Philosophers
This thinker believed strong government was necessary to prevent insecurity and disorder.
Thomas Hobbes
This 1765 law taxed printed materials and generated major colonial resistance
Stamp Act
America's first national framework of government
Articles of Confederation
This plan favored representation based largely on population.
Virginia Plan
This founding document declares that “all men are created equal” and possess unalienable rights, despite being written in a society where slavery remained legal.
Declaration of Independence
Natural rights, consent of the governed, and the right to resist tyrannical government are most associated with this thinker.
John Locke
This phrase summarized the colonial argument that Parliament should not tax people who lacked representation.
"No taxation without representation"
This principle divides governmental authority between the national and state governments.
Federalism
This plan protected smaller states by maintaining equal state representation.
New Jersey Plan
This constitutional formula increased slaveholding states' representation without granting enslaved people political rights.
Three Fifths Compromise/Clause
This thinker is most closely associated with dividing political authority to prevent concentrated power.
Montesquieu
Britain's enormous debt after this conflict/war contributed to attempts to raise additional revenue from the colonies.
Seven Years' War/French and Indian War
This principle distributes legislative, executive, and judicial functions among different institutions.
Separation of powers
This compromise created a population-based House and equal representation in the Senate.
Great/Connecticut Compromise
These supporters of the Constitution argued that the United States needed a stronger national government than the Articles of Confederation provided.
Federalists
Popular sovereignty and the general will are particularly associated with this philosopher.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
These punitive British measures following the Boston Tea Party helped push the colonies toward coordinated resistance.
Coercive/Intolerable Acts
Under the Constitution, the president can veto legislation, Congress can override that veto, and federal courts can review laws. These are examples of this constitutional principle designed to prevent any one branch from dominating the government.
Checks and Balances
This delegate arrived at the Constitutional Convention with an extensive plan for national government, took detailed notes of the proceedings, and became one of the Constitution's most influential architects.
James Madison
Anti-Federalist opposition helped produce a promise that this would be added to the Constitution after ratification.
Bill of Rights
Hobbes feared political disorder while Locke feared abusive government. Their disagreement centers on this fundamental problem of constitutional government.
balancing governmental power/order with individual liberty
Colonists initially claimed the traditional rights of British subjects rather than demanding independence. Their dispute therefore evolved into a struggle over this concept: who possesses legitimate governing authority?
Sovereignty
This concept means government ultimately receives legitimate authority from the people.
Popular sovereignty
This state was the only one of the thirteen states that refused to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention.
Rhode Island
Although James Madison became one of the Constitution's most important defenders, this future president was not at the Constitutional Convention and was serving as the American minister to France in 1787.
Thomas Jefferson