Terms
A government in which citizens have power to make political decisions.
What was the original purpose of the Constitutional Convention?
Under the Constitution, who could print money?
Only the national government can print money.
What is the Bill of Rights?
The First 10 amendments to the Constitution, which specifically protect many of the people's rights.
What is the Separation of Powers?
Dividing the government so that each branch balances the powers of others.
Under the Articles of Confederation, what branches of government existed?
Only the Legislative.
What group of people would you find voting during the early years of our country?
Only white, male property owners.
What group of people demanded the creation of the Bill of Rights to ratify the Constitution?
The Anti-federalists.
What is an amendment.
An addition.
The debt from the revolutionary war posed what problem for the new nation?
The government could not collect taxes to pay the debt.
Under the Constitution, what branches of government exist?
The Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial.
Why did some States hesitate to ratify the Constitution?
They were concerned that it made the central government too strong, which might lead to people's rights being taken away, like the King had in the past.
Another word for a Law is?
An Ordinance
What problem did the young nation have with currency under the Articles of Confederation?
All of the states had their own currency (money system), which were all valued differently and not excepted everywhere.
It included 3/5th of the enslaved people in population counts.
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
This amendment (#10) was a victory for which group?
The Anti-federalists.
What are checks and balances?
The ways that each branch of government limits the powers of the other branches.
What caused Shay's Rebellion?
Massachusetts raised the taxes that its citizens had to pay on their property, so the people revolted.
What was the Virginia Plan?
Name 4 specific rights that are protected by the Bill of Rights.
Answers can include:
The freedom of religion, speech, and press.
The right to bear arms.
The right to a trial by jury in most cases.
The right to a lawyer when accused of a crime.
The right not to house soldiers in peacetime.
The right to not have property searched or taken unfairly.