The Constitution
This document is America’s main rulebook and the government we still use today.
What is the U.S. Constitution?
The agreement that settled arguments between big and small states.
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➡️ What is the Great Compromise?
Big states wanted votes based on population.
➡️ What is the Virginia Plan?
This branch makes laws.
➡️ What is the Legislative Branch?
He wrote the Virginia Plan.
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Who is James Madison
The North wanted enslaved people to count this much for representation.
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What is zero?
America’s first government failed because it was too weak.
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What are the Articles of Confederation?
This meeting took place in Philadelphia to fix the government.
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What is the Constitutional Convention?
Small states wanted equal votes for every state.
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What is the New Jersey Plan?
This branch enforces laws.
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What is the Executive Branch?
He wrote the New Jersey Plan.
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Who is William Paterson?
The South wanted enslaved people to count this much for representation.
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What is all enslaved people?
This part of the Constitution explains why it was written.
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What is the Preamble?
This compromise did NOT create a one-house legislature — instead it created this type of government structure.
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What is a two-house (bicameral) legislature?
This plan made large states happy.
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What is the Virginia Plan?
This branch interprets and judges laws.
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What is the Judicial Branch?
He was trusted to lead the new nation as president.
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Who is George Washington?
This compromise counted enslaved people as this fraction.
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What is three-fifths (3/5)?
There are 27 of these changes to the Constitution.
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What are amendments?
The Great Compromise created this type of legislature.
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What is a two-house legislature?
This plan made small states happy.
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What is the New Jersey Plan?
The idea that power is divided so no one branch is too strong.
➡️ What is Separation of Powers?
He helped convince Americans to support independence by writing Common Sense.
➡️ Who is Thomas Paine?
This deal said Congress could not ban the slave trade for this long.
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What is 20 years?
The first 10 amendments added to protect individual freedoms.
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What is the Bill of Rights?
One house of Congress where each state gets two votes.
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What is the Senate?
DAILY DOUBLE 💥
In this part of Congress, population matters.
➡️ What is the House of Representatives?
DAILY DOUBLE 💥
This system allows each branch to limit the power of the others.
Checks and Balances
DAILY DOUBLE 💥
He helped write the Declaration of Independence.
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Who is Thomas Jefferson?
DAILY DOUBLE 💥
This compromise helped keep peace between North and South.
What is the Three-Fifths Compromise
This rebellion showed leaders the Articles of Confederation were failing.
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What is Shays’s Rebellion?
The Great Compromise combined ideas from these two plans.
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What are the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan
In this part of Congress, all states are equal.
➡️ What is the Senate?
The main goal of separation of powers was to prevent this.
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What is a dictatorship?
These three men wrote essays supporting a stronger national government.
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Who are Hamilton, Madison, and Jay?
This issue showed the Constitution often involved compromise instead of agreement.
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What is slavery?