Colonial Foundations
This document, signed aboard a ship in 1620, is an early example of colonists agreeing to create a government and obey its laws.
Mayflower Compact
This Thomas Paine pamphlet made the case for American independence in language intended to persuade ordinary colonists.
Common Sense
Before the Constitution, the United States operated under this national framework.
Articles of Confederation
Supporters of the proposed Constitution were known by this name.
Federalists
This famous 1803 Supreme Court case is associated with the principle of judicial review.
Marbury v. Madison
Under this economic system, colonies supplied raw materials and served as markets in order to increase the wealth and power of the mother country.
Mercantilism
This petition was a final attempt by many colonial leaders to reconcile with George III and avoid a complete break with Britain.
Olive Branch Petition
This uprising in Massachusetts became an important example for people who believed the government under the Articles was too weak.
Shays' Rebellion
George Mason objected to the proposed Constitution partly because it lacked this explicit protection of individual liberties.
Bill of Rights/declaration of rights
This principle gives courts the ability to determine whether government actions are consistent with the Constitution.
Judicial review
Roger Williams and William Penn both challenged the idea that government should have this kind of power over an individual's religious beliefs.
power to coerce religious belief/conscience
Revolutionary Americans increasingly insisted that fundamental law should be put in this form so citizens could identify when government exceeded its authority.
a written constitution
The Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan disagreed most importantly over how the states should be represented in this institution.
national legislature/Congress
In Federalist No. 10, this author argued that a large republic could actually help control the danger posed by factions.
James Madison
Unlike religious "toleration," this idea treats religious conscience as an inherent right rather than something government graciously allows
free exercise of religion/religious liberty as a natural right
Adam Smith praised specialization for dramatically increasing production, while this later observer warned that extreme specialization could narrow workers' abilities and increase their dependence.
Alexis de Tocqueville
The Declaration's argument rests on the idea that rights exist prior to government rather than being created by government. These are called ______.
natural rights
The Great Compromise resolved the dispute between large and small states by creating these two different methods of representation in Congress.
representation by population in the House and equal state representation in the Senate
According to Madison, expanding the republic makes it harder for one group to oppress everyone else because the country will contain more of these competing political groups.
Factions
One method of constitutional interpretation asks how the Constitution was understood when it was ratified, while another considers how its broad principles apply to contemporary circumstances. Name both.
originalism and living constitutionalism
English colonists increasingly valued liberty, representative institutions, and rights while simultaneously developing systems of servitude and racial slavery. This illustrates this central tension in American political development.
development of freedom alongside unfreedom
The Revolution did not immediately eliminate slavery, but its language created a serious political problem for defenders of slavery because slavery became increasingly difficult to reconcile with these two revolutionary ideals.
natural rights and liberty/equality
Under this notorious compromise, part of the enslaved population was counted for purposes of representation, increasing the political power of slaveholding states even though enslaved people could not exercise that political power themselves.
Three-fifths Compromise
Hamilton argued that listing rights might actually be dangerous because prohibiting the federal government from doing certain things might accidentally suggest that the government possessed these in the first place.
powers not granted to it by the Constitution
Jefferson worried that acquiring this enormous territory and adding new states fundamentally changed the Union enough that a constitutional amendment might be required.
Louisiana Purchase