Description

an approach that separates itself from direct lobbying through the act of asking the general public to contact legislators and government officials concerning the issue at hand, as opposed to conveying the message to the legislators directly.
Congress- A group of members of congress sharing some interest or charasticics. State- A system for selecting conventional delegates used in about a dozen mostly rural states in which voters must show up at a set time and attend an open meeting to express their presidential preference.
Government controlled directly by citizens. Procedures in some states such as the initiative, the referendum, and the recall give voters a direct impact on policymaking and the political process by means of the voting booth and can therefore be considered forms of direct democracy.
Federal grants given more or less automatically to states or communities to support broad programs in areas such as community development and social services.
an unintentional failure to notice or do something
is a trend or process whereby a large portion of the electorate abandons its previous partisan affiliation, without developing a new one to replace it. It is contrasted with realignment.
Use of the federal budget- taxes, spending, and borrowing- to influence the economy; along with monetary policy, a main tool by which the government can attempt to steer the economy. It is almost entirely determined by Congress and the president.
a regular election of candidates for office, as opposed to a primary election
a type of primary election used to choose candidates who will run in the general election. In a closed primary, only voters registered for the party which is holding the primary may vote.
Ends a filibuster in the Senate
a political committee that can solicit and spend unlimited sums of money
A way of organizing a nation so that 2 or more levels of Government have formal authority over the same land and people. It’s a system of shared power between units of government.
The process where individuals in a society acquire political attitudes, views, and knowledge based on inputs from family, schools the media and others.
those specifically named in the Constitution. They are sometimes called delegated powers or enumerated powers.
occurs whenever one Congress meets after its successor is elected, but before the successor's term begins.
general elections in the United States that are held two years after the quadrennial (four-year) elections for the President of the United States
the privilege of sending mail without payment of postage.
A communication by someone other than a citizen acting on her/his own behalf directed to a governmental decision maker with the hope to influencing her/his decision.
an individual's stance on a given issue, policy, or person is more likely to be strictly defined by their identification with a particular political party
Legal briefs submitted by a “friend of the court” for the purpose of influencing a court’s decision by raising additional points of view and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties.
A judicial philosophy in which judges play minimal policymaking roles, leaving that duty strictly to the legislatures.
political journalism of elections that resembles coverage of horse races because of the focus on polling data, public perception instead of candidate policy, and almost exclusive reporting on candidate differences rather than similarities.
: Activities of members of Congress that help constituents as individuals, particularly by cutting through bureaucratic red tape to get people what they think they have a right to her.
A mutually dependant and advantageous relationship between interest groups interesting in a particular policy, government agencies that administer that policy, and the congressional committees and subcommittees that handle it.
a team of men and women seeking to gain office in an election
practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan
the staff that work within the white house
a strategy unique to the Senate whereby opponents of a piece of legislation use their right to unlimited debate to prevent the Senate from ever voting on a bill
regulations originating with the executive branch, method that presidents can use to control the bureaucracy
an electoral “earthquake” where new issues emerge, new coalitions replace old ones, and the majority party is often displaced by the minority party, critical election periods are sometimes marked by national crisis and may require more than one election to bring about a new party era
federal projects, grants, and contracts available to state and local governments, businesses, colleges, and other institutions in a congressional district
policies for which congress has obligated itself to pay X level of benefits to Y number of recipients
the practice of exchanging favors, especially in politics by reciprocal voting for each other's proposed legislation.
Government manipulation of the supply of money in private hands
a constitutional doctrine that ensures states cannot enact laws that take away the constitutional rights of American citizens that are enshrined in the Bill of Rights
a view that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the original intent of the Framers and many conservatives support this view
the legal right to vote in political elections
the pattern of spending, taxing, and providing grants in the federal system
a writ seeking judicial review
the process of taking legal action
expenditures that are determined by how many eligible beneficiaries there are for a program or by previous obligations of the government and that Congress therefore cannot easily control
the belief that one’s political participation really matters and that there one vote can make a difference
the regular pattern in which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates, in part because they tend to be less conservative than men
an electoral district that returns one office holder to a body with multiple members such as a legislature
a type of veto occurring when Congress adjourns within 10 days of submitting a bill to the president and the president simply lets the bill die by neither signing or vetoing it
is the process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries
in elections in the United States, is a political campaign communication that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate that is not made in cooperation, consultation or concert with or at the request or suggestion of a candidate, candidate’s authorized committee or political party.

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Civics Vocabulary

Crossword

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a crossword?

Crossword puzzles have been published in newspapers and other publications since 1873. They consist of a grid of squares where the player aims to write words both horizontally and vertically.

Next to the crossword will be a series of questions or clues, which relate to the various rows or lines of boxes in the crossword. The player reads the question or clue, and tries to find a word that answers the question in the same amount of letters as there are boxes in the related crossword row or line.

Some of the words will share letters, so will need to match up with each other. The words can vary in length and complexity, as can the clues.

Who is a crossword suitable for?

The fantastic thing about crosswords is, they are completely flexible for whatever age or reading level you need. You can use many words to create a complex crossword for adults, or just a couple of words for younger children.

Crosswords can use any word you like, big or small, so there are literally countless combinations that you can create for templates. It is easy to customise the template to the age or learning level of your students.

How do I create a crossword template?

For the easiest crossword templates, WordMint is the way to go!

Pre-made templates

For a quick and easy pre-made template, simply search through WordMint’s existing 500,000+ templates. With so many to choose from, you’re bound to find the right one for you!

Create your own from scratch

  • Log in to your account (it’s free to join!)
  • Head to ‘My Puzzles’
  • Click ‘Create New Puzzle’ and select ‘Crossword’
  • Select your layout, enter your title and your chosen clues and answers
  • That’s it! The template builder will create your crossword template for you and you can save it to your account, export as a word document or pdf and print!

How do I choose the clues for my crossword?

Once you’ve picked a theme, choose clues that match your students current difficulty level. For younger children, this may be as simple as a question of “What color is the sky?” with an answer of “blue”.

Are crosswords good for students?

Crosswords are a great exercise for students' problem solving and cognitive abilities. Not only do they need to solve a clue and think of the correct answer, but they also have to consider all of the other words in the crossword to make sure the words fit together.

Crosswords are great for building and using vocabulary.

If this is your first time using a crossword with your students, you could create a crossword FAQ template for them to give them the basic instructions.

Can I print my crossword template?

All of our templates can be exported into Microsoft Word to easily print, or you can save your work as a PDF to print for the entire class. Your puzzles get saved into your account for easy access and printing in the future, so you don’t need to worry about saving them at work or at home!

Can I create crosswords in other languages?

Crosswords are a fantastic resource for students learning a foreign language as they test their reading, comprehension and writing all at the same time. When learning a new language, this type of test using multiple different skills is great to solidify students' learning.

We have full support for crossword templates in languages such as Spanish, French and Japanese with diacritics including over 100,000 images, so you can create an entire crossword in your target language including all of the titles, and clues.