first constitution of the United States, adopted by the Congress in 1777 and enacted in 1781; it established a national legislature, the Continental Congress, but most authority rested with the state legislatures the first ten amendments to the U

1. public goods

goods, such as clean air and clean water, that everyone must share

2. public policy

a choice that government makes in response to a political issue; a policy is a course of action taken with regard to some problem

3. representation

a basic principle of traditional democratic theory that describes the relationship between the few leaders and the many followers

4. single-issue groups

groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics; these features distinguish them from traditional interest groups

5. traditional democratic theory

a theory about how a democratic government makes its decisions; its cornerstones are equality in voting, effective participation, enlightened understanding, final control over the agenda, and inclusion

6. Anti-Federalists

opponents of the Constitution at the time when the states were contemplating its adoption; they argued that the Constitution was a class-based document, that it would erode fundamental liberties, and that it would weaken the power of the states

7. Articles of Confederation

the first constitution of the United States, adopted by the Congress in 1777 and enacted in 1781; it established a national legislature, the Continental Congress, but most authority rested with the state legislatures

8. Bill of Rights

the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, drafted in response to the concerns of Anti-Federalists; these amendments define such basic liberties as freedom of religion, speech, and press, and offer protections against arbitrary searches by the police and being held without talking to a lawyer

9. checks and balances

an important part of the Madisonian model designed to limit government's power by requiring that power be balanced among the different governmental institutions; these institutions continually check one another's activities; this system reflects Madison's goal of setting power against power

10. Connecticut Compromise

the compromise reached at the Constitutional Convention that established two houses of Congress; the House of Representatives, in which representation is based on a state's share of the U.S. population, and the Senate, in which each state has two representatives