Key Terms - Foundations of American Government

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    Eminent Domain

    the right of a government or its agent to expropriate private property for public use
  • John Hancock

    an American merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution.
  • E Pluribus Unum

    out of many, one (the motto of the US).
  • Declaration of Independence

    an assertion by a defined territory that is independant and constitutes a state
  • John Trumbull Sr.

    one of the few Americans who served as governor in both a pre-Revolutionary colony and a post-Revolutionary state.
  • John Jay

    John Jay was an American statesman, Patriot, diplomat, one of the Founding Fathers of the US
  • John Peter Muhlenberg

    After the war, he was elected the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
  • U.S. Constitution

    The supreme law of the US which states: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
  • Benjamin Rush

    A founding father of the US and a civic leader in Philadelphia
  • Charles Carroll

    He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and Confederation Congress and later as first United States Senator for Maryland.
  • John Witherspoon

    a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister and a Founding Father of the United States
  • Bill of Rights

    The first 10 amendments
  • Fifth Amendment

    Allows individuals to decline to answer questions where the answer might incriminate them.
  • Alex De Tocqueville (5 Principles)

    a French diplomat, political scientist, and historian. Liberty, Egalitarianism, Individualism, Populism, and Laissez-faire
  • "In God We Trust"

    the official motto of the United States