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HarvardX: HLS0ax Introduction to American Civics: Presented by Zero-L

Course Vocabulary List

Below is a comprehensive list of all the vocabulary found in the course. This vocabulary list focuses primarily on how various terms are used in this course. Lists such as these can be helpful up to a point, but, as you will soon see, learning civics is not a matter of memorizing terms. Legal terms often have context-specific nuances that we have deliberately put to one side for purposes of this course.

Kinds of Law

  • Domestic Law: The law that is made by U.S. sovereigns and governs activities on U.S. soil. In some cases, it may also govern U.S. citizens or others within the jurisdictional power of the U.S. even though they may not be physically present in the U.S.  
  • Constitutional Law: The body of law that derives from the U.S. Constitution. It defines the role of the branches of federal government, divides authority between the federal government and the states, and enumerates the basic rights of citizens. States also have constitutional law based on their state constitutions, but when we speak of it we typically specify “state constitutional law.”  
  • Statute: A law passed by the legislative branch. 
  • Bicameralism: Refers to the practice of having two “chambers” or “houses” of the legislative branch, each of which must pass a bill before it becomes law. A federal statute must be passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate before it becomes law. 
  • Presentment: Refers to the practice of presenting a federal statute passed by both the House and Senate to the President for signature before it becomes law. 
  • Regulation: A rule issued by a government agency that has the force of law. Sometimes the word “regulation” or “regulate” is also used more informally by lawyers to refer to governance. For example, “how should we regulate autonomous vehicles?”

What is Law?

  • Liability: Legal responsibility. Someone is liable for a harm suffered by a party when he or she is legally and financially responsible for that harm. 

Federal Vs. State Law

  • Federal: Relating to the U.S. government (as opposed to U.S. state governments).
  • Federalism: A form of government, such as in the U.S., in which power is divided between a central (federal) government and regional (state) governments.
  • Invalid: Not legally binding. In the context of this module, a law could be said to be invalid if it violates the Constitution.
  • Constitutional Amendment: A change to the Constitution proposed either by the Congress, with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures.
  • Duty to Retreat: Also known as a “retreat rule.” A requirement of the criminal law of some states that you may not claim self-defense if you could have safely retreated, but did not, before using deadly force against an attacker.

How a Bill becomes a Law

  • Bill: A proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become a law until it is passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate and either approved by the President or a Presidential veto is overcome.
  • Joint Resolution: A legislative measure that requires approval by the Senate and House of Representatives and is presented to the President for approval. It is like a Bill except it cannot be used to propose a constitutional amendment.
  • Concurrent Resolution: A legislative measure adopted by the Senate and House of Representatives that does not require the approval of the President. A concurrent resolution does not have the force of law.
  • Simple Resolution: A legislative measure passed by either the Senate or the House of Representatives (but not the other body) and does not require the approval of the President. A simple resolution does not have the force of law.
  • Tabling: To postpone or suspend consideration of a pending motion or piece of legislation.
  • Conference Committee: A committee made up of members from both the Senate and House of Representatives that meets, negotiates, and agrees to a new, compromise version of a particular bill when each house passes a different version.
  • Pocket Veto: A legislative maneuver that allows a president to exercise veto power. When Congress is no longer in session, the President can perform a pocket veto by taking no action on a bill for ten days.

Introduction to the Separation of Powers

  • Separation of powers (also called “Checks and Balances”) – The division of the three branches of the federal government – the legislative, judicial, and executive powers. The underlying idea of this Constitutional design is that the competition for authority among the three branches will discourage anyone from supremacy or tyranny.
  • Declaration of Independence: The formal public announcement by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, reciting the grievances of the American colonies against the British government and declaring them to be free and independent states.
  • Executive branch: The managerial branch of the U.S. government, which includes the President, the police force, the military, the writer of the checks, the printer of the money, the builder of the roads, and the manager of the post office.
  • Legislative branch: The rule-making body of the U.S. government, which operates as a large deliberative body negotiating and coming to general conclusions in the forms of laws. It is made up by the House of Representatives and the Senate, collectively referred to as “Congress."
  • Judicial branch: The Courts. The branch responsible for deciding cases or controversies; the branch that claims responsibility for saying what the law is.
  • President of the United States: The head of state and head of government who directs the executive branch and serves as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.
  • Veto: When the president refuses to sign a bill presented for signature but returns the bill with reasons not to sign it.
  • Constitutional democracy: A system of government based on popular sovereignty in which the structures, powers, and limits of government are set forth in a constitution.
  • Parliamentary system: A system of democratic governance that combines legislative and executive powers in many ways.
  • Article I of the Constitution: The section of the U.S. Constitution that establishes and empowers the Legislative branch of the federal government.
  • Article II of the Constitution: The section of the U.S. Constitution that establishes and empowers the Executive branch of the federal government.
  • Bill of Rights: The first ten Amendments to the Constitution, submitted to the states for ratification in 1789 and ratified in 1791.
  • Article III of the Constitution: The section of the U.S. Constitution that establishes and empowers the Judicial branch of the federal government.

Introduction to the Administrative State

  • Administrative Law: The area of law governing agencies, a core concern of which is protecting against the excesses of agency power.
  • Independent Agencies: Agencies that are somewhat insulated from politics; instead of a single head, they are made of multiple members from different political parties who sit as a panel and vote on agency decisions.
  • Executive Agencies (Executive Branch Agencies): Agencies that are headed by individual appointees nominated by the President who can be removed by the President for any reason.
  • New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt's executive program that greatly expanded federal agencies after the Great Depression, intended to build a social safety net and help the economy recover.

An Historical Overview of the Constitution

  • Reconstruction Period: The post-Civil War period (1865-1877) which marked the end of slavery, the rebuilding of the South, and the passing of the Reconstruction Amendments.
  • Articles of Confederation: An agreement among the 13 original states arranging themselves as a confederacy or a federation.
  • Habeas corpus: A writ providing the right to a hearing after you are effectively arrested or detained by the government that can only be suspended by Congress.
  • Bill of Rights: The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791, and guaranteeing rights such as the freedoms of speech, assembly, and worship.
  • Reconstruction Amendments: Three constitutional amendments enacted in the Reconstruction Period after the Civil War. The 13th Amendment: The first Reconstruction Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting slavery. The 14th Amendment: The second Reconstruction Amendment to the Constitution stating that no state in the union could deprive anybody of due process of law or the equal protection of the laws. The 15th Amendment: The third Reconstruction Amendment to the Constitution stating that no state could abridge anybody’s right to vote on the basis of race.
  • Plessy v. Ferguson: A landmark Supreme Court decision made in 1896 that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality – a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal.”
  • Brown v. Board of Education: A landmark Supreme Court decision made in 1954 in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional, rejecting the doctrine of “separate but equal.”
  • Lochner Period: A period of American constitutional history (usually dated from around 1897 to 1937) in which the Supreme Court interpreted the Due Process Clause to protect economic rights and struck down several laws meant to improve working conditions, wages or hours as interfering with the liberty to contract. The era is named after a particular case, Lochner v. New York, 198 US 45 (1905), where the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a New York law limiting the number of hours that could be worked in a bakery.
  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (“NAACP”): A civil rights organization in the United States formed in 1909 to advance justice for African Americans.