Founding Documents
The total number of Articles in the Constitution.
27
This plan wanted representation in Congress to be based on equal representation.
The New Jersey Plan
The branch of government covered in Article III of the Constitution.
What is the Judicial Branch?
This principle states that the government's powers belong to the people.
What is Popular Sovereignty?
The first state to ratify the Constitution.
Delaware
The first part of the Constitution that explains its goals.
Preamble
This rebellion by debt-burdened farmers showed the critical weakness of the Articles of Confederation.
Shays Rebellion
Article I of the Constitution covers this branch, which is responsible for making laws.
What is the Legislative Branch?
Powers that are reserved only for the national (federal) government.
What are Enumerated Powers?
This group supported the Constitution, believing a strong central government was necessary.
Who were the Federalists?
The year the Constitution was officially written.
1787
This major land ordinance banned slavery in the Northwest Territory and set up a plan for admitting new states.
Article II of the Constitution covers this branch, which is responsible for enforcing laws.
What is the Executive Branch?
Powers that are shared by both the state and national governments.
What are Concurrent Powers?
This group opposed the Constitution because they felt it lacked protections for individual liberties.
Who were the Anti-Federalists?
The number of total amendments that have been added to the Constitution.
27
This agreement settled the issue of counting the enslaved population for representation in Congress.
What is the Three-Fifths Compromise?
A system where one branch of government can limit the power of the other branches.
What are Checks and Balances?
The principle that the government can only do what the people allow it to do.
What is Limited Government or the Rule of Law?
This collection of 85 essays was written to defend and promote the ratification of the Constitution.
What are the Federalist Papers?
This document was a "loose government plan" and a "league of friendship" among the states that lacked a judicial or executive branch.
The Articles of Confederation
The name given to the final agreement, also known as the Connecticut Plan, which created a bicameral legislature with both population-based and equal representation.
What is the Great Compromise?
This principle states that the government is split into three branches, each with its own separate tasks and powers.
What is the Separation of Powers?
The clause that states that federal law has authority over state law if the two contradict each other.
What is the Supremacy Clause?
The specific document that the Anti-Federalists demanded be added to the Constitution before they would agree to its ratification.
What is the Bill of Rights?