From Confederation to Constitution
This nation’s first governing framework created a weak national government with limited power to tax, regulate commerce, or enforce laws.
Articles of Confederation
Supporters of the proposed Constitution who believed it would create a more effective national government were called these.
Federalists
This English philosopher argued that people possess natural rights and that legitimate government rests on the consent of the governed.
John Locke
This proposal favored by large states called for representation in the national legislature to be based on population.
Virginia Plan
This branch of the federal government makes laws and includes the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Legislative branch
This 1787 meeting in Philadelphia was called to revise the Articles but ultimately produced an entirely new framework of government.
Constitutional Convention
Critics of the proposed Constitution who feared that it gave the national government too much power were called these.
Anti-Federalists
This theory claimed that monarchs received their authority directly from God and therefore should not be challenged by their subjects.
Divine right of kings
This proposal favored by small states called for equal representation for every state in a single-chamber legislature.
New Jersey Plan
This branch, headed by the president, carries out and enforces federal laws.
Executive branch
This supreme law of the United States established a new national government and outlined its powers and limits.
What is the Constitution?
This collection of essays defended the Constitution and explained its principles to the public during the ratification debate.
Federalist Papers
This leading Federalist helped call the Constitutional Convention, coauthored the Federalist Papers, and later became the first secretary of the treasury.
Alexander Hamilton
This agreement created a Congress with one chamber based on population and another in which every state has equal representation.
Bicameral legislature
This branch interprets laws and resolves cases involving the Constitution and federal law.
Judicial branch
This process required approval by the states before the Constitution could take effect.
Ratification
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay used this shared pen name when writing many of the essays supporting ratification.
Publius
Often called the “Father of the Constitution,” this Virginian played a central role at the Convention and coauthored the Federalist Papers.
James Madison
This controversial agreement counted enslaved persons as three-fifths of a person when determining representation and direct taxes.
Three-Fifths Compromise
This general term refers to a body of elected representatives that has the authority to make laws.
Legislature
Advocates for replacing the Articles argued that the United States needed this type of national authority to address debts, interstate disputes, and foreign-policy challenges.
A stronger central government
This pseudonymous Anti-Federalist writer warned that the proposed Constitution could endanger state authority and individual liberty.
Brutus
This form of government, supported by Enlightenment ideas, relies on citizens electing representatives rather than being ruled by a hereditary monarch.
Republic
This term describes a lawmaking body with only one chamber, the structure proposed in the New Jersey Plan.
Unicameral
The Constitution’s division of national authority among lawmaking, law-enforcing, and law-interpreting institutions is best illustrated by these three branches.
Legislative, executive, and judicial branches